MATC Liberal Arts graduate, Stephanie Beecher, worked as the Editor-in-Chief for the Times newspaper in 2007-08. She came to the college wanting to be a reporter her whole life.
Not really sure where to start, she took general educative courses and signed up for a journalism class. Instinctively, she wrote an opinion piece that had gotten some attention from the newspaper, and around campus because of its controversy.
Soon after, the Times invited Stephanie to be the Opinions Editor. The following year, she was nominated as the, ‘Editor in Chief.’ From that point, she stayed on as such, until she left the campus to transfer to a four year University.
Stephanie explained that what she saw as the exchange of banter, inside jokes, and the tons of fun that she feels come with a group of people to share your ideas with, is what seemed to stay with her on to her next reporting experience.
“We would get into debates all of the time about politics, or social issues. It was great. Some of my best memories were on our trips,” Beecher stated. Her time with the Times Newspaper gave her the chance to experience New York, Washington D.C., and Minneapolis by way of College Journalist conventions.
Although most moments she encountered were great in her opinion, she confessed that hurdles for the second year were secretly getting tougher. Towards the end of her second year of school, she separated from her son’s father, and was living in a shelter for women and children.
Her intermediate family lived in North Carolina, and she made a decision to stay in Milwaukee, and live in the confides of the Ozaukee, crisis facility.
Beecher communicated that, although it was really hard, because she was also working and trying to go to school while raising a child. She had no idea where they were going to go, or how she was going to do things. Beecher disclosed that things were so seemingly impossible, she almost missed the Times’ annual “Awards Dinner,” that she had worked so hard for.
She challenged then, that her obstacle was in her mind, because she did not see herself as ‘that great’ to be awarded while living in a shelter.
In that critical contemplation, she expressed that it was hard just to get up every day and get to all of those places around the clock. She said that being on the paper became a huge, motivational realization to want to excel past that gauntlet.
In that reasoning, she found strength and a will to attend the award ceremony after all. Beecher divulged, “I was so glad that I went to that dinner that night: I got my little plaque, I’m with friends, and I’m doing something that I love that I wanted to do for a career.”
Beecher doted that even then, the paper was her passion, and she verbalized that it really helped her through ‘all of those struggles. She confessed if it weren’t for the school paper, she didn’t know if she would have been able to find her direction otherwise.
She firmly conveyed, “I want people to know, because I live by this mantra: Never settle for less, because you always get less than what you settle for.” She also believes in never having to take,”no,” for an answer.
Beecher said, “The best part about working on the paper, was finding out that this was truly, truly what I wanted to do. I don’t think I approach my work now, any different than I did when I worked here.”
To further her seriousness, she added, “I really have fond memories of working for the paper. I honestly think it was the best thing that could have happened to me.” When asked if she would like to share something in advice to the person considering writing for the Times, Stephanie answered, “If it’s something that you want to do, you can’t be scared, you can’t be intimidated. You have to have that confidence.”
She even went as far as to say that you have to want it so badly to ‘fake it till you make it.’ She is making it. Stephanie Beecher is now a “Business Reporter,” and an intern for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and I’m proud to say that she had her second front page story on May 5. Beecher’s accolades have been steady and growing. In 2010, she received, “Scholar of the Year,” for Journalism at Marquette University.
Her wonderful words of encouragement to close this interview were, “Don’t be deterred when things don’t go as you wish or plan, because everything happens for a reason.”
Although she is still on her journey, she hopes to come back someday soon as a Pulitzer Prize winner.
