Celebrating 200 years of The Miami Student is ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’
Oldest newspaper west of the Alleghenies commemorates its bicentennial Feb. 27-March 1
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Published
The Miami Student newspaper celebrates its 200th anniversary this year.
Celebrating 200 years of The Miami Student is ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’
•
Published
Last March, Olivia Patel was in the running to lead The Miami Student, Miami University’s student-produced newspaper.
Less than two weeks later, the new editor-in-chief was in the planning stages for the organization’s 200th anniversary.
From Feb. 27-March 1, the oldest university newspaper west of the Alleghenies celebrates its bicentennial. While there is some question just where The Miami Student ranks in terms of oldest college newspapers (Dartmouth College’s 1799 The Dartmouth claims the No. 1 spot), what isn’t in question is Patel’s excitement level surrounding the milestone.
“An event like this reminds people we’ve been here for 200 years,” Patel said. “We know the history of this school. We’ve been reporting, we’ve been observing, and we’ve been talking to people for 200 years. We want to be trusted to do that kind of work for 200 more years to come.”
A welcome party at Circle Bar on Feb. 27 starts the festivities, which continue through the weekend, including on Feb. 28 in the Heritage Room at Shriver Center with the guest speaker series.
Three panels comprise the series. The first, beginning at 11 a.m., is The Miami Student Through the Decades, featuring alumni from different time periods talking about their experiences working at the newspaper.
The second panel, The Miami Student and Where it Takes You, focuses on how working at The Student prepared alumni for their careers. The final panel, Journalism Today, addresses how journalism has evolved over the years and the new possibilities that exist within the field.
Sue MacDonald, a 1977 graduate who worked for two decades at The Cincinnati Enquirer, has spent several months researching the history of The Miami Student, which began life in 1826 as The Literary Focus. It was, as MacDonald lovingly puts it, “high-falutin’ literary journal.”
“It’s really impressive that at a time when Oxford was pretty far west of the nation’s other established universities with campus newspapers, this tiny, remote college in Ohio had faculty and students who were interested in writing, poetry, literature and connecting with other people,” said MacDonald, who helped coordinate the upcoming celebration. “The deeper I dug into the history of The Student, the prouder I became in what we’ve been able to accomplish in 200 years.”
So far, more than 80 alumni have committed to return for the event, and current students are also invited to attend. Patel stressed many of the activities, especially the speaker series, are beneficial for all students, noting that many who have contributed to The Miami Student aren’t Journalism majors.
“We’re hoping this can bring together all corners of Miami’s campus and benefit students who are looking for jobs, internships, things like that,” Patel said. “It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m just excited to be able to lead such a cool event.”
Feb. 28’s slate concludes with a dinner at Mac and Joe’s. There is an open house of The Miami Student’s current home, Armstrong Student Center room 3018, starting at 9 a.m. on March 1.
MacDonald has stayed in touch over the years with some of her former Student co-workers. Summer reunions during Alumni Weekend have also become popular.
“It’s still in my blood,” MacDonald said. “You make great friendships, just with the very experience of working together and putting out a student newspaper. When I was at Miami, we didn’t just study journalism, we did journalism. It took a lot of time, a lot of work, and a lot of effort, in addition to our classes. We had such great real-life journalism experience. The minute we were handed our diplomas, we could go out and get jobs because we knew how to do journalism.”
Less than two weeks later, the new editor-in-chief was in the planning stages for the organization’s 200th anniversary.
From Feb. 27-March 1, the oldest university newspaper west of the Alleghenies celebrates its bicentennial. While there is some question just where The Miami Student ranks in terms of oldest college newspapers (Dartmouth College’s 1799 The Dartmouth claims the No. 1 spot), what isn’t in question is Patel’s excitement level surrounding the milestone.
“An event like this reminds people we’ve been here for 200 years,” Patel said. “We know the history of this school. We’ve been reporting, we’ve been observing, and we’ve been talking to people for 200 years. We want to be trusted to do that kind of work for 200 more years to come.”
A welcome party at Circle Bar on Feb. 27 starts the festivities, which continue through the weekend, including on Feb. 28 in the Heritage Room at Shriver Center with the guest speaker series.
Three panels comprise the series. The first, beginning at 11 a.m., is The Miami Student Through the Decades, featuring alumni from different time periods talking about their experiences working at the newspaper.
The second panel, The Miami Student and Where it Takes You, focuses on how working at The Student prepared alumni for their careers. The final panel, Journalism Today, addresses how journalism has evolved over the years and the new possibilities that exist within the field.
Sue MacDonald, a 1977 graduate who worked for two decades at The Cincinnati Enquirer, has spent several months researching the history of The Miami Student, which began life in 1826 as The Literary Focus. It was, as MacDonald lovingly puts it, “high-falutin’ literary journal.”
“It’s really impressive that at a time when Oxford was pretty far west of the nation’s other established universities with campus newspapers, this tiny, remote college in Ohio had faculty and students who were interested in writing, poetry, literature and connecting with other people,” said MacDonald, who helped coordinate the upcoming celebration. “The deeper I dug into the history of The Student, the prouder I became in what we’ve been able to accomplish in 200 years.”
So far, more than 80 alumni have committed to return for the event, and current students are also invited to attend. Patel stressed many of the activities, especially the speaker series, are beneficial for all students, noting that many who have contributed to The Miami Student aren’t Journalism majors.
“We’re hoping this can bring together all corners of Miami’s campus and benefit students who are looking for jobs, internships, things like that,” Patel said. “It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m just excited to be able to lead such a cool event.”
Feb. 28’s slate concludes with a dinner at Mac and Joe’s. There is an open house of The Miami Student’s current home, Armstrong Student Center room 3018, starting at 9 a.m. on March 1.
MacDonald has stayed in touch over the years with some of her former Student co-workers. Summer reunions during Alumni Weekend have also become popular.
“It’s still in my blood,” MacDonald said. “You make great friendships, just with the very experience of working together and putting out a student newspaper. When I was at Miami, we didn’t just study journalism, we did journalism. It took a lot of time, a lot of work, and a lot of effort, in addition to our classes. We had such great real-life journalism experience. The minute we were handed our diplomas, we could go out and get jobs because we knew how to do journalism.”
Established in 1809, Miami University is located in Oxford, Ohio, with regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, a learning center in West Chester, and a European study center in Luxembourg.
