Molly Landis ’27
News Editor
On Saturday March 22, The Spire and HerCampus, two of the college’s student journalism groups, hosted an event to celebrate The Spire’s centennial year. By bringing together these two student groups, students got the chance to hear from two Spire alum and one HerCampus alum: Grace Bromage ‘23, Cassie Smith ‘23, and Brandon Gomez ‘14. Bromage spoke about how her experience on The Spire has influenced her in her teaching position. She spoke about the community she found within The Spire executive board and how important writing is, no matter what career path you may choose. Smith spoke about how HerCampus was a place for her to write about anything she was interested in, outside of just the traditional news of a campus newspaper. She spoke about getting to write about pop culture or fashion in a completely female environment. To Smith, this was empowering and a place that was welcoming for all. Smith actually restarted the Holy Cross HerCampus chapter after COVID. She wanted to ensure women on campus have a place to write where they can be supported and backed by other women. While Bromage and Smith do not currently work in the journalism field, they expressed how formative their respective campus publications were in making them who they are today and how important the power of writing is. Gomez had not planned to speak to this group of students, but happened to be on campus for another event and came to address The Spire and HerCampus celebration. He talked about his experience working for CNBC and having experience in the journalism world, encouraging students to come talk to him about journalism.
The three guest speakers were incredibly impressive, informative, and influential. Their emphasis on the importance of writing showed students the real world impact of being a part of these organizations. Their love for The Spire and HerCampus was evident, and both The Spire and HerCampus are deeply grateful that they were able to come and speak to students about their own experiences. After the guest speakers, students were given the time to talk to each other and to the speakers. It was a great event that allowed two student groups to interact in ways that they may not usually get the opportunity to.
Members of both the HerCampus and The Spire Executive Boards were very happy with how the event went. Ann O’Malley ‘26 stated “As a Co-Chair of HerCampus this semester, I was so proud to collaborate with The Spire and plan this centennial celebration of journalism at Holy Cross! Our HerCampus alumni speaker, Cassie Smith ‘23, highlighted her story of restarting HerCampus out of the COVID era in order to create a space for female-centric journalism on campus. We are so grateful to the Spire for including us in this event!” HerCampus Senior Editor, Callie Gillan ‘26, reflected on the event saying, “The 100 years of Journalism event was a perfect opportunity to not only reconnect with past alumni, but to also learn about and connect with The Spire. As Senior Editor, I see so much excitement and amazing work from our writers, and being able to highlight journalism on campus has been incredible. Thank you so much to The Spire for including us in this amazing celebration.” Ben Lepper ‘25, Editor in Chief of the Spire, stated “It was amazing to bring two incredible organizations together to celebrate. I met a lot of incredible people who are just as, and if not more, passionate about journalism. Grace, Cassie, and Brandon were wonderful speakers as well, and incredible role models for HC students interested in a journalism career.” Kate Santini ‘27, Chief News Editor, said “It was a great opportunity to hear from alums who were once in a similar position to me and shared similar career aspirations. This event opened my eyes to the possibilities student journalism can offer me in the future.”
Overall, this event was successful and impactful in showing how important student journalism is to students, and in celebrating 100 Years of Student Journalism at Holy Cross!
Featured image courtesy of Instagram
Copy Edited by Annamaria DeCamp ’27
Web Edited by Zexuan Qu ’28
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