Meet Our Alumni...
| When Elinor Tatum worked on The Hill News, St. Lawrence’s student newspaper, in the days before computers were common, she learned old-fashioned paste-up (“with an X-acto knife and wax,” she recalls). As both a campus journalist and a student government senator, she learned parliamentary procedure. Going on tour as a member of the Laurentian Singers, she learned how to handle new situations. In these and many other pursuits at St. Lawrence, she learned to work with people. This all came in handy when she joined the family-owned newspaper The Amsterdam News in New York City a year after graduating. “I learned how to juggle a schedule, get access to people, meet deadlines and manage others, all of which I do now,” says the head of the nation’s oldest continuously minority-owned newspaper; she is ultimately responsible for every aspect of the paper’s operation. Among other fond memories of St. Lawrence, Tatum cites studying for finals at a nearby scenic waterfall; going to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, for coffee; and writing a paper on St. Lawrence’s first graduate for a history course that taught her to use primary sources – another critical skill for a journalist. Her Pi Phi sorority sisters have remained among her closest friends, she adds. When asked what advice she would give aspiring journalists, Tatum says, “Gain as much experience as possible. Get involved in college publications. Get an internship. Find a small-town weekly or neighborhood paper to write for. Acquire bylines.” Her own career is an example.
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Elinor Tatum ’93