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Volume 56, Issue 26 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
Observer celebrates 55th anniversary
MAGGIE KLAERS | The Observer
Undergraduate student journalists reminisce on years at Observer leading to professional careers By ALYSA GUFFEY and BELLA LAUFENBERG Notre Dame News Editor, Staff Writer
In honor of the 55th anniversary of the student newspaper’s first issue, The Observer interviewed five former student journalists who work in the industry to talk about their experiences working as writers and editors in college and beyond. Pete Loftus, Class of 1992
Pete Loftus always loved to write. He became a writer for The Observer his first year of college. “I think my freshman year, I may have only written one or two stories, and would just take whatever assignments kind of came my way, and then just the more I got into it, the more I liked it,” Loftus said. He then became an assistant news editor his sophomore year and maintained this position through his senior year.
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“I just liked the idea of being the one to go out and find a story and do all the reporting and interviewing for it and then to try to distill all that information to something that people might want to read,” Loftus said. While an undergraduate, Loftus recalled covering the sexual assault case made against Fr. James Burtchaell, who was a professor at the time of the allegations. In addition, he wrote stories covering LGBTQ+ students working to gain recognition for a student group at the University. “I don’t think any big changes happened while I was covering that issue, but it was some of the early efforts to try to change the situation,” Loftus said. After graduating from Notre Dame in 1992, Loftus went straight into the journalism field and began working at community papers in Philadelphia, focusing mainly on courts and murder trials. Then, he decided to move to New see JOURNALISTS PAGE 5
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Former Saint Mary’s Observer editors reflect on leadership roles, tri-campus coverage at paper By GENEVIEVE COLEMAN Saint Mary’s News Editor
Today marks 55 years of The Observer uncovering the truth and reporting it accurately. To commemorate this anniversary, The Observer reached out to several former leaders from Saint Mary’s to discuss their journeys as student journalists and their aspirations for the years to come. Maria Leontaras, Assistant Managing Editor (2019-2020). Editor-in-Chief (2020-2021)
Leontaras ’21, who worked with The Observer since her first year, said she knew before she got to Saint Mary’s that the paper would be an important part of her College career. “So, regardless of what I was doing, outside of extracurriculars, I knew that The Observer was going to be part of my college experience,” Leontaras said. “And that alone really set me up for becoming more and more involved in The Observer as my
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years at Saint Mary’s went on.” Reflecting on the people she met during her time at The Observer, Leontaras expressed gratitude for having experienced the tri-campus community in a unique way. “My favorite thing about The Observer is was that it had these events where you could go and meet people you probably wouldn’t have met outside of it,” she said. “You’re finding out more about your own campus, but you’re also finding out more about the other campuses and The Observer at its best encompasses what’s great about the tri-campus community.” Following the 1977-78 term of first Saint Mary’s Editor-in-Chief Marti Hogan, Leontaras noted she did not expect to be the second-ever Saint Mary’s student to hold the role. “I never thought that I would be Editorin-Chief,” she said. “It didn’t seem like the paper was set up in a way that a Saint Mary’s student could do it … But I’m glad that I
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