BLACKSBURG, VA – After 123 years, the Collegiate Times will no longer roll off the presses and into Blacksburg.
“We’ve always been there. We’ve been printing since 1903, which is incredible. It’s a bittersweet moment. It’s been a tradition for so long,” Outgoing Editor-in-Chief Michaela Scott said.
Scott helped make the decision to move the long-standing, student-run paper fully digital.
“A lot of people feel different ways about it, but it’s a way to continue to grow and evolve the paper and reach people where they are currently,” Scott said.
The change is part of a much bigger shift across the news industry.
From small-town papers to national newsrooms, more publications are moving away from print as readers turn to their phones for headlines and breaking news.
“I want the paper to be known to everyone. Sometimes I ask people, ‘Oh, have you picked up the paper this week?’ Or, ‘Have you seen the red boxes?’ A lot of students nowadays, they don’t notice that. They don’t pick it up as much as people a decade or a few decades ago used to,” she said.
The Collegiate Times first launched its website back in 1998.
Now, incoming editor-in-chief Ava Garrison says digital is taking center stage.
“We’re trying to meet our readers where they are,” Garrison said.
They took us through the archives, where some editions captured moments of celebration across campus.
Others documented moments that changed Virginia Tech forever, like the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting.
Garrison says they know the importance of making sure the paper continues to be there for the Virginia Tech community.
She says that commitment is already shaping future coverage - including plans for a special print edition marking 20 years since the shooting.
“That’s something that’s really special to a lot of people. A lot of people visit here, families of victims, it might be nice for them to see something in print like that, and it’s just another way to make it special,” Garrison said.
The Collegiate Times’ final regular print edition hit stands Wednesday - marking the end of an era, as the paper moves to a free and fully digital format this fall.
“I think that a digital edition will carry our legacy,” Garrison said.