I honestly did not know what to expect when I came into the role of Editor-in-Chief. It was not something I thought too much about, even though I knew I would eventually take on the role. And let me tell you, there is no possible way I could have ever prepared myself. 

That being said, I thought it was fitting to have my first column describe everything that I have done in the past two weeks as EIC.

I interviewed and hired a business manager, ad manager and an assistant news editor, which means that we officially have a full staff of 17 SUNY Oswego students. 

Thinking I was ahead of the game, in August I ordered 1,000 pens to give out at events on campus. Unfortunately, we are not the “inependent student newspaper,” so I now have 1,000 misspelled pens and we have $300 less of our budget. I am terrified that this will be my legacy. 

With the help of some of the staff, we gathered over 100 emails of potential writers at the involvement fair and successfully held a general interest meeting for about 20 of those students. 

The Oswegonian office hosted its first writer’s meeting of the semester on Sept. 2 to a group of around 10 interested students. This was the most people we have had in the office in my entire three year career and I could not have been happier to see the turnout. 

In a gross and disappointing discovery, we found out no one had not cleaned out our office mini fridge before summer. I was lucky enough to throw away yogurt, coffee creamer and ketchup packets from last semester and attempted to scrape a mystery substance from the bottom of the fridge. 

I organized our coffee cabinet by washing eight mugs that had an unknown crust at the bottom, throwing out coffee grounds that expired in 2018 and adding a box of plastic spoons so we could stop stirring our midday caffeine fix with a paint brush handle. 

I sent multiple strongly worded emails so we could have access to our office. Each staff member can now unlock the door with their student ID, just in time for our first issue. 

I tackled what we had named “Ladd’s corner,” an oad to the previous Editor-in-Chief, Brandon Ladd, who was not known for being the most organized individual. In the stacks of papers and old folders, I found a copy of our constitution, an ominous letter about a rigged 2014 Student Association election, FOIA requests and a binder of pictures and notes from an Oswegonian staff from the 1980s. 

One thing I took from Ladd was a swear pie, which as it is named, allows any staff members to fill in a section of the pie whenever I swear in the office. Once it is completely colored, I will owe the staff pizza. As of Tuesday when I am writing this, only two spots are filled in, but I fear that by the time this article is in print, that will no longer be the case.  

There have already been so many meetings, including two staff meetings, one with our advisor Professor Catherine Loper, a few with the printers at the Palladium-Times and one with the SA director of finance, who controls our budget and everything we do with it. 

Overall, I want to say so far, so good. Besides the pen fiasco, we are on track to have an amazing and successful semester and I know with my staff beside me, we will. 

Photo via Abigail Connolly