Letter from the Editors

If this is your first time picking up a Sandspur, then we’d like to welcome you to Florida’s oldest college newspaper. If it isn’t, then you might notice it looks a little different; very different, actually.

We’ve both been a part of The Sandspur since freshman year. As seniors, over the last three years we have watched the newspaper transform from its traditional format to a more modern, visually appealing publication. Despite this great progress, there was always something missing.

We accept we are a weekly publication run by a small student staff at a small school. As a media outlet, we aren’t quite an exhaustive source of breaking news around here. That’s what Facebook is for. That’s what campus-wide e-mails and R-Net stories do. More than anything, The Sandspur has always been driven by features highlighting engaging stories, and by human interest pieces—not just campus news and sports events. Our old format didn’t fit us. The Sandspur looked like a news daily, but read like the weekly paper it was.

So we explored different options, and finally decided on the new format (a newspaper-magazine hybrid) you now hold in your hands. This new format fulfills everything we felt was missing from the paper’s previous layout:

1. It allows for feature stories to be presented not just more

prominently, but more creatively as well.

2. It’s more fit for a grab-and-go read. Its more compact size

allows readers to stash it in their book bags or purses, and

hold onto it to read throughout the day.

3. It will spark interest within the student body, and

encourage engagement with their on-campus newspaper—

it will foster a spirit of community.

We understand Rollins is all about its history and traditions, and The Sandspur is a part of that. This publication’s previous format had gone unchanged for over a century. But just because something has always been a certain way doesn’t mean it has to stay that way forever. More than ever, we are a generation that understands the need to be adaptable to the constant flow of change. And that’s what our shift in format reflects.

We are excited for the coming year, and to exploring the potential of our new design. We hope that you will join us in this excitement and you will continue to stick to The Sandspur.