It’s hard to say something new and inspiring about starting college in a newspaper that is already filled with articles that list tips for making college a blast. Not only is the Trinitonian filled with such tips, but you, the class of 2017, have also undoubtedly spent the summer under tip-attack by well meaning friends and family who are bent on assuring you that college will be the time of your life. In the face of such redundancy, what is there left to say?

Well, let’s take a quick break and stop talking about you guys. We’ll go ahead and give you a bit of background on the Trinitonian itself. We are a student-run newspaper published every Friday, save for holidays. We started in 1888 as a literary magazine known as the Trinity Exponent, and we have grown and refined ourselves in the years in between.

The Trinitonian is more than a bunch of college kids hanging out in a basement trying to be clever (although, admittedly that is a lot of it). We are a business that requires time and effort to stay afloat.  Nearly 75% of our revenue comes from our ad staff convincing local businesses and on campus groups to place advertisements in the paper. The Board of Campus Publications, an eight-member group comprised of Trinity students and faculty, keeps us on the straight and narrow. They make sure we aren’t disregarding our journalistic principles. However, while the ad staff and the Pub Board provide two very important things””it doesn’t get much more important than money and standards when you’re running a business””it is all of you who provide the most important aspect of the Trinitonian: the content.

You see, we write about the things you guys want to read about. We bring you the news you need to know about. We try to stay relevant and on top of things, but every now and again, a subject or story slips through the cracks. That being said, let us know how you think we’re doing. Write a letter to the editor””mail or email. Tweet at us. Hit us up on Facebook. Shoot us a text. Send us a pigeon. Use that cool fire pit in front of Murchison and smoke signal us.  We want and need to hear from you. More to the point, you’re finally at the stage where you have total control of your life. If you don’t like what’s happening, change it.

Now, it might seem like we aren’t just talking about the Trinitonian any more, and that would be because we aren’t just talking about the Trinitonian any more. We are about to offer you the same advice everyone has given you. Hopefully the 500th time will really drive it home.

Make college yours. Take the classes that interest you. Join the clubs that sound like fun. Attend all the fairs and activities Res Life planned for you. Some will be kind of lame (sorry, Res Life), but eventually you’ll meet someone or join an activity or team that will make all the awkward small talk worth it.  And, in the whirlwind of your first college semester, remember that the Trinitonian will sit on the racks every Friday morning, ready and willing to ground you with a story about the latest curriculum develops (exciting, we know), the coolest work being done by professors and students (it’s really cool, trust us) and the best restaurants and hang outs in town (we have our pens on the pulse of the city). If, by some miracle, you find nothing in the whirlwind to interest you, we are looking to hire two more reporters, so get that smoke signal ready.