It’s a hectic time of year here in the newsroom, with two major summer publications to put out separate of the twice-a-week paper. Both the Orienter, a magazine-styled publication designed to “orient” (excuse the pun) freshmen to campus, and the Freshman Edition, a 48-page monster edition filled with the biggest stories from the last year at IU, will both be distributed to the incoming Class of 2011 in an effort to better acclimate them to the new academic environment they will soon enter.

Both are big publications that take lots of advanced planning from all elements of the newsroom. Orienter is so big that it gets its own editor, separate of the paper. All together, the two comprise perhaps the biggest undertaking the newsroom staff embarks upon during the summer session. We’ve done a great job balancing that with weekly newsroom responsibilities, and as such have turned out two solid, major publications while not disrupting the regular publication flow.

We’re also doing a lot of online stuff with both of these editions, so be sure to check them out at www.idsnews.com/orienter and www.idsnews.com/freshmanedition. We’ve linked to a lot of the online-only audio, video and photography content we did last year, and it’s a great way to look back at the year that was here at IU.

We hope you (and all the incoming freshmen, of course) enjoy these publications as much as we enjoyed bringing them to you. Keep checking the stands for the IDS every Monday and Thursday, and go to the Web site for continuous updates about the biggest stories at IU and in the surrounding community throughout the summer.

Until next time, have a good one.

Hey folks,

 You’ll excuse me, this is my first time writing on Deadline…so to speak. The summer staff officially took over tonight, and we were tasked with rolling out a 24-page paper with a skeleton staff compared to the spring and fall. Not an easy task for a team still feeling its way around its job.

We cut it close, but hit our final deadline with just minutes to spare. Not bad for the new gang in town. We certainly hope you enjoy the graduation edition, one of our four major summer publications, as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. For you seniors, its your last IDS, and we hope you cherish it.

 I guess that’s about it for now. Those of you staying for the summer, keep reading us every Monday and Thursday. Everybody scattering to parts unknown for the summer, stick with us on www.idsnews.com and check out some of the great new stuff we’re going to be doing with the Web site this summer. It’s gonna be a good one, hope y’all come along come along for the ride (I said ‘y’all.’ I’m allowed, I’m from Georgia).

Here’s to an enjoyable summer and beyond…

After almost 4 months of putting out the paper every Monday through Friday, we published our last paper of the semester Sunday night. It’s a very bittersweet moment, knowing that we did so much, but at the same time I will definitely miss all the memories we had this semester.

I feel we had a really great semester and I am so proud of what our staff accomplished and how they have improved. I know this semester, I have learned so much, and because of that I am confident and optimistic when I takeover as editor-in-chief next fall.

I want to thank each and everyone of our staff members who helped us make such a fine product each and everyday. To all the writers, editors, photographers and designers who sacrificed their nights, weekends and most of their social lives: thank you. There are dozens of staffers who worked 40+ hours a week for us, and trust me, it’s not for the pay. It’s because they are doing something they believe in and that is something that is really special.

I also want to take this moment to thank all of you, our readers. With out you, all of our work wouldn’t matter. Thank you for caring about the paper and the community enough to read the IDS or visit our Web site. Thank you for the angry phone calls/e-mails we received. Contrary to conventional belief, I love when I hear criticism about us: It shows you care and it helps get a better sense of what our readers want. However the one caller that called me a “hypocritical bitch” that might have gone a little too far.

Anyways after our short reprieve this week, the summer staff is already hard at work getting ready to put out Friday’s paper. So if you are in town look for the IDS every Monday and Thursday during the summer and remember to check out idsnews.com for breaking news all weeklong. So with that farewell and I’ll see you again in the fall.