Ethan Bachand ‘22
Former Editor-In-Chief
While most people spend their first few weeks on the Hill trying to figure out what clubs they want to join, I knew before that orientation week drive up Linden Lane that I wanted to be a part of The Spire. As a member of my high school’s newspaper, it felt like an organic continuation of my interest and a fun way to engage with the campus community.
Over four years, I got to cover everything from those one-night SPUD events to serious issues that affected students and workers on the campus. I sat with both Fr. Boroughs and President Rougeau for both routine interviews and questions about serious events that happened just a day or two before. In a single day, I could go from a serious conversation such as those to a light-hearted conversation with Bob Chesney before they flew out to South Dakota. Be it different professors, deans, workers, or students, there was always another interesting conversation to have with a member of the Holy Cross Community.
Out of four years of writing in the News section, my favorite story will always be that of the Holy Cross facilities staff reaching a stand still with the Human Resources Department. Bob, a facilities staff in Carlin my junior year, brought up the concern to me that the human resources department was not responsive to their concerns. This lead to weeks of conversations with him, other staff, and John Hill, the College’s director of communications. The article, if nothing else, provided a voice to those concerns students may not have known about.
Yet despite all those memorable interviews and moments, I find the true value of The Spire to be the people. The team, although sometimes working in their own corners, always put together a high-quality product because of their belief in writing and sharing the stories of their fellow Crusaders. Outside of work, the best moments came from late night article writing or putting last minute pages together. As my fellow Editors-in-Chief can attest, Adobe InDesign was a shared bane of our existence that brought us all closer together. Some stories, like those mentioned above, will always stick with me, but the memories of the team I was lucky enough to be a part of give that work so much more meaning.
In my time since college, I have not taken up a job in journalism but find myself using those skills in almost every aspect of my job. As an employee for Scouting America, I find myself in conversations with a broad range of people from every walk of life. The interview skills developed while writing for The Spire help me ask important questions and better understand the people that I am working with in my current job.
Past my everyday job, it also gives me a greater appreciation for journalism in a world divided by a mistrust for the industry. Yes, there are biased reporters and articles that skew one way or another, that I do not deny. On a human level, however, I understand better the people that live on the byline. Those that do put in the hard, honest work with significant thought behind each word they publish and don’t write with reckless abandon.
I hope that more students continue to take the opportunity to write for the Spire to gain a similar level of understanding and enjoy it as I did. The skills developed, the understanding for journalism, and most importantly the people you meet along the way make it one of the best club experiences a student can have at the College of the Holy Cross. After a great first 100 years, I look forward to seeing what the paper can do in its next 100 years.
Featured image courtesy of Valentina Moran ’23
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