My favorite holiday gift this year was a shirt that reads “Daily Orange University” across the front.

It isn’t the first of my D.O. gear. After five semesters in-house, I’ve acquired quite the collection of mugs, bags and even a coveted D.O. pen. But it’s the words on the shirt that I love. They show that I’ve learned more working at The Daily Orange than I have in any class.

That was especially true this past semester, my first as editor in chief.

In October, The D.O. proved to be the best news source during a campus lockdown, which came after an off-campus shooting that had the Syracuse University community confused and on edge. With more than 20,000 page views to our website in one hour, and over 95,000 within 48 hours, we have the stats to prove it.

In November, we published stories with datelines from Paris, recounting the experiences of SU Abroad students who were just blocks away from the terrorist attacks.

And throughout the semester we’ve watched our web traffic grow, as our recently-created web team experiments with and expands our online offerings. This past month, we raised our page views by more than 90 percent from this time last year. Much of that increase is due to our steady flow of content during Winter Break.

On the business side, our new general manager, Chris Russo, has settled in nicely at The D.O., and has grown accustomed to the many surprises that come with working at a college newspaper. We recently signed a contract with a new printer to help cut printing costs, and Chris has plans to expand our digital revenue next semester.

As we look forward to the start of the spring semester, we are excited for the arrival of D.O. Palooza, our annual alumni event. It will be held Feb. 5-7 in Syracuse.

The weekend will start with a meet-and-greet with the staff on Friday at 744 Ostrom Ave. It will also be the perfect time to sneak into the management office and reinforce your duck with extra tape — I’ve already had one fall on my head.

On Saturday, there will be a full day of interactive workshops with the staff for you to share what you know now — and what you wished you knew — during your time at The D.O. The details about the panels will be finalized by the end of the month, so look for the schedule then on the DOAA Facebook page. If you have ideas or suggestions for panel topics, feel free to let me know.

The weekend will come to a close on Sunday with a casual brunch.

As I plan and prepare for the event-filled weekend, I’m glad to have Justin Mattingly, the managing editor for the spring 2016 semester, by my side.

Justin is a junior studying newspaper and online journalism and political science. He served as news editor last semester, and brings a passion for accountability, crime reporting and baseball statistics to the management office.

Though we’ve all been on Winter Break for the last month, Justin and I have made sure good journalism remains at the front of everyone’s mind. The staff has been trading emails with links to their favorite profiles, series, breaking news coverage — the kind of stories you’ve had bookmarked since you first read them — for inspiration.

Justin and I have also been using this as an opportunity to share D.O. institutional memory. We recently sent out the Vietnam War protest series written in April and May of 2010, and the DeShaun Williams sports feature written in February 2004.

These stories provide lessons for our staff — ones that we hope will encourage them to push themselves to be even better next semester.

For alumni, these stories are more than motivational reads. They are the stories you found; reported; wrote; edited; photographed; designed; and finally published during your time at The D.O. You sacrificed sleep, and maybe even a few points off your GPA, for these stories. They’re the stories that helped kick-start your career.

Despite all the change — with the staff, the increased web focus and the fluctuating landscape of readership — your stories remain relevant.

They are evidence of the quality journalism that a group of sleep-deprived 20-somethings can produce. Our staff, myself included, is lucky to have a rich 112-year history to look to and learn from.

As Palooza 2016 approaches, I’m excited to learn from you — the people behind these stories, images and designs — in person. It’s what makes the weekend so valuable.                                          

If you have any questions about Palooza, or are interested in attending, please reach out to me. I hope to see you there; I’ll be the one in a “Daily Orange University” shirt.

Mara Corbett (’17) is the editor in chief and former presentation director of The Daily Orange. She also serves as president of the board of directors. Please feel free to contact her with questions, advice and stories you think should be shared with the staff. You can email her at [email protected] or find her on Twitter at @maracorbett.

Published on January 17, 2016 at 9:12 pm