Leadership lived: Friends work together to keep newspaper running

When the editor-in-chief of The Journal, the student-run newspaper at the University of Illinois Springfield, graduated, Kate Richardson and Colten Bradford knew they had to step forward. They took on more work to make sure the weekly paper was published on time.

“Stepping up to the plate wasn’t a big deal,” said Bradford. “It was just something that had to be done. Our main goal is to get the news out to the students.”

The pair took over assigning stories and copy editing the newspaper on top of their regular duties, which included laying out the paper and checking ads.

“Every single week it was right on the minute of the deadline (when we finished the paper),” said Richardson. “We just had so much extra work to do with editing the paper.”

Richardson and Bradford have known each other almost since their first day at UIS. They graduated with their bachelor’s degrees at the same time and are now both working to finish a master’s degree in communication. They’ve become friends and co-workers.

“We’ve really worked together a lot,” said Richardson. “When I was the editor-in-chief he was my assistant editor for news and then we both started our graduate assistantships at the same time, so really we’ve always been working together here.”

Both Richardson and Bradford plan to graduate from UIS at the end of the Fall 2013 Semester. Their experience working at The Journal and in the classroom has helped prepare them for future careers in the communication industry.

“When I first came to UIS I was more of a follower,” said Bradford. “The longer that I’ve been here the more I’ve realized I could step up to the plate and help other people and help them to become a leader themselves.”

“UIS has taught me that anyone can become a leader. It doesn’t matter if you’re a student or in charge of a club or anything. There are tons of opportunities to be a leader here,” added Richardson.