Every week, two groups of students gather to produce pages, edit photos and conduct interviews to include in the Mirage, Trinity’s official yearbook, and the Trinitonian, the student-run newspaper. Recently, the Campus Board of Publications hired students to lead these groups by filling the positions of editor-in-chief and managing editor for the Mirage and the Trinitonian. Some of these chosen applicants have already held their position.

“This is my third year serving as a Mirage editor, and I’m excited to return to the position,” said Shelby DeVore, a junior communication major and editor-in-chief of the Mirage for the upcoming school year.

Despite having experience as one of the Mirage editors, DeVore is looking forward to improving the yearbook with her new managing editor. “I’m most excited to work with Jenna Flexner; she has a lot of talent and experience in design, so she’ll bring a fresh perspective to the yearbook,” DeVore said.

Flexner, a first-year mathematical finance and accounting double major and rising Mirage managing editor, is excited for the chance to express her creativity.

“As a STEM major I don’t really have the opportunity to be creative in any of my course work, so getting to just sit down and design pages is extremely relaxing,” Flexner said. “When I came to Trinity and realized I could get paid for what I had always considered a hobby, it was like a dream come true. I have never been happier to work in my entire life.”

Flexner has already begun considering various ways to improve the yearbook next year.

“We are also changing up the positions this year and trying to hire more writers, who are exclusively writers, for stronger copy. I believe this is going to have a great impact on the publication as a whole. We’ve found that students are usually primarily only interested in writing or designing, so by allowing them to only take on one job, a happier, more dedicated, staff will be created and a happier staff equals a better publication,” Flexner said.

While the Mirage staff doesn’t regularly work with the Trinitonian staff, the chance to learn from the other publication is an opportunity both editors are excited to take.

“I know that the Trinitonian editors will do a really good job continuing to uphold the standards of the Trinitonian. I’m looking forward to working with them more and learning how to improve our respective publications,” said DeVore.

Alexandra Uri, the current managing editor of the Trinitonian, will be returning in the fall to work in the same position. Uri also anticipates making changes to the paper and using the skills and thoughts of the Mirage editors to improve the Trinitonian.

“I’m really excited to be working with the other editors of Campus Publications. We have a lot of really exciting changes coming up for Trinitonian specifically. We’re working to make the Trinitonian digital-first in January and we would like to work with Mirage to improve the photo quality in both of our publications,” said Uri, a junior political science major.

Uri will be working alongside Daniel Conrad, a junior philosophy major and rising editor-in-chief.

“This is my second year working for the newspaper and I’ve loved every minute of it so far. I’m really excited to see how we can make the Trinitonian an even more valuable aspect of campus life and have fun while we’re doing it,” Conrad said.

The Trinitonian editors will be working alongside the advertising department to continue producing their publication. Rebecca Derby, a sophomore marketing major, was recently appointed as advertising director.

“On top of working next to some of the greatest editorial staff I have ever met, I am looking forward to seeing how advertising sales can help the Trinitonian prosper into becoming a more well-known campus publication. Obviously, we want to continue towards our annual sales goal, but the journey of reaching out to potential advertisers is by far the most frustrating, fun and rewarding part of the process,” Derby said.

Derby hopes to increase the amount of advertising employees in the next year to help the Trinitonian.

“I would like to see less staff turnover. For a little while, I joked how we were turning ad sales into the waiter industry because of fast employee turnover,” Derby said.

Meanwhile, departing editors, such as Lauren Harris, senior human communication major and the current advertising director, has some advice for students approaching their new positions.

“Don’t be ashamed if you make any mistakes, that is the only way that you can grow. No one knows everything, especially when it’s right off the bat,” Harris said.