Leading The Batt
Sometimes it just takes a little push, or in some cases a slip of something under the door, to pursue one’s goals and dreams in college.
Sometimes it just takes a little push, or in some cases a slip of something under the door, to pursue one’s goals and dreams in college. “The Battalion’s” editor in chief Amanda Casanova experienced just that before rising to the level where she is today.
“After hearing me talk about the possibility of writing for ‘The Battalion,’ at the end of my freshman year, my then-neighbor and now current roommate and best friend Amanda Johns slipped a Battalion application under my door,” Casanova said.
Casanova, a senior English major and journalism minor from Lufkin, Texas, began her career in journalism when she was in the seventh grade.
“She did a newspaper for our street, it was called the ‘Ginnway Gazette,’” said Teresa Casanova, Casanova’s mom. “It was just a one-pager and she would feature one of the kids in neighborhood, or if a family was going out of town on vacation and she would write about it.”
From there she went through high school and eventually came to choose to attend Texas A&M over Baylor.
“I was torn between Baylor and A&M my senior year of high school,” Casanova said. “While I found the Baylor campus breathtaking, I could not deny the atmosphere at A&M.”
During her freshman year, Casanova talked about how much she loved writing, said senior marketing major Amanda Johns.
“She wrote me notes of encouragement and birthday and Christmas notes,” Johns said. “No matter what they were, even it was just a casual everyday note, I thought they should be published.”
After Johns slipped her the application, Casanova began writing for the Aggielife section, which is now called the Lifestyles section.
Casanova’s first story in particular, in which she had to interview someone from the Class of 1935, stands out in her memory.
“We spoke for more than an hour about A&M, and I happily listened to his stories about A&M in those days,” Casanova said. “He is a representation of the spirit of service I see in our Corps of Cadets, the Aggie Band, Big Event and countless other student organizations.”
Casanova moved to the position of Lifestyles editor when her then-editor became the editor in chief.
Near the end of her junior year, after many interviews, Casanova was selected to be The Battalion’s next editor in chief.
As Casanova assumes her position, she is confronted with the many issues that print journalism encounters today as we move into the new media age.
“We will be exploring our Web site’s capabilities, taking on new marketing measures and looking at more interactivity with readers,” Casanova said. “Our responsibility, however, lies in the student body and the production of a quality newspaper. Whether we beef up our Web site or join the Twitter nation, we will still not change from providing relevant content to A&M.”
Casanova spent the summer interning in Abilene at the “Abilene Reporter-News” as a general assignment reporter and has previously interned at her local paper, “The Lufkin Daily News.”
“I was a general assignment reporter, meaning one day I could be chasing a drive-by shooting, watching planes land in Sweetwater, tracking down a guy who posted signs throughout town apologizing to his girlfriend, interviewing returning airmen and their families or all of the above,” Casanova said.
Casanova has a set of goals she wishes to accomplish while editor in chief, but believes through the education of reporters and consistent communication with other student organizations and administrators, The Battalion will succeed in its purpose.
“We are to be a watchdog of the administration and produce accurate and interesting content daily for readers,” Casanova said. “Battalion reporters are to be the eyes, ears and voice of A&M and to uphold the Aggie Honor Code through integrity of the press.”
