We are journalists.

Albeit, student journalists, but journalists nonetheless.

And what is college for if not to train us how to work in the professional world? That’s why we need your support and involvement: to help us learn how to do what we do.

Writing for the newspaper takes a lot of time and effort on our staff’s part. It also takes some time and effort from those we need to interview in order to responsibly cover certain stories.

That’s why I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the students, staff, faculty and administrators who agree to meet with our student-reporters.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always easy or comfortable to track down interviewees and beg for an audience, especially if you know you’re going to be asking them about something they’d rather not talk about.

But sometimes that the nature of the news.

I realize that it’s not always easy for college personnel to take time out of their busy schedules to speak to said student reporters either. For faculty, staff and administrators, I’m sure there is also some sense of responsibility to tow the company line. I could see how it would be stressful, worrying about saying the wrong thing in an interview.

As this semester moves forward, I hope our staff continues to get lucky by having a campus community willing to work with us. Trust me, we know what it’s like having to file Freedom of Information Act requests, and though it can be exciting, it’s not always fun.

When people off and on campus are open with us, it helps us learn how to do our jobs.

Yes, we are student journalists, but some of us hope to be real journalists someday, and our time on the staff of The Wayne Stater helps us prepare for that future.