I often hear from people in our community about writing for the Daily. Since the Daily is hiring for the 2025/2026 school year, I thought it would be helpful to outline why Iowa State students should apply in hopes that my responses can encourage further participation in student journalism at the Daily in the coming years. However, since my experience has been working in the opinion section, I will limit my answers to what I know firsthand.
First, writing for a school newspaper offers many opportunities for individual development. Students, in particular, can benefit from the writing and research skills that come naturally with composing op-eds. For example, essays and other writing assignments became much easier and more interesting for me when I started to apply certain skills I learned and refined by writing for the Daily. However, if you are interested in editing, reporting, photography, producing and more, the Daily is an excellent place to hone your skills. You will be exposed to plentiful opportunities and a staff who cares and supports its student journalists.
I can attest to this experience myself. It has been really interesting learning about many different things and hearing from people who possess a variety of perspectives and ideological viewpoints. There is a necessity for students and members of our community to be engaged with the issues that concern them, and working for a platform that enables this to happen while accepting people from all walks of life to contribute has been an extremely fruitful experience.
Journalism matters and the Daily offers every resource for students to produce quality content. There is no question that it can be difficult to open up and publicize your work, but these concerns are overshadowed by the overwhelming support that you receive once you do it. People at the Daily are extremely open-minded and welcome outside-the-box thinking, no matter what role you might serve in.
The opinion section is no exception. There are no requirements for an op-ed submission other than it needs to make a case for something. I have received amazing submissions from our community in my time as Opinion Editor and I am excited to see how it can continue to improve in the future.
If you want to positively impact your community while building and refining your technical/social skills, the Iowa State Daily is a fantastic place to work. I sincerely hope all students who read this consider applying. You will not regret it.
If you want to apply or have any questions, you can contact Brayton Kohl and Claire Cosier. I have also included my email below for any additional questions.
