ALBERTO GOMEZ: This one I got because I just thought it looked cool. Uh, the box is for the most important band in the world, the 1975. God bless. Uh, and then the flowers are for, the roses I have on my left forearm are for my mom.

OLIVIA STEVENS: Oh, cute.

GOMEZ: Because she was mostly a single mom, so she took up both, uh, parent slots. And then I got over here on my shoulder are marigolds for my grandparents who passed away when I was like 14.

MADDIE ROTH: Oh, amazing. Oh no,

GOMEZ: they’re delightful.

ROTH: That’s so nice.

STEVENS: Yeah, Maddie, why don’t you explain some of your tattoos?

ROTH: Uh, yeah, so I have 26 right now.

GOMEZ: Um, what? 26?

ROTH: I have 26. I’ll have 30 in a month.

STEVENS: So you like scheduled them out already? Can you tell us what the new ones are first?

ROTH: Yeah. So I got a matching tattoo with my best friend. Um, it’s three hearts. That’s what we send to each other, um, so it’s, that’s in his handwriting. And then he has one of my handwriting behind his ear. I got ‘the world is quiet here’ above my knee, which hurt like a b****, getting one above my knee. Um, it’s from, um, A Series of Unfortunate Events. My entire thigh is just gonna be quotes from my favorite books.

I have a Catcher In the Rye one like that above it. And then I’m really upset because I got this, I one up here and it’s a candle with mushrooms coming out of it. And all of my friends have been like, that looks like a bong. And I’m like, ‘it’s a candle.’ And now I’m now I don’t like it because it just, people have said that and it makes me sad.

GOMEZ: No, it’s quirky. You know?

STEVENS: It’s quirky. That’s what matters. It’s quirky to have a tattoo that people can kind of interpret in different ways.

ROTH: That’s not, that’s not what I want.

GOMEZ: Tattoos are gonna be like a personal thing though. You know? It’s know. It’s something, what matters most is like how you feel about it. And it sucks that people are ruining it in a way. I’m sorry dude.

ROTH: It is what it is. I have some dumb shit on my body, so you know, it is. That’s okay. Yeah. Okay.

STEVENS: Aren’t you gonna get, are you still getting a Daily tattoo?

ROTH: I need to proclaim this right now. Yes. I will get a Daily tattoo on my ass cheek at some point. I said it in DC

STEVENS: On your ass cheek?

ROTH: Yeah, I said it in DC. I will do it. Um, the world should know.

STEVENS: On that note, uh, I dunno if anyone else is gonna go that far on the staff, it might just be you.

ROTH: But I love the Daily and live, laugh, love, Daily. So I agree. Thank you,

STEVENS: The Daily’s great. You guys, keep listening.

GOMEZ: On that note, uh, thank you everyone. Uh, we started recording a little while ago. Um, thank you everyone for coming in. Uh, my name is Alberto Gomez and this is our, my last episode with the Daily. So we’re ending up with a little round table today. Uh, today our wonderful guests are, wanna introduce yourselves?

STEVENS: Yeah. I’m Olivia Stevens. I am the managing editor of The Daily. Yeah.

GOMEZ: And you may remember her from our last round table at the start of this semester, correct?

STEVENS: He did let me come back, so I was thinking he wouldn’t, so that was good.

GOMEZ: And uh, our new guest with a abundance of tattoos is —

ROTH: Hi, I’m Maddie Roth. I will be the managing editor next school year, replacing the great Olivia Stevens.

GOMEZ: Yeah. So essentially what we want to do today is just similarly to how we started last semester, or earlier this semester is just give a little personality, some, uh, voices to the Daily staff. So Olivia, how long have you been with the Daily?

STEVENS: So I started with the Daily, um, the summer after my freshman year of college. And it was right after COVID, like we were kind of opening up back again, and I kind of just saw that there was an opening and so I applied to be an intern, um, and had absolutely like no idea what I was doing. Um, I had never taken a journalism class, and so I just like, kind of jumped right in and started doing some like state leg, legislative reporting and city government reporting, um, and just was absolutely terrible at it. But I kept going and I just haven’t really like stopped since — I’ve just been here hanging out for that long. I think, Maddie, you’ve been here almost as long as I have.

ROTH: Yeah, I started my first semester of college, like —

STEVENS: That’s crazy

ROTH: Yeah. I applied, was told by Niamh, the old editor in chief, that I wasn’t gonna get a position and then got an email a week later saying, ‘Hey, we wanna hire you.’ So it’s been almost two years? Three years? Math?

STEVENS: Math, because yeah, you’re, you’re a sophomore and I’m a senior, but like a three-year senior, so it’s like weird. But. Yeah, we probably started around the same time. That’s really interesting.

GOMEZ: Wait, you’ve only, you’re graduating in three years, not four.

STEVENS: Yeah.

GOMEZ: Oh, okay. Fast tracking. All right. You’re better than us.

STEVENS: Yeah, basically. Like, I’m just better than everyone. It’s no big deal. But no, it’s just been, it’s just been not fun. That’s what I would say about that. But, no, it’s good.

GOMEZ: So, Maddie, what desk did you originally start on?

ROTH: I have stayed on campus desk the entire time I’ve been here. But I guess I also did, um, like in the summer when they do campus and admin together, I did a lot of Board of Regents stuff cause there’s nothing going on with students over the summer. So campus desk is best desk, I’m gonna say that right now.

GOMEZ: Well, I mean, you’re on my show so, so I have to disagree with there. But, um, no, that’s delightful. Thanks so much.

STEVENS: When did you start and how did you get started?

GOMEZ: Oh yeah. Uh, so I started — I started drinking in October. Um, no, I started in October, 2021. Uh, I was a junior and a professor was like, ‘Alberto, you’re not doing anything. You’re kind of disappointing everyone, uh, you should just apply.’ Like get something, like something. Okay. So I saw a podcast or reporter position open. I applied and I was like, I have no experience in this at all. Um, still, I was lucky enough to have a good enough microphone at home, so the producer at the time, I’m not gonna name her because she ended up ghosting me three weeks into getting the job.

She was like, oh yeah, you know, I think you’ve got what it takes, I think it’ll be a good start. Let’s see what you can do. Um, yeah, so I did, I got halfway through one story and then she stopped texting me back. She didn’t answer any of my calls, emails. I was freshly onboarded. I had met no one on the staff, so it was just me for an entire semester.

And I’ll admit I didn’t know what the heck to do, so I kind of just didn’t really do anything. I was just quietly working on a small report on, um, how different, like student orgs were like supporting, like voting, uh, in the municipal election. So, yeah, I was doing that by myself without knowing what the heck I was doing.

Like I’d only freshly, like, fully went into the J school too, so.

STEVENS: Oh, wow. So you, you were running the desk by yourself?

GOMEZ: I was running the desk by myself without knowing what the heck I was supposed to be doing.

STEVENS: That’s really crazy.

GOMEZ: Yeah. And then I think it was like a couple weeks before the semester ended, I finally found out who our editor-in-chief was. I finally got in contact with Niamh, was that how I pronounce her name?

STEVENS: Niamh, I think.

GOMEZ: But at the time, we’re sorry for butchering your name. Um, but yeah, I randomly came across her email, emailed her and said like, ‘hi, I’m a, I’m our podcast reporter. I don’t know what’s happening. My boss hasn’t emailed me back. I don’t know what to do.’ And then her and Lydia, um, ended up guiding me through the rest of the episode and figuring out what the heck to do. And then we put out my first episode and they’re like, ‘Hey, there’s no one else here. Do you want the job?’ As like a producer.

So, I hopped into that without knowing what the hell to do. Zero experience, zero understanding on the medium either, and just kind of hopped into it.

ROTH: So you’re basically an icon is what I’m hearing.

STEVENS: Um, he’s a legend that, well, you kept the podcast desk alive. Like, if Alberto wasn’t here, this like, what would’ve happened? We don’t know. Like this might never exist, so that’s incredible.

GOMEZ: I think I’m pretty happy with how it turned out so far. I mean, like, it’s not dead yet, and let’s hope to keep it that way.

ROTH: Yes, please. It’ll never die, I promise you.

STEVENS: Okay, Maddie, the futures are in your hands.

GOMEZ: Maddie, as like managing editor, future managing editor, what do you want, uh, podcast desk to be?

ROTH: I think kind of like to set up my answer to this question. I just wanna say this, this is nothing against any of the managing editors that we’ve had in the past. Nothing at all —

GOMEZ: Except Olivia.

STEVENS: Except just me. Yeah.

ROTH: Um, but I just feel like managing editors really could be doing so much more. Um, and I want to — Alex is so busy with like the administrative stuff and the business stuff, um, as well as all of editorial — I wanna step up and make our editorial like stronger. It’s already strong, but I wanna do everything I can in my power to be a leader and have it be stronger, and that means having a strong, independent podcast like you’ve been running this entire time. I wanna do everything I can to keep it alive.

I’ve been looking for people the past two, three weeks to just come join podcast because I truly think no other student publication has something as special as we have here. There’s a reason that Daily is like notable and honorable. Um, and I think it’s because of things like podcast. We stand out because of it. So thank you for everything you’ve done. I want to do everything I can to keep this alive. I think this is so important.

STEVENS: Yeah, and the Daily’s been through, through so much, um, since like the pandemic and everything. And I think we’re finally getting to a place where like the recovery we’re, we might be able to grow rather than just try and come back.

Um, and so I’m really excited to see like what you end up doing with it, because there’s just so much, like I think there’s a lot of opportunity for like, new talent to come in. And just really like, make the Daily, like such a strong, strong like educational, um, media source. So I’m really excited about that for you guys, for sure. You definitely have like a good future ahead of you for like, as far as just like leading and doing all of that. So Yeah.

GOMEZ: I remember like the last, I guess two years, yeah, let’s go with two years has been very much like the Daily trying to reestablish, rebound itself, you know?

Everyone knows, like during, uh, I guess your freshman year and my sophomore year, a lot of institutions, uh, just tanked in one way or another. Um, I know like the Daily is, has still like been trying to recover, be it getting us all back into our offices or just trying to recoup like, uh, our viewer, listener, reader base.

GOMEZ: I’m not sure exactly what editorial, what problems editorial is experiencing, but I know we definitely have been.

STEVENS: It’s the same here too, I think.

GOMEZ: So you were only the managing editor for a semester? Just one semester

STEVENS: Yeah.

GOMEZ: What exactly do you think you did? Uh, yeah, simple as that.

STEVENS: ‘Why were you here?’ No, that’s a good question. I didn’t really know I was gonna get the position until I think, like, a couple weeks before I started. Um, and yeah, I didn’t really know like a whole lot about kind of what the managing editor’s role was. And I, um, I knew that I’d kind of seen, like I was watching a little bit of like what Bella, she was there before me, um, kind of had done in her couple of semesters here.

Um, but I was really lucky that, like Maia was, was kind of in the, at the point where she felt like very comfortable in her position and kind of knew how to run everything really smoothly and like, just felt like we could really kind of start focusing on, um, making some like positive changes. Um, and so I guess like my biggest role as the managing editor this semester has been just really like assisting her with um, kind of making sure that we are covering really big issues.

This has been a really huge news semester for the daily. Um, and it’s been, it’s been tough cause we, you know, like reporters have their plans of like what they wanna cover and what they pitch and what they’re excited to go out and do. But a lot of times, breaking news will happen and you know, we kind of have to drop everything and just be able to cover it.

And as students, that’s like super difficult. Um, so like for example, over spring break, like Maia and I worked together to like cover some, um, of like the Fairview Hospital merger, um, situation. We went to the state legislature and like watched a meeting and kind of like got quotes and just did that and we wrote it all up together.

Um, yeah, there has been just like a lot of late nights of doing that kind of thing. Um, And yeah, the two of us worked on a pretty big story that I got, I kind of got a tip on where I was able to, um, kind of talk to victims of, um, stalking that like had happened from like a USG presidential candidate.

Um, and so me and Maia are supposed to be releasing, um, a pretty large story on that soon. So I think I’ve been kind of spearheading a lot of those efforts and she’s just kind of continuing to run the ship, being incredibly amazing and like helping out with absolutely everything. Um, and she is honestly like, a goddess, like she’s incredible.

Um, and so I just like wanna help her however I possibly can. And just like, I’m always willing to do kind of whatever she needs of me, um, just to make sure that like the Daily keeps running smoothly, like, until we graduate. So, yeah. I don’t know, but like, yeah, I’m curious, like, do you have any other like really big goals that you’re kind of hoping to be able to accomplish by the time you leave? Because you’ve got a long time, you’ve got almost a year, um, before you’re done.

ROTH: So I think for me personally, and I’m sure you both can relate to this, um, when people come into the Daily, they start and they’re terrified. They think it’s super overwhelming. It’s so much work. And then we have people quit or just like —

GOMEZ: They get scared of it.

ROTH: I really want to work more closely with people and reassure them like, Hey, yeah, this is hard, but it is so worth it. I’ve learned so much from this. I was in that position where I wanted to quit and I’m so grateful that I didn’t. Um, but I think we need to, we need to be better about training people and like Alex and I have talked about communicating a lot with the fact of like, if people are struggling, reach out to us. Please reach out to us. We will answer any questions. We just wanna make sure people feel good in their position because the Daily is incredible if you do put the effort in and make the most of it.

STEVENS: So yeah, you really have the ability to kind of do whatever you’re, you kind of set your mind to here. And I think that’s kind of the beauty of it. Like, you’re not really being limited by a whole lot. If you have a good idea, you can pursue it, like no matter what. Um, and so I think that that’s kind of what makes the Daily, like super unique and special — you’re not getting assigned random things that you don’t wanna do. You really get the chance to like, make your own way. And so I, I’ve loved that about working here.

GOMEZ: And so I try to tell most of our, uh, everyone that I’ve hired for podcast desk has never had like, experience in either this specific format or even in, uh, newsroom.

My two current reporters, like, neither of them are journalism majors. Neither of them have really written for a publication before. But still, you know, we try to encourage them, like the Daily’s a learning institution, you know, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes. God knows that I did and God knows all three of us did. Um, but yeah, it’s important to understand that no matter what mistakes you make, it’s fine. You wanna learn from them. That’s what we’re trying to do. And people have the ability to form out whatever niche or specific thing they want to cover, you know, and it’s — You talk about how beautiful the Daily is, and I think that’s where the beauty is for me that everyone is given an opportunity just to, yeah, try experiment, you know?

STEVENS: And everyone does it differently. That’s the nice thing, like everyone has their own style. Everyone has their own things that they love to cover, and so you get to see people’s like, even though like, obviously we try and be objective in everything to do. You know, you kind of see people’s like personalities come through a little bit, which I think is awesome. And like the podcast desk I think is a huge part of like personifying the Daily. Um, and it’s just really important in doing that so that people kind of can hear and like kind of get to know, um, reporters as well as just like see their writing.

GOMEZ: So what was your story? What was, you talk about having the ability to pursue what you want or pursue the things that you really were interested. What was your thing?

STEVENS: My thing. That’s a really good question. So I think that what I ended up becoming really passionate about, that I kind of realized through the Daily, um, but didn’t probably get the chance to explore like quite as much as I’d want to, um, was like mental health systems at the U.

Um, I had the opportunity when I was like one of my first big stories that I did was, um, on kind of just the struggles that people were facing trying to get help for substance use here. Um, I just really, I was able to talk to like a real, a lot of really amazing, like alumni here and people who were actually actively going and just talk to them about kind of like what, how the University like, just wasn’t doing enough for them and how a lot, a lot of them are like falling through the cracks and so, Um, that was a story that I think I was just like, really passionate about. And following that, like I just continued to monitor, you know, it was after the pandemic, like the U just had an insane, um, like just deluge of people who have wanted to get mental health services and just not enough, um, like supports for the services.

And so like, I’ve experienced myself like waiting just like for weeks to like see a counselor just to make an appointment. And I’ve like been told like, ‘you need to, you’re gonna be waiting for weeks if you don’t go to an outside place and use your own insurance instead of using like our, our school-provided insurance.’

Um, and so that’s something that like I personally experienced and just like realized could be really frustrating for someone who was like, really in crisis or like really needed it. And so that’s something that I just like, kind of found out that I was really interested in and um, I’m hoping to be doing that kind of work, um, this summer after the Daily too.

ROTH: At MPR, where she’ll be an icon.

STEVENS: Well this is good practice, right? Yeah. Cause I’m gonna have to do some radio stuff, so this is gonna be interesting.

GOMEZ: Are you doing anything over the summer?

ROTH: I was, um, but I, so I have an internship right now at MinnPost, um, and it’s been really crazy. Um, and I was going to do a journalism internship, but I actually declined it because, my mental health has been really bad this entire year. Um, and I really just need a break. So I’m going to just be managing editor, um, and take some time to find my way back to myself.

STEVENS: That’s amazing, Maddie. That actually makes me really happy because in this industry, like, oh my gosh, it’s so hard to find that. It’s so hard to find that and like, take that time and just feel like you can. And I know you can too, which is amazing cause you’re like so young and have accomplished so much already. Um, but that makes me really happy cause I know you need self care more than like most people I know. So, sorry. Just saying — Maddie’s been through some things. She has stories. She has a lot of stories.

ROTH: So now is a good time for the Ohio story.

GOMEZ: We can’t, sadly. I got a preview of the Ohio story and we can’t share that here. Do you have something a bit more, uh, what’s the word, PG-13 or school appropriate?

ROTH: What was your favorite podcast that you produced, created?

GOMEZ: Oh, God. Um, apparently the one that people most liked was a crime story. I did, uh, last summer semester. Or essentially like, do you remember the, the shooting in front of the co-op?

ROTH: I did a story on that. I did so much coverage.

GOMEZ: With like the 15-year-old and whatever the heck. Um, so I took like your, was it, it was yours. Oh my God. I’m sorry. I basically took, uh, some of that reporting and tried to turn into like a feature story and tried to take like, okay, this happened, uh, right outside of my window.

I live at the Venue in Dinkytown, uh, right next to Burrito Loco and across from K-Pop. There were, I think, two shootings that happened right outside my gosh dang window. And I was awake with my girlfriend there at the time, and, you know, it was terrifying. So I was inspired to write a story about like, you know, what is causing this visible, uh, uptick in crime, uh, what can be done to stop it?

What is the U doing to stop it and you know, what is possibly like the sources and whatnot, right? Um, from what I was able to find, uh, according to statistics that were provided by the Star Tribune, there wasn’t really an uptick in crime necessarily, like over past years. It was just summer, people are outside, things are gonna happen a little more, but it wasn’t necessarily a more dangerous summer.

Uh, and then we also talked about like, yo, what’s, you know, what’s gonna be done to, to fix the problem? And to my surprise, it’s just bushes, like just adding bushes, trees, and lights. And things like that make neighborhoods safer. And while I was talking to, um, I forget who was the professor I was speaking with, I was thinking like, no, you’re lying to me.

You, that’s just, that’s just bull, right? And she was like, no, no, no, no, no. So we go through different, um, report studies from a, some school in Pennsylvania, another one from the, like the John Jay Institute, I think it’s called for like criminology. And I really like study after study after study, realizing.

Adding a bush, adding a tree is more helpful than, uh, adding like police and whatnot. So that was a fun story. You’re just looking at me wide-eyed.

ROTH: I’m just like, gun control? No. Bushes? Hell yeah. Yeah. Right. Absolutely. Why is that the thing?

GOMEZ: Apparently it’s like it’s good for your mental health and like going to parks is good for people cuz it provides a place to socialize and make fun.

And nobody wants a park to be unsafe in the first place, you know? But it’s like, what are you gonna do with a concrete parking lot? You know?

STEVENS: Yeah. I mean, yeah, that’s true. That’s a good point. Um, no, that story was really influential. Like I was covering crime that summer, um, on city desk and was going to, like, a lot of those parent meetings that they were having, they were like really upset about this.

And they were like really seeing, like, they were like, ‘oh, this is such a huge increase in crime, like, we have to do something about this.’ Um, and I was actually like, I didn’t know who he was at the time, but I was approached like at the Legislature by, um, Darrin Rosha, who’s one of the U of M regents.

ROTH: Love.

STEVENS: Yeah. And he like came up to me and he had that story printed out the, the podcast script.

GOMEZ: You’re shitting?

STEVENS: No, I’m not. And he came up to me and was just like, you work for the Daily? And I was like, yeah. And he was like, ‘this podcast was like just a really amazing, like, um, coverage of this crime.’ And I just thought it was really impactful.

GOMEZ: Why did no one tell me this?

STEVENS: I dunno. I just, like, I didn’t, I didn’t think about it until, yeah, no, but it’s, he was really, he was, thought it was really cool. I didn’t know who you were at the time Also cause I was like just a new reporter and like, I’d never interacted with a pod.

I didn’t even know. I don’t, I don’t know if I even knew we had to podcast because I was just never paying attention to anything.

GOMEZ: But most people don’t. It’s, it’s very hidden gem, I guess. Well, I’m glad that it’s like, at least it’s now on a place in the front page where you can like at least see all the episodes or whatever.

STEVENS: But yeah, no, that was really, I don’t know, I thought that was really cool. I was like, dang, like that I, cause I was looking through it and I was like, yeah, this is really impressive. I was like, this is great reporting.

GOMEZ: Gosh dang. I dunno.

STEVENS: You should be proud of that. That was awesome. That was a hard hitting news story. Dang. I was thinking like it was just some piece of thing that, because I remember it only got like on Spotify, I think 150 viewers, which was one of our most viewed or listened to podcasts at the time, but, I didn’t really think much of it. Yeah. And you were probably still kind of new at that point too.

STEVENS: And so that was kind of like, um, right. And now I’m sure you we’re getting a little bit more traction. Now that it’s more consistent. But no, that was a great, that was a great piece. Um, what’s your favorite story that you’ve done, Maddie? Cause I know you, you’re, you get, she, she’s like one of the most passionate —

GOMEZ: She goes around, right?

STEVENS: She’s one of the most passionate reporters I have ever met. She is incredibly just, she puts her heart in absolutely everything she does. And I think that that is like just the most inspiring thing ever. And so that’s what I like, love about Maddie’s reporting the most. And I know that you have some stories that you’ve been really proud of, so I like wanna hear one?

ROTH: Um, oh, it’s, it’s a tie between two of them I guess because. Um, something that I love about Olivia is be that we both have the same drive for the opioid epidemic. In combating it. Um, and so I did two pieces this past semester. One on, um, heroin and then one on fentanyl. Um, and I got to talk to, um, a woman who was a heroin addict when she was 15 through 19.

Um, and she’s been sober for seven years. Her story was incredible. I talked to the wife of a professor who passed away from an accidental fentanyl overdose. Um, and that story too. I also love and appreciate Olivia because those stories took a long time to get done. We had a lot of issues with them, but um, she was patient with me.

She never gave up on me. Um, and I did these stories, um, and cried my eyes out because they were just these people, this woman who lost her husband. I think there’s a quote in my story and she said something along the lines of like, he was my soulmate. He was everything to me. And now he’s gone and I can’t do anything about it.

STEVENS: Yeah. He died of an accidental overdose too, which is just really crazy. And he was, um, a U of M economist. Um, While he was here. And yeah, Maddie obviously you connected really closely with her. And since Maddie has that like personal experience and like connection, I think that she can just get like a lot deeper with, with people like that, which is such a, a strength and like is so needed.

Um, because yeah, especially mental health coverage is really hard to do responsibly and not make it look like you’re just like trying to, I don’t know, just sensationalize it. Um, and so I think that that’s like absolutely essential and it’s amazing that she’s able to do that for sure.

ROTH: Aw, The other thing I would say is Housing and Residential Life. I can’t stand those people. They’re the worst.

GOMEZ: How do you mean?

ROTH: Let me just tell you.

STEVENS: Well, you can’t say too much because Yeah, you need to work with them. That we have to work with them next year, Maddie.

ROTH: I do?

STEVENS: Yeah, you do.

ROTH: Basically. I’ll just – Okay, I’ll, I’ll umbrella it. I just, I’ve done a lot of coverage on the, like, break-ins that have happened.

Um, and it was really interesting. Um, Gillian and I were looking at trends from like the bathroom break-ins cause there’s been so many since I was a freshman. Um, and there were none before. Yeah, like before the pandemic. Like when, like when you were a freshman. There were, there were no, there was none.

Ugh. There was none. And so like, I just, I. Every time, um, HRL like gives us an email, they’re just like, we’re doing what we can and it’s just not enough. And they’re, so, they’re trying to sweep all of this under the, the rug, and it’s like, we need to tell people if there are break-ins in these residence halls, like it’s um, it’s, like just not —

GOMEZ: It’s alarming you, it’s not a safe environment for people to participate in.

ROTH: Yeah. It’s just been a lot of, like Gillian, bless her heart for doing this story, like has found all of these freshmen are saying that like, HRL is not telling them when people are breaking in. Like, they don’t know.

And that’s just I, that’s just a, I can’t believe that. I don’t understand why this University doesn’t wanna see. We’ve done so much for safety in terms of the city and the areas around us, but when it comes to residence halls, they don’t do anything. And I think that’s something parents should be mad about.

STEVENS: Yeah. And that’s something me and Maia are covering right now too. And so that’s gonna be, that kind of actually really connects cause like, I think the main point of the story we’re working on is that, um, the University is somewhere that students assume they’re going to feel really safe. That like being in a residence hall, you assume everyone around you is vetted or like everyone around you is a student, so they’re everyone’s fine and like you’re not gonna get hurt or you’re not gonna get just looked at when you’re in the bathroom.

Um, and, you know, like the fact of the matter is it’s still a place that like, that people can get in and people can infiltrate and that it’s not just like this, like safe haven for students and the, the administration doesn’t necessarily have the motive to do absolutely everything they can to make it completely a safe environment for students if they’re not forced to.

GOMEZ: So, yeah. When should, uh, we be expecting that story out?

STEVENS: I think it’ll come out, It’ll definitely come out next week. So that’ll be interesting, um, to see how you, how that’s received, because, um, we’ve been working on that for like, quite a few weeks now and probably talked to like 20 people.

It’s gonna be, um, it’s gonna be interesting. So yeah, keep an eye out for that. Um, that’s gonna be me and Maia’s last story for the Daily.

GOMEZ: I’m happy that it’ll be something that’s actually like, very impactful, you know?

STEVENS: Yeah. I’m excited about it. I think that, yeah, we have worked just really hard on it, and so I think hopefully it’ll get some, like good reception, people wanna read it.

GOMEZ: Incite positive change, that’s what journalists wanna do. Right?

STEVENS: I don’t know, like for me, I guess, like you, you always hope that your story’s gonna have like a positive impact, but you know, I, I can’t really expect that because I feel like, I don’t know, sometimes it’s just like, it is the way it is and at least people know about it. Right? That’s, that’s all I can offer is that if, if they know about it, they can go and do what they want with that. Um, but like, it’s not my job to, you know, try and actually make the change unfortunately. Like that’s just, yeah, that’s kind of where we stop, I guess. But yeah. Yeah.

GOMEZ: Well, on that note, we’ve been talking for about 30 minutes now. Uh, the episode was supposed to be 20, but, um, that’s fine. We’ll enjoy this, um, I wanna thank you guys both for coming in for our last episode of the season, my last episode at, uh, the Daily, and I really appreciate it.

STEVENS: Do you have any reflections before we go?

GOMEZ: Uh, what do you mean?

STEVENS: Just on your experience here and like going forward, kind of what, what you hoped to take out of this.

GOMEZ: Uh, I think I, I think about that a lot. Uh, something that I really wish I did when I was younger was I, I cared a lot more, you know, cause it’s like, it’s easy for some people to just like, slip by and just like, do what you need to, to get the B or the B minus, you know? Uh, and I very much feel like I, I had been doing that for like, most of my life. And, uh, every now and then, uh, when I gotta work with a reporter or on an own independent story at the Daily, I was really able to come alive and feels like I was able to give that, that 90 to 100%.

STEVENS: Yeah.

GOMEZ: You know, and that’s one of, of the most, most satisfying feelings.

STEVENS: Mm-hmm. That’s an amazing feeling.

GOMEZ: Um, and I wish I did that more. I just really do. You can do that in the feed for now. I’ll do that wherever the heck I end up. Who knows?

STEVENS: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Cause you found what you love and it’s just sometimes it takes a while, dude.

GOMEZ: Audio’s like easily my favorite format. You know, it’s, you don’t worry. I don’t have to worry about an extra camera. All I have to do is just sit down, microphone and let people talk. And it’s such a beautiful way to I agree. Let people shine. Yeah. Because everyone speaks in their own the way. Yeah. And it’s beautiful.

STEVENS: Yeah. And you have the most beautiful voice of all podcast producers.

GOMEZ: I’m aware.

ROTH: Thank, I wanna say thank you to Alberto. You have really been incredible as at your, like, your time in your time here and the Daily is going to miss you incredibly — we truly will not be the same without you. So thank you for everything you’ve done.

STEVENS: Yeah, you have made an actual huge impact here and I think that that is something that’s really, really special. So yeah. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks so much for having us. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

GOMEZ: Um, so yeah, like we said last episode, uh, moving forward, uh, taking over for a podcast desk will be Kaylie Sirovy. Uh, I’ll be taking May to help train her up and she’ll be, I’m taking my position over the summer and we’ll see if we have an additional reporter to help her out.

Otherwise, um, I hope all of our listeners still stay tuned and give her the best support that she gets, you know, uh, I’m very excited to see what she creates over the summer and to see how In The Know continues to develop. On that note, um, I’m Alberto Gomez.

ROTH: I’m Maddie Roth.

STEVENS: I’m Olivia Stevens.

GOMEZ: And, uh, this is In The Know.