Welcome to the University of Wisconsin.

Your freshman year is sure to be filled with many late-night study sessions, drunken game days and new friends who you’ll meet at a party then never see again.

But while freshman year is a great adventure, it can also be a great challenge. Transitioning from high school to college life is weird and finding your place in a sea of 43,000 people is no easy feat.

When I arrived at UW three years ago, I thought my place would come in the form of a sorority or maybe even the Cheese Club. Little did I know, I would find my place at an office right off of State Street known as The Badger Herald.

The Badger Herald has been an institution on the UW campus since 1969. We were founded on being the edgy, oppositional and truly independent voice for UW students. We’re known for pushing boundaries and taking risks. Last year, the Herald took a risk and transitioned into a weekly, tabloid product. We put a stronger emphasis on producing feature-length stories in print and creating more multimedia for our online platforms. We’ve expanded almost every section at the Herald and we’re still looking to do more.

At the Herald, we produce stories that have real impact. Whether it’s sexual assault on campus, the 2016 election or even Madison’s growing hip-hop scene, the Herald has you covered.

As independent journalists, we know how our readers consume their media. We write stories people care about and that we would want to read too. Our social media platforms have some of the largest followings on campus for just that reason.

The Herald has a place for just about everybody. If you’re looking to make your voice heard on campus, whether it’s through writing, photography, videography, designing or something else, the Herald just might be the place for you.

If you’d like to get involved with us next semester, whether it’s as a reporter, photographer, videographer, designer, coder or copy editor, stop by our get involved meetings in the fall or feel free to email me at [email protected].