Marist Minute with Tara Guaimano
The students at Marist Circle are dedicated to providing interesting and relevant stories to the Marist community. Meet the individuals bringing news to the student body with a Marist Minute, an interview series asking the writers about the field of journalism and what matters most to them. Learn what is important to Editor-in-Chief, Tara Guaimano.
Why is it important for news happening on and off the Marist campus to be discussed?
The news is so important for democracy. At Marist, people get stuck in their day-to-day lives. Sometimes, I don’t blame them, because it is so easy to just focus on ourselves. That’s why at the Marist Circle, we push for outside news, so people aren’t stuck in their little bubbles. That being said, Poughkeepsie news is also really important to us. Student newspapers around the country are becoming a lot stronger, since local newspapers in print are struggling with their funding models and losing some of their best staff members. I think that this is an important time for college newspapers to step in and become a substantial source of news for communities.
Where do you go to find news?
I’m a subscriber to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I really try to stick to newspapers. I love the legacy newspapers, and they have student rates that are affordable. I really try to have a large diet of news — I read the New York Post, the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vice and I listen to NPR. On Instagram, I follow every news account you can think of. My feed consists of news publications from National Geographic to all of the section accounts for the New York Times. I follow my peers on Instagram, but looking at my feed, you’ll really only see news organizations.
What has been the most memorable event or story that you’ve covered with the Marist Circle?
It’s hard to decide because the Marist Circle has allowed me to create some insane experiences. I was able to speak to Hilary Clinton and I’ve also been able to meet really interesting people. I also used to love covering student government elections, which helped me develop as a writer. Last year, I wrote a story about why Poughkeepsie isn’t a college town. I’m really interested in city planning, and Poughkeepsie is an interesting place in terms of upcoming development that might be coming to the area.
What is happening in the world, also in the local area, that you think deserves more attention?
Climate change is an obvious one. Many national leading newspapers have cut back on their staff for hard core coverage of climate change. I think that can always receive more coverage.
It’s going to be important for the Poughkeepsie Journal and The Circle to pay close attention to Poughkeepsie and this area. The Hudson Valley is changing, breweries are blowing up and it's a very exciting time for tourism. People are getting out of New York City and heading this way.
Seeing The Circle grow and the revival of the print edition, what do you hope for The Circle in the future?
The last time Marist Circle put out a print newspaper was in 2015. On a college campus the size of ours, we thought we should have a print edition now, in 2020 despite the prominence of the internet, to show The Circle’s physical presence. It was really a spark in the ashes for us when we put together the print edition for the first time in 2017. It really took two years to get consistent with growing our presence. Now, there’s some crazy traffic to our online site and students and staff can rely that there’ll be a print newspaper on the stands every two weeks.
In the future, I hope The Circle continues to do some real reporting, and right now, I think we can pride ourselves in that. In the past, a lot of administrators have expected us to just be PR for the school, but we ask hard and pressing questions. I hope writers continue to look for larger truths and hammer them down, rather than just reiterate what administrators tell them to say.