w e N ^ Extending the Mission Spring 2013 of Mount Saint Joseph Academy and College into the 21st Century Volume 9, No. 1
www.ursulinesmsj.org alumnae.msj@maplemount.org
Alums reflect on working on The Mount RIGHT: Mount editors in 1951, left to right: Theresa Luckett, Ann Tichenor, Barbara Elder. BELOW, left to right: Theresa Luckett, Ann Tichenor, Anne Tooley, Barbara Elder, Sister Ruth (formerly Janet) Gehres, Ann Hardman, Joan Sherron.
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his issue of The New Mount was done completely on computer – writing the articles, sizing the photos and laying out the pages. It’s something the students who worked on The Mount newspaper during their days at Mount Saint Joseph Academy could only dream about. “Laying out the paper and getting it printed in those days was such an old-fashioned process that no one today could even imagine it,” said Sister Ruth Gehres, A51, who worked on The Mount staff from 1947-51, her last year as editor. “We had to count words and spaces for the stories and headlines so that they would fit into the spaces allowed for them. Making photos fit required lots of measuring and math. All of the words and photos were sent to the Messenger Job Printing Co. in Owensboro, which would send the printed material back to us for cutting and pasting. “The photos, cropped and sized according to our directions, came back on wood blocks. All of the ads were also on wood blocks, which we kept in the office for use in every issue. After we had put all
of these things together, we sent the whole thing back to the Messenger for printing.” Theresa Coomes Jones, A60, worked three years on the staff. “Typewriters, scissors, rulers and paste were tools of the trade for MSJ girls,” she said. “Most every afternoon after school when our chores were completed, we spent some time working on newspaper projects: calendar of events, planning of photos, preparation of headlines according to event size, all in the downstairs rooms of the Bloemer building on the courtyard square.” Becky Collins Morris, A71, was assistant editor her senior year. “Most of my memories are learning how to do a page layout using a long ruler – and trying to think of witty titles. I can still ‘see’ the Mount room, desk and tables around the room with papers everywhere.” Working on The Mount offered an education beyond the classroom and a chance to build friendships, everyone said. Gertrude Hancock Brumleve, A54, said, “Being a co-editor of
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the student newspaper was the core of my education at Mount Saint Joseph. Barbara Elder Simpson and I gave up our recreation time every night when it was time for another edition to be published, to work on the newspaper. It was a discipline and a learning experience that set the groundwork for future challenges,” she said. “The feelings that I experienced opening those packages and seeing the edition all complete was one of excitement that stayed with me my whole life. I am presently authoring a book titled ‘Immaculate Perceptions’ and I am looking forward to experiencing those ‘ol’ feelings that began at Mount Saint Joseph when I first saw my thoughts and perceptions in print.” “Working on The Mount inspired me to be a journalist,” said Vickie Gibson, A74, who was co-editor her junior year with her cousin, Diane Bickett, A74. “Eileen Cassidy (A74) and I attended a journalism workshop at Western Kentucky University in the summer before our junior year. I was sure that after I graduated from the Mount I would go to WKU to study journalism.
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