Each year, graduating editors are given 30 final column inches to reflect on their time at The Hatchet, published in the final issues of the year. Journalists historically used “-30-” to signify the end of a story.
You don’t need raw journalistic talent to work at The Hatchet – you just need to care.
I learned that lesson early on at GW. In October of my freshman year, I hurried back from a Halloween party to write a Hatchet story. It was one of my first – I’d heard students were being unnecessarily sent to the GW Hospital for intoxication, and I wanted to get the story right. I didn’t even bother to change out of my hot dog costume, and I ended up falling asleep with my hands on the keyboard, trying to get my first draft done.
Media Credit: Lindsay Paulen | Staff Photographer
Each year, graduating editors are given 30 final column inches – “30” was historically used to signify the end of a story – to reflect on their time at The Hatchet, published in the final issues of the year.
I came to GW shy and awkward but eager and ready to learn. I didn’t know where I would fit in but knew I wanted to join the student newspaper.
I don’t remember how it came to be, but I ended up in that musty townhouse basement during one of the first weeks of my freshman year for a photo meeting. As the year passed, I attended more meetings, usually sitting on the floor next to Arielle Bader, and took more and more assignments. I’m sure I was awkward, and I remember being a little scared of the older staff members, especially the ever so elusive Olivia Anderson. I remember being annoyed once because she asked me to redo a very simple assignment that I had messed up. It wasn’t until I worked with her later that