It’s usually current and former Posties favorite time of year when we all gather for the yearly alumni reunion in Athens. This year, our typical reunion changed due to coronavirus.
Within the few days that Ohio University started canceling events and moving classes online, the alumni and I began discussing plans for what we would do for the alumni reunion. We realized that unfortunately, we would have to cancel it out of the health and safety for everyone.
A typical alumni reunion would have The Post staff spending a Saturday with alumni in Scripps Hall 111, where we share our favorite Athens’ lunches, catch up on the past year and talk about the future of The Post. We have an alumni as a speaker and then several alumni as panelists for a different topic each year. This year, we would have been discussing sports journalism.
On Sunday morning, we all meet in the newsroom to talk about internships, jobs and life after graduation. Alumni are able to see what’s the same or different in the newsroom. It is more casual and is a great opportunity for current Posties to hear from alumni.
Since the event was canceled, we decided we still wanted to do some form of reunion. We had a virtual reunion last week over Zoom, a few days after when the alumni reunion weekend was supposed to be. We took several days worth of events into about an hour.
Alumni had questions and concerns about how The Post planned to move forward, including how we were functioning on the day-to-day, plans for the summer and next year and if The Post had enough financial support.
The virtual reunion included an update on the past year of The Post as well as how the publication was continuing to move forward for the remainder of the year. Next year’s editor-in-chief Molly Schramm was able to discuss her plans for next year and how the transition into next year will be different. Our business manager Andrea Lewis was also able to give alumni an update on The Post’s financial situation since plans had changed as a result of business closures and event cancellations.
The alumni were also able to answer questions that current staff members had about what life was like reporting somewhere outside of Athens.
The Post’s Alumni Society President Tristan Navera reminded our staff that although there are a lot of uncertainties, journalists are needed now more than ever. Whether it is working at The Post or working somewhere else after graduation, the work journalists are doing right now is so important to be informing the public.
The virtual reunion was a great reminder to all Posties that no matter what everyone is going through, we have our own group within The Post to look out for each other. It is a time of uncertainty for everyone so it was great to see everyone come together even just for
Current and alumni Posties all know that next year’s reunion will be even more special than the normal reunions we have. We will all be able to come back to Athens and the newsroom. It will be great to see how everyone has changed throughout the year and to be reunited with our Post family once again.
Ellen Wagner is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University and the editor-in-chief of The Post. Have questions? Email Ellen at ew047615@ohio.edu or tweet her @ewagner19.
