Pio “Best in Show”
For more than a century, the Pioneer weekly student newspaper has informed and entertained Whitman students during the academic year. The current crop of students is taking this communication source to a new level with a nationally acclaimed Web site redesign that features blogs, a podcast, student forums, videos, links to social networking pages, polls and photo galleries.
The Pio Web site earned “Best of Show” honors at the annual convention of the Associated Collegiate Press. A panel of professionals judged Web site entries on general design, navigation, writing/editing, content, graphics and interactivity. Whitman’s site edged out the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Miami, among other larger schools.
The Pio’s new weekly podcast — through a partnership with Whitman’s student-run radio station KWCW (K-Dub) — earned second-place at the national convention.
The Web site redesign and several Pio staffers’ attendance at the 2009 ACP convention in San Diego, Calif., were made possible by a gift from Megan Salzman Medica ’81 and John Medica.
Pio editors-in-chief for the 2008-09 year were Kim Sommers ’11 and Jamie Soukup ’10. Sommers will continue in that role this fall.