The Nicholls Worth 68 years later: “Oh the places we’ve been”

Since its first publication in 1949, The Nicholls Worth has changed its looks, sections and types of stories. Now in its 68th year, it is time to reflect on the importance of this newspaper, and the direction it is headed in this age of technology.
Volume one, issue one of the newspaper printed ten mimeographed sheets with one blank side and stapled together. Evelyn Price was the first Editor of The Nicholls Worth and Bonnie Bourg was the adviser. The paper sold for a nickel, giving it the name “The Nicholls Worth.” The paper produced drawings, jokes, gossip and news. It reported on new clubs on campus and even reported on a bid for the first ever dorms to be built on campus.
About thirty years later, The Nicholls Worth was producing 44-page papers and reporting on a roach problem in cafeteria food. In the 1970s, the black and white paper then folded in the middle of a broadsheet. Fast forward to the 1990s and the Nicholls Worth had activities to do in the paper such as crossword puzzles and word searches. Readers also saw cartoons like “Popeye” and “Mama’s Boyz.”
In around 2000 the paper was half black and white, half color. It was not until fall of 2013 when then Editor Ross Landry redesigned the paper to be full color and tabloid size. Earlier this year our last editor, Alexis Cannon, went with a fresh new design, to make it look more like a newspaper. We became more digital, publishing online content daily during the fall and spring semesters. That redesign gave the Nicholls Worth a fresh look, but was only the beginning of the changes that are coming this fall.
The Nicholls Worth is changing for fall 2017 in a manner that allows it to more deeply embrace its journalistic roots, as well as deliver a product that is motivated by the student body. News stories will take a longer, more investigative look into the Nicholls campus, while features will take a deeper look at some of the most influential people in the Nicholls community and how they shape the lives of each student. The sports section will deliver frequent updates on all of Nicholls athletics, along with more intensive looks at rivalries, matchups and players. The reimagined lagniappe section will provide readers with more details on campus events, organizations and entertainment.
In the fall, the Nicholls Worth will post timely content online daily in a more expansive manner than has been possible in the past. The revitalization of our website and our social media channels, combined with a redesigned print product, will allow us to get content to readers in a manner that is more timely, investigative and varied than it has ever had the opportunity to before.
We will reveal more concrete details about our plans for the fall both on our website and social media as the fall semester grows nearer, and as the Nicholls Worth begins to take the next step in its evolution.