Victory for the Volante
By Bret Hayworth Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, February 25, 2007
Managing editor Liz Gebhart talks to online director David Whitesock at the Volante office. (Staff photos by Jim Lee)
VERMILLION, S.D. -- With a heightened degree of interest, Justin Wolfgang and Liz Gebhart will watch their fellow University of South Dakota students pick up The Volante newspaper.
They observe whether the reader flips through it in a few seconds, tossing the publication aside, or whether the student dwells on a page. Wolfgang and Gebhart want to know how The Volante is received, what articles draw interest, since they are charting the course for what appears in the paper.
Wolfgang, editor of The Volante, said he'll watch see what sections are drawing attention, and he admitted also having a more selfish thought: "Where is my piece? Are they reading it or are they skipping over it, and what do they think?"
Getting a positive reaction, he said, "gives you a little bit more of a pick-me-up to want to keep working on it, because some of us are in here working 40 hours a week and it gets kind of dry sometime."
Gebhart recalled having a class with Volante news editor Jane Gullickson, and "we would sit there and count how many people were reading The Volante and we would keep tallies every single week. They would skip right to the opinion section - 'No, read the news section,'" they'd want to yell.
Those who assess college newspapers didn't flip by The Volante in fall 2006.
The paper won a National Pacemaker Award for 2005-06, which is the equivalent of winning the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism. That marked the sixth time the Volante earned a National Pacemaker Award. The Associated College Press has sponsored the National Pacemaker Award competition since 1927, and The Volante was last honored in 2002-03, then 1997-98 before that.
Gebhart -- the Volante managing editor, former news editor and, before that, news writer -- said she was surprised to win the Pacemaker. She recalled making a USD campus visit when weighing colleges, "and they really pushed that this is an award-winning newspaper, but we hadn't won an award while I've been here. So to get the e-mail (on the Pacemaker), it really felt like a sense of accomplishment that our core group of students was able to pull it together and were able to deliver a quality paper again."
On Wolfgang's computer is posted criteria for Pacemaker awards -- coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting and design/photography/art/graphics. Nailed, nailed, nailed and nailed by the Volante, in his perception.
That said, Wolfgang added, "we hate to be working for awards -- our real duty here is to be serving the student body at USD. But if we feel like we are doing a good job, then why not look for other criteria to motivate us to do more work and to work harder?"
Of The Volante, Megan Maier, a senior anthropology major from Rapid City, S.D., said, "I like some parts of it, some of the parts I don't like so well." She said the Volante's visual appeal is very high, and Maier is particularly drawn to the editorial page, for "over the top" columns there, which she said "get a reaction."
Alyssa Mittleider, a junior from Brookings, S.D., said, "I usually read it Thursday afternoons...It is not something I necessarily go out of the way to get." Mittleider also likes the opinion page for the "In the Know & In the Dark" ratings of current events.
Brian Kaiser, a junior health care services major from Sioux Falls, said "I haven't read (The Volante) all year. I just don't even think about it, I don't see it around." Kaiser grew up reading the Argus Leader and he's sticking with it on campus.
Luke Gaeckle was a Volante reporter until becoming assistant design editor, and he previously wrote reviews of concerts. Gaeckle said "some people didn't like what I said" in his commentaries, and the senior from Sioux Falls related seeing an unmistakable countenance on the face of one reader: "I saw utter disgust."
Gaeckle, who sardonically downplayed his role in Volante production, said "a lot of kids across campus read" The Volante, but many see "it as filler, rather than really an actual source of news -- something you can pickup and flip through between classes."
One other reaction -- Wolfgang related interviewing USD president Jim Abbott, "and he complained about another story, but didn't know that I was the one who wrote it. He totally just talked about how we did it wrong, and he has that right to say that, but I never did tell him."
Students get free rein
It takes about 60 USD students bring the paper together for the weekly Wednesday publication; 50 handling writing, editing and photography, and another 10 for the business side.
Wolfgang said meeting newspaper deadlines is a good trial by fire: "That pressure either cracks some or it helps to improve others. Some people are not cut out for The Volante."
Wolfgang lived a few years in Webster City, Iowa, and nearly went to the University of Iowa. He said at some schools a journalism student may not get the chance to write for the college newspaper until being an upperclassman. Gebhart said she looked into the University of Nebraska, but heard that timing as well. At USD, "I was an assistant editor my second year, I was news editor at the beginning of my junior year," she said.
Wolfgang said the newspaper is open to most anyone with a desire to write. "We don't like to call it taking everybody, we like to have it open," he said.
"We have such a great, dynamic staff. Everyone in here likes to be here, we wouldn't be here for any other reason. We are all journalism majors, pretty much -- there are a few other stragglers, but we accept them. We have common goals and interests, and we all want to go into this for a field someday. We all understand the benefit of getting good experience in college, to help us get jobs and internships."
As for why The Volante thrives, Wolfgang summarized, "We take the opportunities that come from our program, which is really good to us, and we take staffers that understand the importance of what we are doing, and we have a university that lets us do our job, doesn't get in the way, and we have a great staff in our (journalism) department upstairs that teaches us the correct way to do things, from reporter journalism to designer layout to production, so that, once we have all those tools, it just seems to fall in place."
Additionally, he said, scholarships draw solid students into the journalism program annually.
The Volante gets some university funding, but the functioning is "strictly autonomous," Wolfgang said. There is a paper adviser, but Wolfgang said, university personnel have "no ability to decide what we are going to run, don't use prior restraint on anything that they might see... We are left alone. We can go to them for advice, but for the most part we are strictly autonomous."
Sarah Gloden, College of Fine Arts assistant dean and Volante adviser, said "our students work incredibly hard at producing a newspaper that is accurate, relevant, fair and balanced."
Eyeing post-Volante work at dailies
Gullickson, a Brandon, S.D., sophomore who's the news editor, recalled joining the paper as a freshman, when she was "very nervous" about the producing quality pieces and wrote "very little stories." In fact, Gullickson's first article was about 200 words on a bike trail on the south side of Vermillion. "I laugh about it all the time," she recalled.
But she quickly moved up the learning curve, later producing a piece on the Greek system annual Stroller Show, on which she spent six weeks, interviewing 30 people.
Gullickson, a journalism and political science double major, designed pages and wrote headlines on a recent Tuesday as the paper came together. As news editor, she supervises 10 reporters, "some who are very consistent and some who just come when they have time." The Volante news department expectations, Gullickson said, are "that we are all going to work hard and meet deadlines... and really be the students' voice."
Sports editor Vance Janak, a junior from Niobrara, Neb., was "wowed" when paying a visit to the Al Neuharth Media Center and knew he was meant to attend USD. Janak has no doubt journalism is in his future, saying he'd like to be a beat sports writer "for a major daily" newspaper -- hopefully in a city hosting a NASCAR race. Beyond the game stories, he said he particularly enjoys doing personality features on students in sports like track and field, to dig into "the human side of it."
Janak has enjoyed covering successful USD football teams, where he feels he's earned the trust of coaches and players. Of Coyote head coach Ed Meierkort, Janak said, "He is not going to give you any coachspeak," which makes for a good article. He said some coaches may contact the Journal or Argus Leader first, but still give strong credence to the student staffers.
"They know we are professional. We have a newspaper that is very credible," Janak said.
Gebhart said the most recent issue where the young journalists hit a highlight was in fall 2006 when three late-breaking news stories were all brought in on deadline for Page 1 placement. Wolfgang said a news story on the I.D. Weeks Library budget cuts led to the South Dakota Legislature reversing course, which he found satisfying to have a hand in.
The Volante is also available on the Web, and the most reading hits are on news stories, probably by alumni off campus, Wolfgang opined. Another new facet is adding a Reader Advisory Board in 2007, where faculty and students "can come and air their opinions, comments, grievances with us and be able to discuss how The Volante works, so they can get a better understanding of what we do too." Additionally, the paper will push on-line content, via podcasting and posting audio interviews.
"We'd like to really move into the multimedia field, because that is where most papers are going, but not many college papers as of right now. So hopefully we're beating some of the papers on the trend," Wolfgang said.
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
They observe whether the reader flips through it in a few seconds, tossing the publication aside, or whether the student dwells on a page. Wolfgang and Gebhart want to know how The Volante is received, what articles draw interest, since they are charting the course for what appears in the paper.
Wolfgang, editor of The Volante, said he'll watch see what sections are drawing attention, and he admitted also having a more selfish thought: "Where is my piece? Are they reading it or are they skipping over it, and what do they think?"
Getting a positive reaction, he said, "gives you a little bit more of a pick-me-up to want to keep working on it, because some of us are in here working 40 hours a week and it gets kind of dry sometime."
Gebhart recalled having a class with Volante news editor Jane Gullickson, and "we would sit there and count how many people were reading The Volante and we would keep tallies every single week. They would skip right to the opinion section - 'No, read the news section,'" they'd want to yell.
Those who assess college newspapers didn't flip by The Volante in fall 2006.
The paper won a National Pacemaker Award for 2005-06, which is the equivalent of winning the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism. That marked the sixth time the Volante earned a National Pacemaker Award. The Associated College Press has sponsored the National Pacemaker Award competition since 1927, and The Volante was last honored in 2002-03, then 1997-98 before that.
Gebhart -- the Volante managing editor, former news editor and, before that, news writer -- said she was surprised to win the Pacemaker. She recalled making a USD campus visit when weighing colleges, "and they really pushed that this is an award-winning newspaper, but we hadn't won an award while I've been here. So to get the e-mail (on the Pacemaker), it really felt like a sense of accomplishment that our core group of students was able to pull it together and were able to deliver a quality paper again."
On Wolfgang's computer is posted criteria for Pacemaker awards -- coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting and design/photography/art/graphics. Nailed, nailed, nailed and nailed by the Volante, in his perception.
That said, Wolfgang added, "we hate to be working for awards -- our real duty here is to be serving the student body at USD. But if we feel like we are doing a good job, then why not look for other criteria to motivate us to do more work and to work harder?"
Of The Volante, Megan Maier, a senior anthropology major from Rapid City, S.D., said, "I like some parts of it, some of the parts I don't like so well." She said the Volante's visual appeal is very high, and Maier is particularly drawn to the editorial page, for "over the top" columns there, which she said "get a reaction."
Alyssa Mittleider, a junior from Brookings, S.D., said, "I usually read it Thursday afternoons...It is not something I necessarily go out of the way to get." Mittleider also likes the opinion page for the "In the Know & In the Dark" ratings of current events.
Brian Kaiser, a junior health care services major from Sioux Falls, said "I haven't read (The Volante) all year. I just don't even think about it, I don't see it around." Kaiser grew up reading the Argus Leader and he's sticking with it on campus.
Luke Gaeckle was a Volante reporter until becoming assistant design editor, and he previously wrote reviews of concerts. Gaeckle said "some people didn't like what I said" in his commentaries, and the senior from Sioux Falls related seeing an unmistakable countenance on the face of one reader: "I saw utter disgust."
Gaeckle, who sardonically downplayed his role in Volante production, said "a lot of kids across campus read" The Volante, but many see "it as filler, rather than really an actual source of news -- something you can pickup and flip through between classes."
One other reaction -- Wolfgang related interviewing USD president Jim Abbott, "and he complained about another story, but didn't know that I was the one who wrote it. He totally just talked about how we did it wrong, and he has that right to say that, but I never did tell him."
Students get free rein
It takes about 60 USD students bring the paper together for the weekly Wednesday publication; 50 handling writing, editing and photography, and another 10 for the business side.
Wolfgang said meeting newspaper deadlines is a good trial by fire: "That pressure either cracks some or it helps to improve others. Some people are not cut out for The Volante."
Wolfgang lived a few years in Webster City, Iowa, and nearly went to the University of Iowa. He said at some schools a journalism student may not get the chance to write for the college newspaper until being an upperclassman. Gebhart said she looked into the University of Nebraska, but heard that timing as well. At USD, "I was an assistant editor my second year, I was news editor at the beginning of my junior year," she said.
Wolfgang said the newspaper is open to most anyone with a desire to write. "We don't like to call it taking everybody, we like to have it open," he said.
"We have such a great, dynamic staff. Everyone in here likes to be here, we wouldn't be here for any other reason. We are all journalism majors, pretty much -- there are a few other stragglers, but we accept them. We have common goals and interests, and we all want to go into this for a field someday. We all understand the benefit of getting good experience in college, to help us get jobs and internships."
As for why The Volante thrives, Wolfgang summarized, "We take the opportunities that come from our program, which is really good to us, and we take staffers that understand the importance of what we are doing, and we have a university that lets us do our job, doesn't get in the way, and we have a great staff in our (journalism) department upstairs that teaches us the correct way to do things, from reporter journalism to designer layout to production, so that, once we have all those tools, it just seems to fall in place."
Additionally, he said, scholarships draw solid students into the journalism program annually.
The Volante gets some university funding, but the functioning is "strictly autonomous," Wolfgang said. There is a paper adviser, but Wolfgang said, university personnel have "no ability to decide what we are going to run, don't use prior restraint on anything that they might see... We are left alone. We can go to them for advice, but for the most part we are strictly autonomous."
Sarah Gloden, College of Fine Arts assistant dean and Volante adviser, said "our students work incredibly hard at producing a newspaper that is accurate, relevant, fair and balanced."
Eyeing post-Volante work at dailies
Gullickson, a Brandon, S.D., sophomore who's the news editor, recalled joining the paper as a freshman, when she was "very nervous" about the producing quality pieces and wrote "very little stories." In fact, Gullickson's first article was about 200 words on a bike trail on the south side of Vermillion. "I laugh about it all the time," she recalled.
But she quickly moved up the learning curve, later producing a piece on the Greek system annual Stroller Show, on which she spent six weeks, interviewing 30 people.
Gullickson, a journalism and political science double major, designed pages and wrote headlines on a recent Tuesday as the paper came together. As news editor, she supervises 10 reporters, "some who are very consistent and some who just come when they have time." The Volante news department expectations, Gullickson said, are "that we are all going to work hard and meet deadlines... and really be the students' voice."
Sports editor Vance Janak, a junior from Niobrara, Neb., was "wowed" when paying a visit to the Al Neuharth Media Center and knew he was meant to attend USD. Janak has no doubt journalism is in his future, saying he'd like to be a beat sports writer "for a major daily" newspaper -- hopefully in a city hosting a NASCAR race. Beyond the game stories, he said he particularly enjoys doing personality features on students in sports like track and field, to dig into "the human side of it."
Janak has enjoyed covering successful USD football teams, where he feels he's earned the trust of coaches and players. Of Coyote head coach Ed Meierkort, Janak said, "He is not going to give you any coachspeak," which makes for a good article. He said some coaches may contact the Journal or Argus Leader first, but still give strong credence to the student staffers.
"They know we are professional. We have a newspaper that is very credible," Janak said.
Gebhart said the most recent issue where the young journalists hit a highlight was in fall 2006 when three late-breaking news stories were all brought in on deadline for Page 1 placement. Wolfgang said a news story on the I.D. Weeks Library budget cuts led to the South Dakota Legislature reversing course, which he found satisfying to have a hand in.
The Volante is also available on the Web, and the most reading hits are on news stories, probably by alumni off campus, Wolfgang opined. Another new facet is adding a Reader Advisory Board in 2007, where faculty and students "can come and air their opinions, comments, grievances with us and be able to discuss how The Volante works, so they can get a better understanding of what we do too." Additionally, the paper will push on-line content, via podcasting and posting audio interviews.
"We'd like to really move into the multimedia field, because that is where most papers are going, but not many college papers as of right now. So hopefully we're beating some of the papers on the trend," Wolfgang said.
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
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Rochelle Pfeifer wrote on Feb 27, 2007 9:48 PM: