Every Tuesday, 3000 issues of The University Star are brought to Print. Founded in 1911, The University Star is a student-run news organization at Texas State University and one of the oldest publications in the state. We cover Issues affecting the university and the San Marcos Community. The Star is editorially independent from the university, meaning that students and students alone have all the say on what gets covered and what gets published in the paper every week. I currently serve as the engagement editor or social media manager for The Star, let me tell you a little bit about my experience working for a student-led publication.
Everyday I aim to package at least 3 stories that are posted on our website for consumption on social media. Typically I will take the content from the online version of the story and find the most enticing pieces of the story that still logically tell a story but can draw readers in and them place them into our Instagram feed template, or instagram story template or create a new template from scratch if the content is something that doesn't fit the predetermined ones we have created. Once this is done I move to actually scheduling and posting the content on its respective platform using analytic tools on these platforms to find the best posting times during the day. On various days of the week I have other recurring tasks such as our twice a week email newsletter, Weekend in San Marcos segment, Top stories of the week segment and highlighting the newest issue of the week segment. I also have to always be ready to quickly and efficiently disseminate breaking news as it unfolds in real time on our social media platforms, for example with the recent threat at San Marcos High School in September.
While it may seem mundane and unimportant to some, I believe that this student journalism is important and an integral part of the San Marcos community. With the only other paper in town being The San Marcos Record, with a smaller staff and newsroom than The Star we take a key role in amplifying the voices of not just the students on campus but of the community. To put it plainly if we didn't report on the local issues affecting us all then a lot of them just wouldn't get covered. It's also an important space for fostering the growth of the next generation of reporters and digital professionals that will eventually enter the media landscape with most people having no other way to get the type of hands-on experience that is offered while working at The Star.
