If you’re reading this, you’ve made your way to the newly redesigned website of California Lutheran University’s student-run newspaper “The Echo.” Our staff welcomes you to the first issue of the 2019-2020 school year.

Since 1961, The Echo has served the dual mission of informing the Cal Lutheran community through news, features, opinion and sport stories while concurrently providing students with the best educational experience possible to prepare for a career in professional journalism.

The Echo prides itself in this mission, and seeks to always produce content that is accurate, important and interesting.

Last March, our staff won five California College Media Association awards, including three first-place awards for Best Breaking News Story, Best Non-Breaking News Story and Best News Headline Portfolio.

However, our staff is composed of students, many of whom are first-time reporters and editors, and we are still learning. We encourage you to contact us if you believe we have made an error or have feedback about our coverage.

Last year, our staff faced unprecedented challenges after the mass shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill and the outbreak of the Woolsey and Hill fires left our community reeling. These are the events that no journalist wants to cover.

However, we are proud of the work our staff accomplished during this time, providing critical updates and in-depth stories from a perspective that no major news outlet could understand. We continue to cover the aftermath of these events, such as in this week’s article on the proposed memorial design.

Also this week you will find stories from the results of last week’s men’s soccer game to a new program bringing cats on campus to get rid of rodents. We hope you find these stories informative and compelling, and that you will pick up a copy of our second issue of the semester next week.

Finally, if you would like to see more from The Echo, we encourage you to pick up a copy at newsstands located throughout the Cal Lutheran campus, and to follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you for your readership.