Name: Samantha Lavin
Year: Senior
Hometown: Virginia Beach, VA
Major: Business Administration with a Marketing concentration
Meet UNCW senior and The Seahawk newspaper Editor-in-Chief Samantha Lavin. This campus celeb leads her troop of writers and editors to produce weekly news content for the UNCW community. Here, she tells us a bit more about the best parts of her job and responsibilities as EIC .
HC: Tell us a little about what The Seahawk is and what does your job as Editor-in-Chief entail?
SL: The Seahawk is UNCW’s student run newspaper, and we publish online every week and print every other week. As Editor-in-Chief, I run a staff of editors and writers to produce content for our website and print editions. I also am working on getting an app for mobile phones running along with other student media organizations, so that The Seahawk will be mobile friendly! I am super excited for this new app and bringing The Seahawk into a more digital format!
HC: How did you come about being Editor- in-Chief of The Seahawk? What previous work prepared you for this position?
SL: My sophomore year I was Assistant Layout Editor for The Seahawk, helping design the print editions of the paper. Then my junior year, I became Layout Editor where I ran the layout process. I was told that I would make a good Editor-in-Chief, and so I went for an interview in the spring and got the job!
All throughout high school I wrote for my school paper, and designed the paper there as well, so I’ve had a lot of experience in writing and along with the layout side of things. I also wrote for Her Campus for two years and I’ve held an internship with New Hanover Regional Medical Center as their Marketing Intern. So I’m getting a lot of experience on how to present and market the paper for more views.
HC: What has been your favorite article that has been written for the paper to date? Why?
SL: My favorite article so far would have to be an opinion piece published in our most recent print edition called “Uniform Hieroglyphics.” One of our contributing writers, Thomas Mattos, has been publishing random finds throughout the library that he has come across, and I really enjoy seeing and reading about all of these strange books and artifacts.
HC: What section of the paper (news, lifestyle, etc.) is your favorite to read?
SL: Although I do love reading all of the sections, I most enjoy reading the news section. There are a lot of things that I have learned about UNCW that I would not have known otherwise if I had not read several news articles for The Seahawk. It amazes me, the things that I would not have known if I hadn’t read some of the articles we publish.
HC: What is your favorite thing about the paper?
SL: Hands down the staff. I love my editors; they make me so grateful to have such a remarkable team. They are all driven and hard working, and I really appreciate all that the editors and writers contribute to making such an awesome and gratifying organization such as The Seahawk.
HC: Have you written for other publications (on or off campus)?
SL: I have written for Her Campus at UNCW and I have also written several PR pieces for New Hanover Regional Medical Center. I really hope to get more pieces written or designed and published in the future.
HC: What skills have you learned from your position?
SL: I have learned that there are a lot of difficult decisions to be made as a leader of an organization on campus. Also, time management is CRUCIAL. Being a senior at UNCW and having an internship along with being Editor-in-Chief is super time consuming so making sure I have my time organized is very important. My staff is also amazing and they have really taught me that I’m not alone in running The Seahawk and that delegating certain tasks can be a life saver when holding my position.
HC: Do you have any advice for anyone who would want to try to write/edit for The Seahawk or any other publication?
SL: If anyone wants to write for a publication the most important thing to know is try it all. Write for each section that your publication offers to experience what you like the most, and don’t be afraid to bring your own ideas to the table. Typically, writers are more passionate about what they are interested in which leads to phenomenal articles. One more thing…constructive criticism given about your work is a good thing. There is always room for improvement, so embrace feedback and use it to make great work even better!
[Photo credit to Samantha Lavin]