Stan State’s campus newspaper, The Signal, is an entirely student-run newspaper that covers many topics that affect students and campus life, both positively and negatively. These articles can range from student discounts to campus life or even how politics are affecting campus.
Articles that are released from the paper will typically come from The Signal staff and Signal reporters from the journalism lab course. Additionally, students who are not on the staff or in the journalism classes can submit articles to the campus newspaper’s email.
At Stan State there are two courses offered for students, where they will learn how to write and improve their own articles and can share their writings with The Signal.
They can take Writing for the Media, Jour 2150, with Professor Rachel Grimshaw. As well as the Journalism Laboratory, Jour 3012, with Professor Pamela Young and Professor Shannon Stevens, PH.D.
Veronica Sexton (Alumni, Creative Media) the lead editor for the Signal in Spring 2025, explained how the Writing for the Media class, “is a first introduction into AP news style and that is your basic foundation to being able to get into a potential role with the Signal.”
“I would recommend that students definitely take that class and then also sign up to take the journalism lab,” said Sexton when discussing the two offered classes.
In Jour 2150, students will spend the semester learning about the different aspects that go into writing an article and will write 2 articles which they can send to the Signal if comfortable.
While in Jour 3012, students are reporters and will continue to learn how to improve their writings as they write 6 articles throughout the entire semester to be published on the Signal site.
After articles are sent into the Signal Staff, editors will adjust the articles to make sure the article can be easily understood by readers and fit the AP Style guidelines. These articles will go through a team of beats editors, to a media integration team and then to a final publication editor.
“We have different beats like campus culture, health and wellness, arts and entertainment, and so depending on the topic of their article then it’s submitted to that specific beat editor, once the editor has gone through and copy edited their article that the students have submitted. Then it goes to integration and then once it goes to integration then it’s all laid out and then I get it back from integration” explained Sexton.
After the stories are published they are shared across The Signals social media accounts. Their social media accounts range from Facebook to Bluesky to Youtube to Linkedin to X (Twitter) and their main and most active account is their Instagram.
Olivia Morris (Alumni, Communication Studies), the social media and marketing producer for Spring 2025, explained how “Reading a student newspaper like the Signal, is really cool because students have such a unique and personal perspective that faculty might not be able to communicate and especially with Stan State there are a lot of people with diverse experiences.”
“Whether it be Signal staff members or students who are interviewed, there’s so much that you can learn about from reading one article from the Signal,” said Morris.
Even though there is a very thorough process for staff and reporters to go through when publishing stories, working with The Signal gives students the chance to get more involved on campus and a chance to meet new people.
Malina Duran (Alumni, Creative Media) a past signal editor, shared how the Signal made an impact on her college experience and how it helped her in the long run.
“I would say that my experience in journalism at Stan State really heightened my confidence and my ability to talk to people as well as listen. I knew when to give people time to think about their response and to also listen intentionally and just be generally curious about people’s stories. I think that was one of the biggest takeaways I’ve had.” said Duran.
