Editors’ Letters: Your student rag needs you

With my finals long over and graduation looming, I’ll soon only be able to return to this great Bubble as a humble visitor to friends who are coming back next year after a year abroad.

I leave with many memories and many regrets which are far too trite for your interest. But one thing I don’t regret in the slightest is joining this newspaper – and I’d urge you, if you’re in any way journalistically inclined, to do the same.

It’s a common refrain among Boar writers and editors that we prefer “doing the Boar” to our degrees, but I think I’d go as far as to say that it saved my university experience and guided me towards what I would now consider to be my passion: journalism.

Though we work out of a small, stuffy office in the Students’ Union, the job has physically taken me all around campus, Leamington, Coventry, and even London. Mentally, I’ve been as far as Israel and Syria.

By far the most rewarding reporting is investigative work. This year alone I’ve had the privilege to expose alleged debit card fraud in a Leamington takeaway; the sale of illegal cigarettes on campus; “environmental vandalism” perpetrated by a society; a depressed student being threatened with expulsion; a Syrian student who lost twenty loved-ones in the war; a disparity in the number of firsts awarded to different subjects; and how Leamington’s “street light switch off” may have contributed to the death of one of our students.

On top of that, I’ve had more esoteric experiences, such as discovering the history of a famous magician who lived just across the street from me in Leamington.

Without my having reported on these things, they would have remained forever in the dark. Whether you think that’s a valuable service is for you to decide.

One thing which always amuses me is the questions I get when I say I “work” for the Boar: “Do you get paid for that?” (No.) “How did you get in?” (Simple.) “Is there actually a boar in the office?” (Ok, I made that up.)

While getting paid would be splendid, I’ve found the non-monetary rewards to be quite sufficient. Regarding the hiring process, it’s a lot easier than some think: email in, come to a meeting, write a few articles and, if you’ve got the commitment, start editing the paper.

I leave the News section in what I know are capable hands. But student journalism is only possible through the efforts of students like yourselves. So this is a message especially to all you loyal first-year readers who have longed to see your name in print: your student rag needs you.