Here’s another speech I gave toward the end of the year. I’m planning on teaching the Journalism merit badge this summer, and I’m really excited to deliver some impassioned words to impressionable young minds about something that I really care about.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the inaugural Reporter Magazine Press Banquet. My name is Andy Rees, I was the editor in chief for this magazine from 2009 to 2010. Today we are gathered to celebrate the work of some 60 staff writers, editors, photographers, illustrators and designers, who worked countless hours to produce Rochester’s premiere student publication.
This year, we celebrated 100 years of student press at this university. A century ago, a small band of kids, no older than us, had it in their minds to elevate their thoughts and words from the din of mediocre conversation and to put them down on paper. They did what we do. Journalism.
In a time when the media is ridiculed for being too liberal, too conciliatory, too un-American, it is important to remember that Journalism is the most American of institutions. It is the foundation of a strong democracy, it is the way we check authority. But most importantly it is the purest expression of the human experience; the desire to tell our story, to declare that we were here.
When you pick up a Reporter, realize that you are holding in your hands the record of our lives. This magazine is us. We are the words and pictures contained within. Every week, when this publication hits the stands, we are standing behind it, yelling into the darkness: “We were here.”
So as you all sit here tonight, watching these story tellers getting handed pieces of paper for a job well done, remember that their job is never done. Remember that they have accepted the responsibility of making sure that we are not forgotten. So clap vigorously. They deserve it.
Thank you.”
– Delivered May 15, 2010 at the inaugural Reporter Magazine Award Ceremony
