Rising third year Caity Seed has been with The Cavalier Daily since her first semester on Grounds. With no background in formal news writing, Seed followed her suitemate, an aspiring Opinion writer, to a CD meeting as a “spur-of-the-moment thing.” From that first meeting, she was hooked.
“I loved the editors and the people leading the meeting,” she says. “It was great to join something that immediately gave me so much. I had no background in it and it taught me a lot. They throw you right into the middle of things.”
Seed started as a News writer and quickly rose to the position of Associate News Editor. Currently, she serves as the summer Staff Editor, managing two writers and a production member. Together, they create daily content to keep the paper active through the summer.
“This is the first time we have tried out this daily summer production,” Seed explains, noting that she and the other summer staff members are the first formal interns of the paper in recent memory. “Every summer, there is some amount of prod that gets done, but it has by no means been daily… I think it’s been pretty smooth sailing so far.”
According to Seed, this role has encouraged her to become more involved with the physical space of the CD, as well as increase her in-person interactions with other CD members. “When you are a writer, a lot of [the work] is remote,” she says. “You can write your assignment from your dorm, or apartment, or classroom. As I got more involved with the CD, I’ve also gotten more involved with other people: editors, copy staff members, the editor-in-chief. It’s been great.”
It is this increased level of interaction, both with the offices and the individuals, that Seed looks forward to participating in during the upcoming years. She says the people that make up The Cavalier Daily staff are “hilarious and sassy – exactly what I wanted news production to be,” adding, “There is always someone willing to help you out.”
Seed credits her work with the paper for keeping her highly informed about the happenings around the University. Attending numerous events for her assignments, she says, has allowed her to learn about things she would have never heard about otherwise. “It’s been great,” she says. “I still really appreciate this level of involvement [with the community].”
In the upcoming years, Seed looks forward to the continued growth of the paper, particularly under the leadership of current Editor-in-Chief Dani Bernstein. According to Seed, Bernstein is encouraging The Cavalier Daily to expand its news coverage further into the Charlottesville and Richmond areas. “Though the University is still our primary source of information and news, we can look to cover more in our [geographical] area if it is still relevant to us,” Seed explains. This expanded reach is increasingly possible as the paper becomes more organized and streamlined. “I really appreciate this,” she says. “We are extending the paper, and what we can cover as news, more and more.”