Oh, hey there readers. My name is Kaitlin Gillespie, and I’m the editor-in-chief of The Daily Evergreen this fall.

I’m going on my third year at WSU now, and my first article was published in the Evergreen before I even stepped foot into a college class. It sucked. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. I clipped it out, put copies up on my bulletin board and passed it around to my entire family. I was a journalist. I’d done what I had aspired to do since I was 14 years old.

Now, I’m in my final year of studying journalism in The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. My resume includes internships at Washington State Magazine, The Inlander and The Spokesman-Review. I’ve had work published in a handful of other publications, and also blogged for my study abroad provider while I spent last spring in Morocco.

I like to think my writing sucks a little less.

Of course, my experience is just a fraction of what the fall editorial staff has accomplished. We have incredible editors bringing you a level of energy and expertise I haven’t seen at The Daily Evergreen in my two years here. They’ve hit it hard this week. They’ve focused. They’ve put in long hours. They’ve collaborated. And this is just the first issue. There’s a whole semester of papers to come.

I’ve been saying the words “It’s a new Evergreen,” a lot this week, and it truly is a new Evergreen.

You’ve probably noticed some changes to the appearance of our newspaper, and these aren’t the only changes coming. It is our goal to provide the highest level of reporting possible in a sexier, cleaner package. Expect sleeker layouts, more online exclusives, multimedia content and, most importantly, better and more interesting stories.

However, the changes go beyond what you see. They’re internal. We recently hired a new general manager, Candace Baltz. Our staff is fresh, most of them new to editing positions. We’ve set concrete goals for our social media and web content. Our expectations for writers are higher and our editors’ standards are stricter. Most importantly, our vision for the future has changed.

It’s scary to be a journalist now. New technology is driving newspapers out, jobs are more competitive and The Daily Evergreen is embracing it. Regardless of what the future holds, the need for quality reporting has not changed. As the largest independent newspaper in the Pullman-Moscow area, it’s our duty to provide you with the content you want and the level of reporting you deserve.

Engage us. Follow us on Twitter. Check us out on Facebook. Email us. Come into our office. We want to work with you to deliver on our promises.

We are the student voice. We are your paper.