GENERAL EXCELLENCE

Every year the Minnesota Newspaper Association holds a statewide college newspaper competition recognizing the most outstanding work by college journalists.
This year being crowned the winner of the General Excellence Award was the Echo, the college newspaper at Rochester Community and Technical College.
Apart of the team that won this award were two,Kasson-Mantorville graduates, who roamed the halls in Kasson, more than 30 years apart.
Luke Buehler
In 2015, Luke Buehler graduated from K-M but before doing so, he made his mark by reviving the student newspaper, which didn’t exist since the 90s.
That wouldn’t be the last time he made his mark in the newspaper world, however.
After graduating high school, Buehler went on to attend RCTC where he was inspired to join the student ran college newspaper.
“I was inspired to be involved with the Echo,” Buehler said.
During his time with the Echo, Buehler held leadership roles, which included being the leader of the newsroom, as the editor in chief, as well as the ad manager.
For Buehler, his favorite part of being involved with the Echo was the fact that he got to tell stories that were important to the college community.
“I think my favorite part of the Echo was having a voice on paper,” Buehler explained.
While sometimes young writers shy away from writing about tough topics, Buehler explained that he is proud of the fact that he wrote about stories deemed as controversial and important.
One story, in particular, that Buehler points to as being about a real life issue was on the topic of textbooks, a topic that he explained is still controversial to this day.
“The reason I wrote about real subjects with as much passion and spritz was so it would be received and not soon forgotten,” Buehler explained.
After graduating from RCTC, Buehler went onto the Winona State where he graduated in December with a degree in business administration.
Dwight Boyum
All of his life writing came easier for Dwight Boyum compared to others.
His resume defiantly supports that.
For Boyum, his first published work was in the DCI when he was just in fourth grade. His fourth grade essay, "My trip to Tollefson's Woods,” was chosen to be published in the paper after a class competition.
Now more than 40 years later, Boyum is teaching the next generation of writers and a adjunct instructor, and advisor of the ECHO, at RCTC.
Boyum went to RCTC following graduation from K-M. After graduating from the community college, he went onto attend St. Cloud State, and after graduating he got his first job in the business and has been in the newspaper business ever since.
After coming back to the area to work for the Rochester Post Bulletin, he was asked by Ken Knapp, one of his biggest mentors, if he would teach a class at RCTC.
It’s been 28 years since then, and Boyum is very happy that he said yes.
While Boyum is an adjunct instructor, meaning he only teaches classes when needed, he explained that he really enjoys it.
Since taking on the instructor role at the college, Boyum has taught a wide variety of different mass communication classes, along with continuing his career with the Post Bulletin.
For Boyum, one of his favorite parts of teaching these courses is being able to apply real life examples in his courses.
“Those teachable moments are always on people’s minds,” Boyum explained.
Although he understands that many of the students at RCTC won’t go into a career in journalism or a mass communications related field, he feels that it is important for every college student to take at least one mass communications course while in college.
One of the main reasons he cited for this is because of the emphasis that employers have on communications skills.
In 2011, Boyum also got a new opportunity at the school to go along with his instructor role.
The recent success of the Echo has come in the last three years as the college has placed in the top three for College General Excellence for the MNA Awards, something that is almost unheard of for community colleges, who have to go up against much larger schools that generally have a more veteran staff.
Unlike four year college newspapers where students are able to develop their skills for a few years, the reality for community college papers is that they have two years from the time they start until graduation.
Because of this reality, Boyum explained that the most important thing that they needed to do in order to be successful was to have a good team from top to bottom.
That's exactly what they had.
“It was a great team effort,” Boyum said, “I think there's a role for any personality type in a newsroom and it showed,” he added.
Despite knowing that they placed in the top the General Excellence Award, going to the ceremony they weren’t told they came in first place until they got there.
The team was very excited when they found out.
“It was a very pleasant surprise,” Boyum said.
Although it is without a doubt a team effort in order to be successful so many years in a row, Boyum pointed to the leadership of Lydia Hansen, editor in chief.
“Our editor was very mature, especially for a 20 year old,” Boyum explained.
Boyum explained that being apart of a college newspaper is a real rewarding experience for any student.
“Working at a student level newspaper is a really awarding experience even if you don’t go into mass communications career,” Boyum said.
 
One of the main reasons he gave for this is because of the fact that students are able to develop their communication skills that they may not even known they had.
“It forces you to develop communication skills that you have,” Boyum said. “It also teaches young people how to meet deadlines,” he added.  
Despite changes in the newspaper world since he first started, Boyum explained that the need for newspapers is more than ever.
“The need for journalism is just as great as it’s ever been.”