From the Student to the Echo, student publications celebrate 150 years this year

A history of student publications at MC:

This September, Maryville College celebrates 150 years of student publication and 110 years since the first publication of The Highland Echo.

Maryville College has a history of pride surrounding the importance of publication and students’ voices. In 1987, a time when information was a privilege not freely given, two sophomores – future president of the college Dr. Samuel Tyndale Wilson and John Silsby – started the first publication at Maryville College: The Maryville Student. 

Their goal was to connect students and the Maryville community through their writing, spanning topics from essential events to student life.
“You could read all different topics [in The Student], see advertisements for local businesses and [access] personal information,” said Maryville College Archivist Amy Lundell (‘06).

The Student had a short run of only one year, but it was far from the end of student journalism at MC. Many other publications emerged on campus, from short pamphlets to a college yearbook. 

One of the most notable publications was The Adelphic Mirror. This paper was the first to move its publishing office out of student dorms and into a formal office.

The Adelphic Mirror eventually became The Highland Echo. In the 70s, a short-story column run of the Echo led to the start of Impressions, MC’s literary magazine, where students publish original creative literature and art. Each of these publications helped the next evolve and chronicled student life.

The importance of student publications:

Campus papers are crucial to helping understand student life – for residential students and commuters alike. Through publication, students are able to meet new people and quell rumors with truth. 

Outside of general student life, students use the Echo as a training ground for life beyond college. Students who wrote for the Echo have moved on to careers in journalism and reporting, supported by what they learned while contributing to the paper.

Dr. Kim Trevathan, former advisor of the Echo for over 20 years, said: “Working on the Echo is an invaluable out-of-the-classroom experience; editors learn how to manage peers and enact their vision.”

Trevathan tells how, through the Echo, writers learn how to shine a light on issues the student body ignores or is oblivious to. These skills transfer to students’ lives and careers.

“These skills are increasingly important as journalism and journalists are facing more and more challenges in what seems a post-truth culture [that is] hostile to fact-based reporting and insightful perspectives,” Trevathan said.

Steve Wildsmith, a reporter with over 25 years of experience and the current faculty advisor of The Highland Echo, notes how vital student publications are for learning skills and finding oneself.
“If I can help even one Scot discover that unquenchable thirst for newswriting that so many great journalists have, then it’ll be worth all the extra time I’ve committed to this role,” Wildsmith said.

Wildsmith also commented on how publication holds the legacy of Maryville College, which students help build.
“I have the honor of shepherding a group of talented Scots who, one semester after another, commit to carrying on the legacy of a publication that was first started in 1915 and is one of the oldest continually published college newspapers in Tennessee.” 

MC alumna Karen Eldridge (‘94) proves just how vital the Echo is. After graduation, Eldridge worked at a newspaper for two years before returning as a staff member at the college. She is now director of MC’s writing and communications department. Her time as an editor of the Echo helped her understand the college itself, a skill she said is critical in her current role. 

“The Echo was a great practical experience and remains a unique historic report of campus life,” said Eldridge.

But student publications do not just give future reporters experience, they hold valuable information for everyone, whether it be today or years from now. From presidential elections to alum lives, Maryville College’s publications capture a glimpse of what life was like 150 years ago. This view highlights how journalism remains crucial to understanding the past, present, and future, even through change.

“Information from another area of the country would be published here, and stuff from our college would be published in, let’s say, Harvard’s [paper],” said Lundell, highlighting the paper’s reach. 

Lundell’s work as the college archivist has cemented each student publication in history, producing a growing line of documents showing Maryville College’s history and community through its papers.

Publications gave the Maryville College community an immeasurable gift, and it continues to provide that gift today. 

First issue of The Maryville Student, first student publication at MC, in 1875

Courtesy of Amy Lundell