I never thought I would return to a newsroom after I graduated high school. I thought my days of filtering through files of photos to place on my DPS (that’s double page spread for you non-journalism kids) and writing news articles were behind me. But here I sit, in the corner office of The Sunflower newsroom, not writing articles, but selling advertising space.

My first two months of serving as advertising manager have come and gone, and I still find myself bustling around the newsroom trying to get myself reacquainted with journalism lingo and figuring out the proper setting to use on the microwave to pop a bag of popcorn. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

For those that don’t know me, I’m a bit of an optimist. Although I tend to have a cool, collected, go-with-the-flow demeanor, I have high goals set for myself and my sales staff over the upcoming school year, and I’m excited to share these with you, our loyal readers.

The Sunflower has officially partnered with KMUW radio to promote media outlets on campus. KMUW will feature ads in the Sunflower weekly throughout the school year, and the Sunflower will be featured on their radio broadcasts as sponsors. We will also be holding special contests in cooperation with KMUW throughout the year, so be sure to stay tuned with KMUW and the Sunflower for more information. Tune in to 89.1 and listen for The Sunflower’s spots and their awesome news stories, because frankly, “you are infinitely more interesting when listening to KMUW.”

If you ride the shuttle bus around campus in the fall, you will notice something new at each stop. The Sunflower is planning on installing outdoor newspaper racks at each shuttle stop to both boost readership and have our newspapers more accessible to you.

And finally, we are planning some big technological changes to alter our online presence, including an updated website, more use of social media platforms, and a potential new mobile application. We will have more information as these projects are further developed.

The Sunflower is a bit of a family tradition, as I am one of many of my relatives to work for this newspaper. I’m honored to be working here, and am excited to see how the Sunflower grows this year.

And to you, the readers: thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read this and every article in this publication. I hope you pick up every newspaper from here on out. It takes a lot of man-hours to create one edition of the Sunflower, and there is no better feeling than seeing something you’ve worked to help create being read and shown-off across campus and the community.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, Shockers. I’ll see you on Aug. 18.