Published: October 30, 2009 09:45 am      

Roadrunner delivering news to Dalton State College

The first issue of the monthly student newspaper The Roadrunner is out on racks at Dalton State College.

With three staff writers, a faculty adviser and a partnership with The Daily Citizen, organizers hope the current 12-page tabloid is just the start of what will become a long-standing tradition.

The newspaper includes feature stories, news, opinion columns and photographs, all related to the college campus in some way. The Daily Citizen prints, designs and sells advertisements for The Roadrunner at no cost to the college. The college controls content and distributes the free publication on campus.

Editor Erica Lalak said she’s looking for more people to get involved with the paper by contributing articles and photographs. A freshman who attended Fannin County High School in Blue Ridge, Lalak worked on her high school yearbook and newspaper and plans a career in journalism after graduation.

“I love learning about new things and seeing new places and talking to new people,” she said. “My favorite part of being a journalist or a writer is actually the interviews.”

Publisher William Bronson said The Daily Citizen will on request train students to work on various aspects of the newspaper, including layout and design, advertising, business, writing, editing and photography. Daily Citizen staff laid out the first issue and contributed several photographs.

Newspaper adviser Keith Perry, an English professor, said he hopes to eventually recruit enough students to produce the newspaper almost entirely on their own.

“There’s been a student newspaper here since the very beginning, but it’s been published sporadically at best,” he said. “I want something that’s longer, that’s more in-depth, that covers the entire campus in a way that no student publication ever has.”

Student activities director Jamie Hall said students have been pushing hard in the past year for a newspaper of their own.

“Right now they’re hoping to do one every month,” Hall said, “but I think ... as the campus expands in general, there will eventually be a need for it to be every other week.”

Bronson said the recent unveiling of the Grow Greater Dalton and Archway Partnership initiatives highlighted the need to improve quality of life and expand on local offerings. This is one way for the newspaper to participate in community service, he said. Newspaper managers and college officials are also discussing internships.

Daily Citizen executive editor Jimmy Espy said the idea for the partnership came out of a managers meeting.

“We just felt like the college ought to have a publication of its own,” Espy said. “There’s a built-in readership there that wasn’t being serviced. We also hope to spot some talent out there.”



Roadrunner participation

Students interested in working for the Roadrunner should e-mail adviser Keith Perry at kperry@daltonstate.edu.