The Student sat down with incoming Editors-in-Chief, Grace Lavender (former Comment Editor) and Rufus Bouverie (former Features Editor), to discuss their plans for the paper, the content they’re looking forward to seeing and where they hope to be in five editions time.
When did you first start at The Student?
R – I started in my first year when Laurie left to become Editor-in-Chief, which was this time last year at February reading week.
G – I started writing the week after Freshers’ Week in my first year and I wrote until Rosie was promoted to Editor-in-Chief along with Laurie, so I’ve been an editor for exactly a year.
What’s been your best experience at the paper, while a writer or editor?
R – For me, I really enjoy making and editing pages at the moment, because I can do them really quickly and it’s become really satisfying. I also really enjoyed doing my interview with Dinosaur 94 [an Edinburgh based band]. It was really fun to write it up in an interesting way.
G – That’s such a hard question because it’s impossible for me to say one thing that’s been my favourite thing about the paper. I really enjoyed writing and there’s definitely a couple of articles which I enjoyed the most. Actually, really recently I wrote an article for TV and Radio, who I don’t usually write for. It was great to try something new. As an editor, similarly to Rufus, I enjoy making pages, talking to writers and the actual act of editing and reading the work of others.
Whilst in your new role, what are you hoping to achieve?
G- As long as I feel at the end that we’ve left The Student in a good place, I’ll be really happy. I think a lot of the stuff we want to do in terms of outreach and involvement and the work we want to put into the website is not just something we want to do for ourselves, it’s also something that we want to pass on, so that the newspaper is in a really good place for whoever comes in after us.
R- Similarly, on a more personal level, as students, we actually have a lot of time – although we don’t think it. I wonder if we could get better at just being. I hope that I’ll be able to get on with just doing what I need to do whilst being able to enjoy my time and really appreciate what I’m doing when I’m doing it and I think being Editor-in-Chief will really help with that.
What sort of content would you like to see more of in the paper?
G- I am a big fan of student-based content. I want to see lots of content which is about students, student art shows, student bands, sports teams, student events, all that sort of thing. But also, I think something we’re both quite passionate about is making sure all students can put their work into the newspaper. That’s why we’re really interested in getting more illustrations, more photos, but also other artwork. So in terms of the content I want to include, it will be very broad and varied, but it’s always got to be for students, about students and by students.
R – We really want to try and create a space in which we can facilitate investigations into the university. I really want to see it happen and I am quite excited by this idea. We also want to look into the research at the university and also, as Grace mentioned, ensuring that the ECA gets represented in our pull-out section which will be featured in upcoming editions.
Where do you see yourselves in five editions time?
G- I see myself probably being a little bit stressed and a little bit tired, but feeling very fulfilled. I would like to think that I’m going to get some life lessons from this, in terms of time management. Being able to focus on the things in hand, being able to juggle lots of commitments and being able to prioritise the things that are really important are all skills which I hope to build on. I want the newspaper to be looking beautiful. I’m excited.
R – I just still want to be friends with Grace. I hope she doesn’t hate me in five editions’ time.
If you could only write about one topic for the rest of your career as a journalist, what would it be?
R – History or maybe restaurant reviews. Perhaps we’ll still be writing for The Student in 20 years time.
G – Feminism. There’s a lot you could explore; feminist theatre or ecofeminism to name a few.
Grace and Rufus get started in their new roles on Wednesday and everyone at The Student wishes them luck as they begin their exciting new term.
Image: Shannen Tioniwar