My first article for The Tribune was not for News, the section for which I’m now an editor, but for the Arts and Entertainment (A&E) section. 

This is not an uncommon story. A&E is one of our most popular sections, and it attracts writers eager to share their takes on music, film, theatre, and television every week. It was this same love for the arts that compelled me to write a review of the show Human Resources in 2022 and to continue contributing to the section. 

The first time I sat in on a meeting for the Sports section, I had originally been planning on attending a Tuesday night A&E pitch meeting. That evening, I peered into The Tribune’s office to find that there was a particularly large group of contributors excited for the A&E editors to get started. Feeling a sudden rush of stress at the thought of joining the crowd, I sat down with the only other section meeting at the same time. This group was mercifully—sorry Sports, it’s just the truth—much smaller. 

I walked out of the University Centre that night having picked up a pitch not on celebrity drama or a local poetry slam, but on Varsity Basketball. I attended the game, loved it, and covered another the following week. A couple of months later, I found myself a Staff Writer for Sports. 

At this time, I had little prior knowledge of many sports that the section covered. I tried my best to arrive at games prepared, but there were moments during play when I had to split the screen of my laptop into two embarrassing halves: My notes on the left side, a diagram explaining rugby referee hand signals on the right. 

I recount this to highlight that complete beginners are welcome in all sections at The Tribune. Our paper seeks to not only produce high-quality articles that carry out our mandate and commitment to anti-oppressive journalism, but to foster a learning environment where students have the chance to grow as writers and reporters. Although I started as a beginner, the guidance of then-Sports Editors Tillie Burlock and Sarah Farnand helped me improve and gain confidence in my coverage.

Picking up the style and method of a new section also led me to unexpected skills and interests that I would have otherwise not discovered. Navigating post-game conversations with coaches and athletes taught me the basics of interviewing. From writing recaps of games, I learned how to summarize events and organize an article around the most crucial details. What started as a kernel of interest for sports coverage grew into a broader passion for reporting. Without Sports, I would have never started writing regularly for News.

I’m far from the only writer to venture beyond my go-to section. By contract stipulation, every editor at The Trib must pen a feature, a governance piece for News, and, uh, an Off the Board for Opinion. Though the paper has a central style guide, each section has its own motivating questions, types of articles, and approaches to reporting that make it unique. To me, this means that when writers venture beyond their typical page of the paper, it’s a chance for them to bring different ways of writing and thinking about university life to other sections. Cross-section pollination enriches the hive as well as the bees.

To any contributors, staff writers, and editors who feel a spark of interest to write for a new section, I recommend following it—especially if it’s telling you to write for News! These days, our pitch meetings are looking very inviting to those afraid of crowds! That curiosity yields multifaceted approaches to student journalism that strengthen our paper, and for me, it led me to the section I now call home.

Split your screen into two embarrassing halves and see where it takes you.