After four years as an editor of the Record, here’s what I’ve learned about reporting at Wheaton, and why I’ll always love it.
By Helen Huiskes, Editor in Chief
When I first joined the Wheaton Record’s staff as a freshman news editor, it was tougher times. It was the first year in 130 years that the Record didn’t publish weekly printed issues. Instead, we began publishing online, with a new website and staff structure. I dove into covering news of the COVID-19 pandemic, of campus petitions, of the 2020 election, etc.. I had a vision of bringing back the weekly print edition and of coffee-fueled nights in a bustling newsroom like in movies. I was waiting for things to go back to exactly as they were.
It hasn’t happened. But I’m not waiting anymore.
My three years as Editor-in-Chief of the Record have taught me many things, but one of them is that nostalgia is no good. Four years after our emergency transition to online publication, the Record’s culture and content have changed permanently. I’m proud of what we’ve become.
We’ve won state-level awards two years in a row, recognizing the excellent writing of our student reporters and editors. Our online readership has only grown since the website’s launch in September 2020, reaching its highest point in October 2023 with 19.9 thousand views. We have staff members returning year after year, building relationships around campus and growing their journalistic skills. With new video stories and a regular social media presence, we’ve reasserted our presence around campus, bringing the news to the forefront of our community’s consciousness.
But there’s one thing I do miss.
A national decline in media trust and understanding of what objective news is supposed to do has hit even us, in our tiny newsroom in the Beamer Center. The Record, like other reputable newspapers, is not a microphone for any side of any story. As many national news outlets tilt in one partisan direction or another, it’s not easy to find examples of news that does not seek to let the reader know – even slightly – how its publisher feels about the subject.
But I hope you find that here. Although operating with the support of the college administration and within the boundaries of the Community Covenant we sign as students, my vision is that the Record will always be a source of reporting that favors no one, respects everyone, and reflects the unrelenting truth-telling of our Savior.
That’s why this job has been the best job I will ever have. I could see how helming the Record could leave one cynical about the college. But I love Wheaton more fiercely today than I ever thought I would. I’ve been privileged to see the ways Wheaton is special through stories of professors self-sacrificing to save colleagues’ jobs during budget cuts, students confronting biases while living on Chicago’s South Side, thoughtful scholars presenting their books, and more – just in this year. I’ve honed my craft as an editor and reporter under the wise counsel of the Record advisers, Drew Bratcher and Bob Smietana.
As a student and a person, I’ve found the students, faculty and staff of Wheaton College to be a unique community of individuals who have wrapped me in the warm embrace I didn’t know I needed. I’ve learned more about writing and literature than I knew there was to learn in the English department. I’ve heard the gospel preached in lectures about everything from Egyptian art to Chimamanda Adichie, to climate change, to fractions. I’ve been mentored by mature professors who could be teaching anywhere but chose a little campus in an Illinois suburb because they’re fixated on the cross of Christ.
I’ve had the time of my life presiding over these pages for the last three years. I hope you’ll continue to give my successors your attention, and look to the Record for news that uplifts and highlights this beloved place.
Helen Huiskes is graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in English writing with a minor in international relations.
Reporting and editing for the Record has shaped my perspective on Wheaton’s past, present and future.
Noah Cassetto, Editor in Chief
For all the planning I did when I stepped onto campus in fall 2021 — study this major, join that club, make those friends — one of the sweetest parts of my time at Wheaton was one I never saw coming: the Record.
I had always liked writing and had entertained the idea of journalism, but the thrill of freshman year put writing for a newspaper on the backburner… for a total of 10 days. I’m so glad I bumped into the Record table at that 2021 club fair.
The Record is exactly what its name implies — for 154 years, it has chronicled Wheaton’s most significant stories, recording them for the benefit of the next class, the next generation, the next Wheatie. Go to the BGH archives and skim the Record’s online history. If you’re patient enough to connect the event coverage, Student Government updates, quirky feature stories and blistering opinion pieces, you’ll find that Wheaton is steeped in a rich legacy of sincerity, debate and resolve.
The Record didn’t just show me Wheaton’s history; it helped me understand the present. I appreciated the gravity of the Historical Race Review after reading about people who fought tooth and nail to reclaim the college’s abolitionist, equality-based roots; I learned that Wheaton’s ties to international students stretch back decades; even the buildings on campus took on new meaning when I read about their commissioning. The Wheaton we see today is no accident, and the Record’s stories helped me learn about the remarkable people who made it what it is.
When he commissioned the Record in 1890, President Jonathan Blanchard said, “It is hoped that the Record may make some contribution to the political, social, educational and religious progress of our people. It is not our purpose to be sectarian in religion, partisan in politics, or followers of any transient educational craze.” The Record still holds to that mission. We may not get it right every time, but every article is written in the hope of bringing clarity and insight to our campus.
In my three years at the Record, I’ve done my best to maintain Blanchard’s vision for the paper. There is something sacred about documenting the people, events and opinions of an institution. It preserves our collective memory of what the Lord has done at our college, of the historic news, funny anecdotes, and sweet surprises that coalesce to create an academic year at Wheaton. I am grateful for the hundreds of storytellers who came before me to record their time at Wheaton, and I pray that the same may be said about the stories I wrote and edited.
The end of my time at Wheaton marks the end of my time with the Record — no more Monday night pitch meetings, Thursday night edits or inescapable 2 a.m. ponderings about a story (I hope). I’m certainly taking a Record-inspired curiosity with me, however. Even if it no longer lands me the scoop on breaking news, I trust it will illuminate someone’s story and spark fresh empathy in me. There’s not much more a recent graduate in 2024 can ask for.
Wheaton College — and the Wheaton Record, for that matter — are not perfect. But my years with the Record showed me that this institution is anchored in sincerity, hope and earnest faith. That’s the legacy that every Wheaton student inherits, and I’m sure glad it’s mine.
Noah Cassetto is graduating with bachelor of arts degrees in international relations and Spanish.