The Centurion’s Editor-in-Chief, Alyssa Moore, has been almost single handedly putting together the student newspaper since the paper resumed publishing last fall amid the campus shutdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the school shut down due to COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, the Centurion team briefly stopped production of the paper and were only loading stories onto the Centurion website – www.bucks-news.com.

Moore, like most, hoped the virus would pass relatively fast; hoping they would be back in business by the fall.

Tony Rogers, the advisor of the newspaper, reached out to Moore and the rest of the team in the fall 2020 semester asking to start the newspaper up again.

“I thought it was going to be easy because I am doing it from my bed and I don’t have to go all the way to campus… but it was actually kind of hard,” Moore said.

She had to do everything from memory. Thankfully, the software programs they used at the school were available to her at home.

“It does get overwhelming. Work, school, the paper, emails… that determination to make something good [is what] pulls it all together,” Alyssa said.

She gets help through emails with Rogers and texts to Sarah Siock, the former Editor-in-Chief of the Centurion. Moore joined the Centurion team during her first semester at Bucks, the fall of 2019. She started as an editor under Siock.

Both Rogers and Siock have been like mentors to Alyssa.

Before going to college, she was debating between being an English or journalism major, but something in her gut went for journalism. She stuck with it and she’s happy about it.

Her strength is writing, which allowed her to like the traditional news reporting and writing end of journalism.

“I really learned a lot more than I could’ve ever thought at Bucks. So, I am going to be really sad to leave the Centurion, it has been a great learning experience for me, no matter how many technical difficulties it’s thrown my way,” said Moore.

Happy with her experience at Bucks and with the Centurion, Moore is transferring to Temple University in the fall of 2021 as a journalism major. She hopes to be a part of the newspaper there as well.

For students who are on the fence about joining the newspaper staff, it seems really intimidating, but the more involved determines how much everyone has to do.

Moore said, “Getting involved in the paper, as I’ve seen people come and go, will either make or break your major.”

If you are thinking about journalism, try it. Even if you are in the journalism field, joining the Centurion staff will help you explore the program more and figure out what fits you best as a journalist.

Bucks might still be closed in the fall of 2021, but the Centurion will be up and running as long as they have the people working behind the scenes. Moore and Professor Tony Rogers are very accessible and personable. Moore can be reached at [email protected] and Professor Rogers at [email protected].

COVID-19 has taken a toll on all of us, but the Centurion staff have been working tirelessly to make an interesting and informative paper for everyone to enjoy.