Standpoint with James Eik and Chelsea Schilter

James Eik, incoming editor

Tell me a little about yourself - how long have you been at Eastern and what brought you here?

I grew up in Otis Orchards and have lived in Eastern Washington my entire life. I went to East Valley High School and was one of four editors out there in my senior year. Getting onto the newspaper there was just to fill a slot in my schedule, and it turns out that it's led me to this point. I can't imagine doing anything else - it's fun.

I came to Eastern because it has one of the lower tuitions in the state. I had no idea what I was coming here to major in, and an opportunity to be on The Easterner staff opened up through the Journalism 100 class. From there, I just sort of sneaked my way in.

Why did you decide to take the reins as Editor-in-Chief for next year?

It was sort of forced upon me. It feels like the right thing to do and it is an opportunity I know I won't get anywhere else. Knowing that we have a good reputation behind us, I think that if we can improve upon that, we'll be in great shape for next year.

What qualifies you for the role?

I can stay up until 3 a.m. on Tuesday nights/Wednesday mornings for layout. I've worked here for a while and I understand the system. I'm beginning to get new contacts and I'm starting to understand what goes on behind the scenes here at Eastern.

What challenges lie ahead for The Easterner?

Keeping up the standards that we've set, I think, is a big one. Even the tiniest of mistakes can cause who knows how much damage, one example being the misspelling of names. You know, even just a missing or added letter causes our level of trust to get knocked down a bit.

Any aspects of the paper you're thinking about changing for next year?

We're looking into a potential re-design, including our graphic layout, our Web content and adding more multimedia. In a sense, really just upgrading what we have in place now.

How are you preparing for next year?

Well, the summer months are tougher to get things done with because you have so many people out leading their own lives, but I think the editors who will play an integral part in this paper next year will keep in touch with each other.

In 10 words or less, tell me why students should read The Easterner next year.

Because you won't get this kind of news anywhere else.

Chelsea Schilter, outgoing editor

Tell me a little about yourself and why you originally decided to take the job as Editor-in-Chief?

I transferred here from a junior college on the other side of the state and I started working at The Easterner as a copy editor. From that point I sort of moved up the ladder, first as chief copy editor and then Eagle Life editor. I guess you could say the editor-in-chief position was sort of hoisted on me as well, which makes it sound like a bitter tradition, but really I took it because I thought it was a good opportunity. I knew that it was going to put me a little bit outside my comfort zone - I don't think I really knew how much - but that was going to be healthy.

Ultimately, I thought the newspaper needed some new thoughts and some new blood. I wasn't a journalism major to start out with, so I had some new plans I wanted to implement.

What were the major challenges for you in that position this past year?

Well, we had a high turnover. We hired on so many students who had a wide variety of skills, but very little experience working in this field. It was difficult to train those students and create this cohesive unit and cohesive structure. There's a lot of trust involved in running a newspaper because we're all depending on each other, so I'd say it was most difficult for everyone to acclimate to the people around themselves and not step on any toes.

What have you brought away from the experience?

At one of the conferences we went to, there was a fella who stood up and spoke about how he'd been confronted by situations at his newspaper he'd never expected. One of those was taking on a lot of smaller duties and jobs that previously I'd thought fell under the roles of other people, thinking, "As the editor-in-chief there's no way I'm going to stoop to copy editing." Even so much as going around to buildings and making sure that papers are evenly distributed and that they look clean and are stacked well is important. These little duties like keeping in contact with people all across the campus were really important.

Why is James a good fit for next year's paper?

James is one of the most ethical, hard working and committed people I've worked with here and I have no doubts whatsoever that this will transfer over to next year. I know he places working at this newspaper above multiple other priorities, he works well with people and he works very well under stress.

Are there any aspects of The Easterner you feel could be changed for the better?

Yeah, I think The Easterner should be more fluid of a newspaper. It should change every year to fit the dynamic of the students it serves and the students who work for it. I don't think it should remain a stagnant structure that's maintained over the years. Depending on what next year's staff determines are its strongest values, the newspaper should seek to meet those.

Now that you're done with school, what lies on the horizon for you? Editor of The New Yorker?

I think I'm taking a break from journalism for a while. I'm really looking forward to freelance writing in fiction - getting back to my literature roots, which are what I focused on my first two years here. I'm going to take a just-out-of-college job and work my way around, figuring out if I want to go back to grad school or if I want to join the ranks of productive adults.