From the Editor: The Runner returns to in-person production
After 18 months of not being able to return to the Surrey campus, The Runner staff members and contributors are finally able to meet up in our new office this fall. Before the pandemic hit, our office was located on the third floor of the library. Now it’s below the Surrey campus cafeteria in Birch 106.
Our pitch meetings, which take place every Thursday at 1:00 pm, will now be delivered in a hybrid format to be accessible for those who cannot make it to our office. Students can expect a new issue on stands at every KPU campus twice a month once again.
We have some exciting projects that will be coming your way now that we are in person. One of them is creating a podcast for students to give our readers a different method of consuming news. We want The Runner to be a place where folks can get their news by either reading, watching, or listening.
Since the campus is open, we would love to get to know more about our current contributors and meet new ones as well. We plan to host virtual mixers and maybe some in-person for those who are comfortable attending, which will hopefully create a fun environment for everyone.
Contributor Brylian Marin will be in charge of running the mixer activities for us to enjoy, feel free to reach out to us if you would like to be involved in any way.
Through working remotely, our editorial team was able to hire our new Web Editor Rachel De Freitas. She manages The Runner’s website and social media accounts by posting the stories that matter most to you.
We have also hired Claudia Culley as our Video Producer who will edit all the videos that we post on our YouTube channel. She is also in charge of creating new and engaging content for our viewers. Netanya Castillo, our first Video Producer, could not stay with us, but we thank her for being a pioneer of dedicated video production at The Runner.
The Community Reporter position has been filled by Abby Luciano, who has been an active contributor. She will be reporting on events and important issues in and around the KPU community.
Stepping into the in-person production cycle will be an adventure for me as Editor in Chief since being first elected last October and again in June this year. But it will also be the first time for other staff members who were hired while fully working from home.
Our Staff Writer Esther Amankop Udoh, who was hired last summer, will be helping us for the first time with the in-person production process of the paper. Dani Penaloza, our previous Community Reporter, has now moved to Ontario and we all wish her the best of luck! We appreciate her work and the time she took to edit and write articles that were important to all KPU students.
This fall will also be our Production Manager Amanda Perley’s first time working with everyone in-person after being hired at the beginning of the pandemic. She is in charge of laying out the issues that many KPU students read online and now in print.
We still have some familiar faces at The Runner, like Kyler Emerson, our Associate Editor. He is in charge of editing and assisting the editors in whatever way he can.
Braden Klassen, our Managing Editor, oversees editing and manages our production cycles. Our Graphics and Humour Editor, Kristen Frier, is responsible for overseeing and often taking every beautiful photo and creating every piece of art you see in our issues. She also manages our newly added humour section. And Scott Boux, Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society Operations Manager, runs the office and manages organizational infrastructure.
The work we do at The Runner wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for all these staff members and our contributors who work to deliver news, culture and opinion stories from in and around KPU.
If you are one of our readers, feel free to swing by our office on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. We have coffee, tea, cookies, and a bunch of smiley faces you probably won’t see because of our masks. We can’t wait to be a part of in-person interactions and meet many more masked faces around campus.
