Sit down with The Chimes' Managing Editor Samaree Perkins to hear about her journey with journalism.
Not only does Samaree hold a management position with The Chimes, she is also the Senior Resident Assistant of West Campus, a member of the volleyball and basketball teams, and the social media chair of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC).
As a Journalism student, Samaree was required to take publication practicum, a course partnered with The Chimes to give students experience writing stories for a publication. Through this course, she fell in love with journalism and The Chimes, which made her want to stay in the organization after her practicum concluded. She realized journalism is a great career path that she was interested in pursuing.
Samaree's favorite part of The Chimes is the weekly staff meetings. She said, "There are so many diverse people on campus and our reporters always come in with interesting stories and compelling interviews and they work super hard to bring great journalism and great stories to our audiences."
Because Capital is such a small university, The Chimes must be diligent in ensuring the organization is acting ethically. One main ethical dilemma comes with conflicts of interest. Many Chimes reporters are involved in multiple organizations on campus, so to avoid practicing bad ethics, reporters can't report on something they have a close relation to. As Managing Editor, Samaree has had to learn to use her best judgment when assigning stories to reporters to make sure conflicts of interest stay at a minimum.
An important skill Samaree has learned in The Chimes is communication. She said, "I talk to my peers, the staff, faculty, so just learning how to communicate with different people effectively is a great skill I've learned in The Chimes." Other skills include teamwork, resilience, and open-mindedness.
