Bitter Sweet Goodbye to Mount's Newspaper

Meghan J. Leavitt

I started writing for the Mountain Echo in my second semester as a first-year student. Throughout my time with the Echo, I have served in multitudes of roles including a staff writer, the Opinion-Life editor, the Community Editor and now ending my tenure as the Managing Editor.   

During my four years at the Mount, I have served many roles but the most rewarding has been the one of Managing Editor for the newspaper. Associate Professor of Communication and the faculty advisor, Dr. Pratibha Kumar, is someone who has served as a mentor to me in ways outside of the paper.   

This position at the paper has allowed me to learn a broader scale of writing. As someone who has always enjoyed writing, journalism has allowed me to work outside of my comfort zone.  

I have been able to learn to write and edit in the Associated Press style along with learning and polishing graphic design and layout skills on InDesign.   

With the editing process, the late nights in the Echo office working on the layout of the paper and teaching my peers has been enjoyable.  

There are many aspects of this practicum that I have learned to love that would have never allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone.  

Without the Echo I would never have learned InDesign or stepped out of my comfort zone with conducting interviews. While I have had a great experience at the Echo, there is no doubt that there have been challenges.  

One of the biggest hardships is how much change the Echo has seen. When I first joined the Echo in the spring semester 2023, the paper had its own office which allowed an exclusive space for editing along with a designated area for hosting meeting and working with fellow writers and editors.   

But since then, we have lost our classroom and have been switched over to sharing a room with Adjunct Professor Dave Cohill.  

While I appreciate his generosity and patience with us by sharing his office, it has been sad to see our own space being gone and given to another organization of the university.  

It has made weekly meetings and the editing process much more difficult. Along with this, the Echo budget has seen large scale changes.  

While social media and having an online platform is important in modern day society, when running a newspaper, it is also important that we print a newspaper.  

I appreciate the ability to print once at the end of a semester, but it is also important to continue to work with and build skills on InDesign.   

In many ways, I miss the late-night hours in the Echo office having to re-layout the paper once a month. 

Having a shared space to build community and learn from others is important. These changes have shifted the culture of the Echo.   

With this, leading Hanna Aggen, Stacey May and Kelby Chichester these past two semesters has been a pleasure, and I cannot wait to see what happens with the Echo in the future.  

I am very thankful for the Communication Department, Dr. Kumar and my editing staff who have taught me so much during my time at Mount St. Mary’s.