Paige Hagy, outgoing editor-in-chief of the Empire State Tribune, has been elected president of the student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists at The King’s College for the 2022-23 academic year. Hagy replaces current president Sofia Valdes.
In addition to her new position, Hagy will be interning this summer at American Banker through the Dow Jones News Fund.
Chapter members also elected Valdes the chapter’s vice president and Melinda Huspen as secretary. Both students have also worked for the EST, the award-winning independent student newspaper at King’s.
In addition to electing a new executive team, the chapter co-sponsored a series of events with MPJI this year. The chapter helped co-sponsor and promote “Alumni Night” in the fall and spring semesters, where King’s and NYCJ alums discuss what it was like to work in the news media during the pandemic.
The highlight of the year was a talk on April 13 by publisher Walter E. Hussman Jr., which served as MPJI’s eight annual lecture and co-sponsored by the chapter.
The campus SPJ chapter was founded by students in 2018. Past chapter presidents have been Anastassia Gliadkovskaya (2018-19), Jillian Cheney (2019-20) and Gabriela Kressley (2020-21).
The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior.
SPJ, founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry through the daily work of its members. The organization works to educate current and future journalists through professional development and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of press and speech through its advocacy efforts.
For more information on how to become a member, please visit www.spj.org or fill out the application form here.