"Not only did people welcome me with open arms, but the people in the paper have easily become some of my best friends. Walking into the newsroom never felt like going to work. If anything, it feels like heading home after a long day at work. I can put my feet up, listen to music, play darts or cards or just talk about our days."
"And so, to the current staff of The Miami Student, and to all of those students before them, through two centuries … thank you. Thank you for shining a light. Thank you for being leaders. "
My memories of The Miami Student start with wax, not words. In the mid-1980s, when Bruno’s Pizza slices were 50 cents and dinosaurs roamed Oxford freely, student journalists burned fingers twice a week applying hot wax to two-inch wide strips of news copy spat out of a phototypesetting machine and trimmed with X-Acto knives. We literally bled for, and often on, our work.
During my stint as The Miami Student’s editorial page editor in 1974, I put considerable energy into opposing the university’s proposal to build an ice skating rink. I was paying my own way, and considered a $20 student fee for an ice rink to be an extravagant waste.
"If it weren’t for the relationships I’ve built through this newspaper, I don’t think I would still be at Miami today. When I say joining The Student is the best thing I’ve ever done, I mean it."
"The Student is where I found my friends, but also a passion. It has given me a pastime, an outlet, connections, a place on the sidelines, an awesome team and, above all, my best friends in the world."
"The Student has driven me to make college what I want it to be and has taught me not to let myself stick to what is comfortable and easy. Being creative while also working on something that is bigger than myself and can truly mean something has been such an amazing experience that I hope to continue until graduation."
"But as 'the Instagram guy,' I’ve seen the value in capturing many of the behind-the-scenes elements that have kept a publication such as The Student around long enough to celebrate 200 years."
"When I think about what The Student means to me, I think about having somewhere to go where I have a purpose. The Student filled a hole that I didn’t even know existed."
During his time in TMS Sam founded the GreenHawks section, was editor of the Opinion section, and was co-managing editor of The Miami Student Magazine, winning regional and state awards for his work. He’s now a freelance environmental journalist.
It’s been 50-plus years since the last story I wrote for The Miami Student (TMS) appeared in the Nov. 4, 1975, issue.
"My first semester was extremely challenging. But it was my friends at The Student who made me feel less alone."
"While anniversaries like The Miami Student’s bicentennial mark years of impressive tradition, they also act as a benchmark of the evolution of the news industry today. With an estimated 136 local newspapers closing in the last year, anniversaries of long-standing newspapers serve as a significant reminder of the importance of print journalism."
In the warm fall of 2020, I stumbled my way to Miami University, green behind the ears, eager to get away from home and terrified of where I was going.
During my final night as editor-in-chief of The Miami Student, we achieved a rarity.
A media outlet making a mistake probably won’t surprise anyone who’s ever worked on a student publication or followed the news closely. Media is created by people, and people get things wrong.
Even though I was just a sportswriter at the time as a junior on campus, The Student editor-in-chief Sue MacDonald ran my column on the front of the entire paper. It was well-read, especially by Crum, his assistant coaches and players. They fumed with every syllable.
As a 1973 first-year student, I decided to major in education just like my grandmother (who attended Oxford College for Women in the early 1900s), my two teacher sisters and my mother, who was administrator at a local school.
My four years with The Student were filled with indelible experiences, incredible friends and colleagues, including a young Ohio woman who later became my wife, and the inimitable opportunities to contribute to the quality of and commitment to journalism at Miami. It was inspiring and life-altering.