We all admire the wonderful goddess who blesses our inboxes when Mid Mad is held each month, but who is this wonderful figure? The fabulous Katelyn Schwartz, of course! A senior from Blairstown, New Jersey, Kate sat down with me for a few minutes to share who has been behind the Weekend Update for the past four years.
1. How did you become the writer of the Weekend Update?
Freshman year, I noticed that advertising on campus was weak– posters were always torn down and students did not read the Student Digest. I ended up interviewing for the Communications and Marketing Coordinator for the Office of Student Activities (now Office of Student Activities and Greek Life), wanting to market events to students in ways that they access news (social media, email, TVs and signs) in hope to make posters and the “copy” for advertising easier to remember.
It was my first-ever interview and I was really nervous, but after earning this job and continuing it for all four years, I definitely know that this is the field I would like to go into after graduation. And it’s really funny because no one knows who I am. I have had several people come up to me and admit that they thought that Katelyn Schwartz was a little old woman invading their inbox!
2. What is the process in writing the Weekend Update each week?
When I first started, I made all of the images into jpegs, which unfortunately crashed the entire server. Oops! It has definitely been a lot of trial and error because each Update is a freewrite as I do not work off of a template. I usually do research the week prior to publication where I contact the heads of the organizations who are on the Student Calendar for hosting events and then I compile all of the information, rating which events several groups of students would be interested in. It then takes me about one to two hours to format all of the information. I have to transform all of the images into gifs so that I do not crash the server again, and I also test the format out on the computer and several different types of phones so that the format does not look funky when it is sent out to the entire student body.
3. What are you involved in on campus?
Along with this job, I am also the Treasurer of HerCampus, I do the digital PR for TEDx Gettysburg College, I am the Captain of the Golf Team, and I am a member of the new colony, Alpha Omicron Pi.
4. Do you think that you attend more Gettysburg Events because you write about them every week?
It is hard to go to every event since everyone at this school has such busy schedules, but I am definitely more aware of what’s going on on campus considering I am doing research on clubs and events each week, which makes me much more willing to support what Gettysburg’s clubs are offering!
Quick Quotes:
1. Cold weather necessity: Hot chocolate a dollop of whipped cream
2. One thing on your Gettysburg Bucket List: Jumping into the fountain before Graduation (obviously J)
3. Favorite Servo meal: Not counting Thanksgiving, Chicken Bruschetta…Isn’t it everyone’s?