If you’re reading this article, you may have picked up a copy of The Hoot on a walk around campus. Maybe you found a copy in the Campus Center, maybe you found one in the Shlounge or maybe you grabbed a copy when you were grabbing food from Upper Usdan.
Wherever you may have found this article, you’ve found it. And I’ll venture a guess that you’re also a Brandeis student, maybe even a first-year looking to try out a new extracurricular activity as you enter a new chapter in your life.
If any of those things are true, or if you’ve been in college for a little while and are just looking to join a new club, I’d like to pitch The Hoot to you.
The Brandeis Hoot is your community newspaper, and we focus on delivering relevant news that covers all sides of the story. Our writers talk to the people who run this university (like President Ron Liebowitz), talented artists (like Susan Dibble) and student leaders (like Student Union President Noah Risley ’24).
And that’s just in the news and features sections. We’ve also got a sports section where our writers give summaries and opinions on both professional and Brandeis sports teams, and even have the opportunity to interview athletes. Our arts section has book reviews, movie reviews, on-campus theater reviews, student artwork, a comic strip and more. But, best of all, there’s the opinions section where you can read objectively truthful articles about food, life and politics written by myself and others.
In short, The Hoot provides an opportunity for any Brandeis student to write about anything they want. But, there are opportunities beyond writing too. Creating a newspaper each week requires articles to be edited, pages to be properly formatted, promotional social media posts to be created, accompanying photos to be taken: it truly takes a village to publish The Hoot each week.
But, that’s why I’m writing this piece: specifically because it takes a village to make The Hoot. We want you to come join us. Bring your talents, the skills you may have picked up in high school or even just a desire to have something to do each week. We want you to work for us, we want to learn from you, we want you to learn from us and we want to welcome you into our community.
Personally, joining The Hoot was the most important thing that I’ve done during college. It has given me the confidence to pursue freelance writing, the skills to navigate group dynamics and a community that I feel accepted in. That last part, the community, really sticks out to me. The friends I’ve come to know through working on The Hoot each and every week are some of the closest friends I’ve made at Brandeis, and I wouldn’t trade The Hoot for the world.
In short, The Hoot is just fantastic. When I joined during my freshman year, I never expected that I’d be writing an article like this, begging other Brandeis students to join me in creating something that I love, but here I am. So, if you’re still reading, I hope I’ve convinced you to write, edit, take photos, design layouts, make social media posts, or do literally anything for The Hoot. I promise that if you join, you’ll find a loving community and learn more than you thought was possible.
