By Mike Vitron
Associate Editor
Well, I’ve been dreading this for a while. Here goes nothing.
I came to college knowing exactly what I wanted to do for a living. I was going to make the jump from Bonaventure straight to Bristol, Conn. and be a SportsCenter anchor. End of story.
First semester of freshman year, I decided I would get my broadcasting career started with a radio show on the Buzz with a couple of the kids who lived on my floor (former news editor Henry Balling IV being one of them). We had a hip-hop show on Saturdays from 4 to 6 p.m. It was fun at first, but toward the end of the semester it became more of a chore to go.
I got a show second semester, too, but it ended up being from something like 2 to 4 a.m. Tuesday nights. I made the tough (or not so tough) decision to end my DJ career there.
By this time, Hank had been writing for The Bona Venture for a while, and he took on the role as assistant news editor. After much prodding, he finally talked me into writing my first ever news story. I was nervous; I couldn’t write to save my life.
I was assigned a story about slippery walkways on campus, and my lede went something like, “The paths around campus have students wondering whether they are skating at HSBC Arena …” (a tad editorialized). Needless to say, that was nixed, as well as most of my story.
I essentially had to rewrite my story that Wednesday night. I was mad and embarrassed, and I told Hank I would never write again.
That changed when I grabbed a copy of The BV Friday morning and saw my story on the front page. “Not bad. I could get used to this,” I said to myself.
Obviously, that wasn’t my last story. I kept writing, got better and went on to become news editor, and I am sure glad that I did.
Since that first Wednesday night, I got to know some of the coolest, most talented people I had ever met in my life at The BV. I could go on and on about the importance of the friendships I have made with my fellow BV staffers, but I will do that in person.
I am going to use the rest of this piece to thank the people who read the paper. After all, there would be no reason to print a paper unless people read it.
I think everyone on The BV staff would agree, there are few better feelings than walking into the Hickey on a Friday morning and seeing classmates with their noses buried in The BV. The only better feeling is when you have someone come up to you and say, “I really enjoyed your story on so-and-so” or, “I agree with your opinion piece; you hit the nail on the head.”
Putting together a newspaper is a lot of work, and seeing people read it makes you feel like it was all worth it. No award can beat feedback and recognition from a classmate or professor, so thank you to anyone who has approached a writer and given them recognition.
While my time as news editor was often stressful, annoying and a killer to my social life, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I have no aspirations of being a print journalist, but the skills I learned at The BV will be helpful in any of my future endeavors.
Thanks to all those who helped me develop these skills.
vitronmj@bonaventure.edu.
