There’s a gold mine of interesting stories to tell at NEIU. Every person here, whether they believe it or not, has an interesting story waiting to be told. It’s not the facilities, the classes or campuses that make NEIU special, it’s the students and faculty.

But here’s the thing: we need you to talk to us so we can tell those stories. In every issue of the Independent, we put in ads to become a part of the student voice by joining the newspaper or sending us story tips.

As the news editor for the Independent, the most common complaint I receive is that the news section is not diverse enough because we’re not covering A, B, C, X, Y or Z. My response is always the same, asking the person if they would like to write about A, B, C, X, Y or Z and send it to me. This is when I’ll receive the excuse that they don’t have the time to do it.

Things that matter take time and I believe that if you’re upset enough to complain about an event, person or topic not being covered, it deserves your time. Trying to cover the different campuses, expansive the range of topics, events and organizations is a constant struggle. Our newspaper staff is on the smaller side and we can only be in so many places at once.

This is where the NEIU community comes in: to inform you, you need to inform us. The Independent is the student voice and in order to maintain the aforementioned statement, we need you to communicate with us. Stop into the office or send us an email. Talk to us about how you made a few thousand dollars on cryptocurrency, about the five full-marathons you’ve completed or the twelve dogs you have. Tell us about your professor who has changed your life and made you love a subject that you once disliked, about how compassionate they are towards their students. We want to hear about it and meet you and them.

If your organization is hosting an event, send us an email, preferably a few days beforehand, stop in the office or even slip a flyer under our door. We want to go.

Perhaps you’re upset about something that happened on campus or have questions on an NEIU related topic and want us to look into it.

While we can’t write about every single event, organization or person, letting us know means you are on our radar and that’s important. We can’t write about what we don’t know is happening.

We would love if more students joined the newspaper to cover these things because it’s so much more important and beneficial than just adding an extracurricular activity to your resume. You get the opportunity to document NEIU history, build relationships with people on campus, challenge yourself, learn new things, experience what it feels like to see your name printed on a byline and most importantly, you become a part of the student voice.

We can’t be the student voice of NEIU if you don’t voice yours.