Collegiate Times

Summer break and time spent away from Blacksburg always feels misleading to me. You knock your exams out of the park, pack everything up, and head home expecting to be able to relax and enjoy some time off. You don’t have any nagging teaching assistants, no 8 a.m. classes, or anything that might make you want to stay in bed and nap until noon so you can avoid the nagging pressure. You’ve got the summer off.

In my opinion, “off” isn’t really the word for it. “Off” would imply no work, no early wake-up calls, no daily to-do lists or anything of that nature. As students, if we truly got the summer off, we wouldn’t still have mom and dad nagging us for three months to complete trivial household chores or our boss at the internship encouraging us to grasp yet another new task. As you hopefully know by now, the Collegiate Times doesn’t really take the summer off, either.

As I sit behind this keyboard, thinking of some witty words of advice and knowledge for you as you examine my column, it’s an 80 degree, sloppy, rainy day in Northern Virginia, my home away from Blacksburg. It’s the middle of May, so it should certainly be warmer, and May flowers should be in bloom rather than the current postponed April showers. However, with spring weather, you never know what you’re going to get.

The news is pretty unpredictable as well; nothing stops that ticking clock where events happen and need to be covered. For example, in the time between the beginning of summer classes and the end of spring semester classes, graduation was postponed because of that aforementioned unpredictable weather, our basketball’s leading scorer and guard Malcolm Delaney decided to stick around for his senior season and there was an unfortunate assault near Lane Stadium.

All of this was information that you could have found in the online version of our newspaper, www.collegiatetimes.com. Just because most students aren’t around or near campus for the two six-week sessions of summer classes, that doesn’t mean that your Collegiate Times stops covering the news.

We are still at our loving home in 365 Squires with our summer staff working just as diligently to bring you the latest news and happenings in and around Blacksburg.

The main difference between our paper now and its version produced during the academic year is that instead of being published Tuesday through Friday, it is only published on Thursdays. The paper we deliver gives you the dish on everything that you may need to know that has been newsworthy over the past and upcoming week.

I’m sure you’d like to be a part of the action, wouldn’t you? If you have any interest in gaining a little experience ­— and spending cash — over the summer months, you should stop by our offices and show us what you have to offer. The CT over the summer can offer you everything it offers you during the regular school year: reporting, print design, Web programing, writing, photography, editing, and everything in between. This is also one of the best times to start as a part of the paper since the pace is easier, and your academic work is likely lower.

With a smaller population to serve and often slower news days than during the academic year, the paper might not be intimidating. Not that you wouldn’t be able to handle it, but everyone likes to ease into things they are doing for the first time. No matter your role, we want you to feel free to stop by, hang out with us on our three comfy couches, and get to know us and our paper.

Who knows, maybe come August you’ll be a full-time reporter, being the one who breaks all of the pressing news to the Blacksburg and Tech community.

Until next time, contact me at publiceditor@collegiatetimes.com.

A version of this article appeared in the May 27 issue of the Collegiate Times.