Student-run Eagle keeps USU Price informed
College newspapers across the state publish articles by the students, for the students. These journalists aim to cover all the important stories pertinent to their respective communities. One such paper is Utah State University Eastern’s The Eagle, 158 miles away in Price, Utah.
The Eagle has served USU Eastern for 85 years, back when it was dubbed College of Eastern Utah. The Eagle was founded alongside the school in 1937 where it began as a yearbook and morphed into a fully student-run newspaper.
Jose Briseno, the faculty advisor for The Eagle and assistant coach for USU Eastern’s baseball team, is earning his bachelor’s in journalism at the Price campus.
“Not only has it kept a record of events happening on campus since 1937, but it has also allowed students to fill their creative desires in many different ways,” Briseno wrote in an email to The Utah Statesman.
Publishing The Eagle requires skills beyond writing, like photography, layout design and effective communication skills. Putting all of these elements together into a clean paper is best accomplished by a devoted team and passionate leadership.
“I love that I am able to help students learn journalism,” Briseno wrote. “Print journalism still has a place in the digital world. I love being able to help students advance in what they do and to see them grow. That is one of the more satisfying parts of the job, I love to see my students grow and develop throughout the school year.”
Briseno was first drawn to journalism in fall of 2020, when he did photography for the paper.
“I was interested in taking pictures but learned that the staff was looking for a baseball/softball writer. I grew up playing baseball and thought I would try my hand at sports writing,” Briseno wrote. “I instantly fell in love and decided to pursue journalism as my degree.”
Briseno stuck with the paper and rose to the position of faculty advisor, where he works with The Eagle team to coordinate assignments and design each biweekly edition of the paper.
Journalists like Briseno report on a broad spectrum of news — from the most celebratory to the most devastating.
“Though circumstances aren’t always the best for some of our best stories, we wrote about the tragic passing of one of USU Eastern’s women’s soccer players, Lauren Bradshaw,” Briseno wrote. “I was glad that we were able to cover the event in a way that honored Lauren’s life. Our next print edition will actually be covering an event this next week that will honor Lauren at the one-year anniversary of her passing.”
The Eagle experienced rapidly shifting leadership before landing on Briseno.
“Our department head, Dr. Susan Polster stepped away from her role as advisor in Spring of 2021. Since her departure, I am the fourth advisor in two years, just because the past advisors had different career opportunities,” Briseno wrote.
The Eagle team has since settled, and with Briseno at the helm they work every week to write and publish stories for the Price community.
Many hands and many minds come together to create each edition, such as editor-in-chief, Wyatt Boyle. Boyle is a third-year journalism and communication major.
“I write, layout, and edit articles for the newspaper. Pretty standard, textbook stuff,” Boyle wrote. “I’d like to say I do everything, but that’s simply not true. We have tons of talented photographers, podcasters and other writers that do things and cover topics that I can’t.”
Boyle joined The Eagle as a writer in his freshman year at USU Eastern. Boyle largely writes fun, lighthearted stories on top of his editorial duties.
“I think my best two stories have been ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 Review’ and ‘Guide to Rizz.’ They’re both articles I feel like I could come back and improve on now, but I’m still proud of them,” Boyle wrote. “I think the quality and writing of my Bad Batch review was extremely high, and it was fun sharing the rizz guide with everyone and seeing their reactions to it.”
Student-run efforts like The Eagle help bridge the gap between people otherwise isolated. The Eagle keeps USU Eastern’s 2,100 student body informed.
“Parents and faculty love flipping through the paper and seeing what we’ve written,” Boyle wrote. “We also don’t have any kind of yearbook or other way of recording events, this paper is it. Even if it’s not something that’s valued extremely highly now, it’s something that students and alumni can look back on in the years to come and hopefully get some good memories out of.”
It isn’t all about pumping out articles and crafting picture-perfect layouts — The Eagle team shared some of the most valuable moments come simply from connecting with fellow writers.
“My favorite part about being on The Eagle is getting to hang out with my advisor Jose, managing editor Bella, Department Head Susan, and our staffers,” Boyle wrote. “I love them all to death, and it’s always fun sitting around our newspaper lab and just getting to talk and laugh with everyone.”
Second-year journalism and communication major Isabella Mohel is the managing editor for The Eagle. She shared a similar sentiment to Boyle.
“Every semester when we get new students, our staff has always been close,” Mohel wrote. “These are my people and this is my safe place. I get to do my favorite hobbies of laying out and writing, with people I enjoy.”
As a managing editor, Mohel is in charge of laying out pages of the paper and making sure it’s ready to be published, printed and distributed to students at USU Eastern and the larger Price community. She also writes for The Eagle.
“I joined The Eagle fall semester of 2022,” Mohel wrote. “I have always had a passion for writing, for as long as I can remember. I write a lot of news stories and it’s hard to pick a favorite because they’re all so different. If I had to choose, I think I would have to choose my article about the missing jet that was released in our last issue.”
Like many collegiate journalists, Mohel got her start in news writing during high school.
“I instantly got on the staff for the high school newspaper,” Mohel wrote. “My advisor of the high school paper was one of my biggest motivators to continue journalism. He always encouraged me and pushed me to be better. He took our whole staff on a field trip to USUE to meet the head of journalism, Dr. Susan Polster. Susan introduced me to the staff and I immediately fell in love with the environment.”
News has grown with each generation, and while most media today is consumed digitally, there are many who recall fondly receiving a paper at their doorstep.
“Growing up my grandpa loved getting the newspaper everyday so I always thought the newspaper was important and that the people who created the paper were famous,” Mohel wrote.
Media and news distribution is an ever-evolving medium, and with each era comes an entirely new set of rules. At its core, it will always remain a means for people to connect with one another.