Past editors share experiences.
The Reflector has been through many changes and transitions with each school year and with every new editor-in-chief who has taken charge.
Adrian Kendrick was editor-in-chief for the 2009-2010 school year. She currently writes for the Indianapolis Recorder and Indiana Minority Business magazine, freelance writes several magazines and ghostwrites for the university president.
Kendrick reminisced about the memories she has of Fridays when the editors produce and put together the newspaper.
“It was early in the morning, and I was there with Jacki [Dillman] working on some pages. It was that time of morning when we had been in there so long our minds went, and we decided to decorate the newsroom,” Kendrick said. “It was times like those when we could turn on the music, tell jokes, laugh with the guys and get to know each other.”
Jaclyn Dillman, Kendrick’s successor as editor-in-chief, currently resides in Virginia.
Dillman, a newlywed, recently married her college sweetheart Anders Klintoe, who also graduated from UIndy.
“When I first went to The Reflector I was a staff writer for three weeks before I became the Distribution Manager. The next year, I was Feature Editor, and then my junior year I was Editor-in-Chief,” Dillman said. “I spent a semester studying abroad in Greece, so I was a guest writer writing opinions from Athens. That was pretty fun.”
During the 2008-2009 school year, under the leadership of Samantha Cotten, The Reflector won numerous awards including the Pacemaker, an award given to college newspapers and individual staffers for excellent quality. Kendrick said that winning the Pacemaker was exciting, but also one of the most stressful times of her career because The Reflector’s name was called last and she said the time leading up was nerve-racking.
Dillman talked about the joy and also the stress that came with being editor-in-chief.
“My junior year I was taking two applied courses, so I had to balance speech team and my job on The Reflector, as well as other duties. My first semester, I didn’t get to go home and see my family until Thanksgiving. And then also during that time, I was a Presidential Assistant.”
One such day came during that first semester when Dillman said she was “running on empty.”
“We had Lugar Day in December, and that weekend was production. I didn’t get out of the office until 5:30 in the morning, then had to run home to change for Lugar Day, That was starting at 7. I worked that until 4:30 p.m., then went back to the office to finish working. I was running on 40 hours without sleep, but that was normal for the job,” she said.
Two other former editors-in-chief are Joy Hernandez and Valerie Miller Wahlstrom, during 2004 and 2006, respectively.
Wahlstrom, who is now the digital communications editor for UIndy, talked about her favorite and least favorite memories with the newspaper
“When I got on first as a freshman, my first story assignment was to interview the president at the time,” Wahlstrom said. “I have always enjoyed being able to talk to interesting people. My least favorite part of the job was stories falling through on production Friday and all the stress it caused.”
Hernandez, who now works at WISH-TV as a television photographer, was working on The Reflector as well as UIndy TV5 when the Fifth Third Bank on campus was robbed.
“There was six inches of snow, but I had such an adrenaline rush that I took the camera and ran to the house where the SWAT team was surrounding and was filming the action besides reporters from WISH and The [Indianapolis] Star,” Hernandez said. “I have no idea how long I was out there, and at one point my battery did die, but we had a job to do and my adrenaline was going nuts,” she said.
All four women had their part in The Reflector’s history and spoke highly of their time writing and encouraging students who are interested in writing to go ahead and join the staff. But more importantly, they encouraged students to work hard and prove themselves to their editors and superiors.
“Don’t be afraid to dive in,” Kendrick said. “It truly is one of the most rewarding experiences you may have.”
