The Maneater
The University of Missouri's top student publication, The Maneater, has been active on campus for over 75 years, and it has been an honor to be part of this Mizzou tradition. My freshman year, I served as a News Reporter, and this year I am a News Editor, allowing me to oversee a staff of 30 writers. My staff page on their website is available here.
I usually stick to news, but when the opportunity to write for the MOVEMag, the Maneater's annual arts and culture magazine, came to me, I couldn't turn it down. I collaborated with a MOVE reporter to profile a student lighting designer and highlight his love for the art form, even as it keeps him out of the spotlight himself.
As an editor, I have fewer chances to write this year, but when no staffers are available to cover an important story, I occasionally step up to take it on myself. That was the case with this piece, which highlighted a student group's protest over the city's sharing of surveillance data.
This was a quick news piece based on a press release we received from MSA, Mizzou's student government organization. Nobody on news staff was interested in the pitch, but the editorial board felt it was important to cover so I quickly wrote a piece summarizing the resolution and what it might mean.
When Charlie Kirk died in September, it was too early in the school year for my fellow editors and I to feel comfortable sending a new staffer to the event. We wanted to make sure we were delicate with the sensitive subject matter, so I offered to attend the event and write a breaking news story that became our top-viewed social post to
date.
On the evening of the Columbia municipal election, there was no sure way of predicting who would be elected. However, I was the only reporter on the story, so I made stops at three election watch parties and gathered enough content for a short write-up regardless of winner.
On a shopping trip downtown, a friend and I wandered into a store and stroke up a conversation with the owner, sho explained that the place would be reopening as a café with new managers. I was intrigued by the story, and decided to write a news feature on the change in management.
After the student government forum, I stepped my coverage up a level to include city council and school board candidates. Compiling a greater amount of information proved to be a challenge, but was even more rewarding when complete.
I took the lead on 2025 mayoral election coverage for the Maneater, and this campus event was the first step in that process, resulting in an article which summarized each candidate's position on key topics.
I started this article planning to write event coverage of an open house event at the bug museum, but quickly discovered that there was more to the story, as several curators and researchers expressed fears that budget cuts might eliminate the museum's existence.
As my first true news story with the Maneater, this piece challenged me to write in a city I knew very little about. While I struggled to find and make contact with sources early in the process, I eventually found my footing, and a better understanding of systems in Columbia.
Prior to the 2024 presidential election, I came up with the idea to interview students outside of the polls about their hopes, fears, and values when voting. I suggested that this could be a collaborative project between news, photo, and socials. The final project included portraits of students on a graphic with their quotes, which were posted on Instagram stories throughout the day, and a collection of quotes posted on our website, which I organized into themes.