FAMILIAR FACES
Mad Max Mayleben’s second term as editor of The Reporter should bring needed stability
I
Photos by Pat Christman
NAME:
Maxwell Mayleben HOMETOWN: Farmington
YEAR IN SCHOOL: Senior
LAST BOOK YOU READ: “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” Douglas Adams
FAVORITE KATO RESTAURANT
f you’re familiar at all with the world of college newspapers, you probably know that most of the people who end up running them are passionate about changing the world through bulldog journalism and have a long list of journalism courses under their belt to prove their passion. Current Reporter Editor Max Mayleben is a different breed. While he definitely has an idealist streak, he hasn’t taken many journalism courses, and he’s probably never dreamed of becoming the next Bob Woodward. But it doesn’t seem to matter. During Mayleben’s tenure, The Reporter has weathered a pandemic that saw their staff numbers dwindle and beefed up their news coverage and social media presence. Mayleben, in fact, is a rarity among editors. Most serve one academic year, but Mayleben is serving two. He’s hoping to bring stability and strategic planning to help the newspaper come out of the pandemic stronger than ever. What made you want to run a college newspaper? I originally had no thoughts of eventually working my way up to this position. I was hired on originally as an advertising sales representative and moved around to various positions, finding I was better at some and worse at others. However, when it came time for a new editor in chief to be chosen, I found that because I knew so many different facets of the gig, moving up to this job seemed like a natural progression. What’s the most rewarding aspect of the job? I honestly love interviewing the different people around campus and the surrounding community. This job is such a great excuse to get out and get to know a ton of different people. I love sitting with someone, getting an insane amount of information, and then trying to figure out how I’m going to take that and translate it into a way for the average person to read. Another rewarding part of this job is cheesy, but it’s getting to watch the people around me — and the paper as a whole — grow. There is something really special about seeing a nervous applicant sitting across from me in an interview turn into a writing machine pumping out multiple stories for each issue. It really makes me feel good that the work we are doing here is benefitting people.
Jonny B’s
FAVORITE STAR WARS CHARACTER Han Solo
16 • OCTOBER 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
What’s the most challenging aspect? Money is always an issue of course. It seems like The Reporter is always in a fight to make sure that we have adequate funding to keep our lights on and our people paid. Other than that, the most fun struggle is definitely the difficult nature of covering all the news. In the two years I have
