The Whit is always looking for more students to join our team whether it comes to writing articles, taking photos and shooting video. If you’re a reader, chances are you’re also a writer.

Since I started writing for The Whit, I’ve heard things that aren’t true when it comes to our paper. For example, someone said you have to pay to join, which is not true. Writing for us is completely free. 

We also will be having elections for staff positions later in March, and those positions are paid. Positions such as copy editors, news editor, features editor, multimedia editors and more will be up for grabs since some of the current staff will be graduating this spring.

Another huge misconception is that The Whit is limited to communication majors. This is also not true. In fact, our co-Editor-in-Chief, Tara Lonsdorf, is a geology major. Plus Giselle Onofre, an engineering major, wrote an amazing article about the female retention issue at the college of engineering.

More than 77% of newsroom employees are non-Hispanic whites, according to the Pew Research Center analysis of 2012-2016 American Community Survey data. It’s essential that we have a diverse staff to tell the stories of its students, faculty and staff. A student majoring in journalism might not know what’s going on in the art department. There’s also stories relating to race, sexuality and gender identity that may be challenging to write if someone does not identify within those communities.

People tell me that they’re not the best at writing. This is also not true. Yes, writing is an art that takes practice, but that’s why we’re here to help. 

Do you love politics? Write for our opinions section. Do you have a favorite artist? Write for our arts section. Do you like shooting video? Send us videos asking students questions or videos of events on campus.

Another thing I want to mention is that The Whit is also a great place to get clips for resumes. Employers will see that you made an impact during your time at Rowan, so it may give you that one step ahead of the job-hunting game.

You literally can write about anything that you are passionate about. We would love to read more stuff from our peers, so please send it our way.

People don’t have to come to the meetings to be a part of the paper. Some of our writers email their stuff to the editors. However, if you are interested our meetings are Wednesdays at 5 p.m. at 6 High Street.

For comments/questions about this story, email editor@thewhitonline.com or tweet @TheWhitOnline.