Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
Before my time at the Webster County Citizen, I knew Seymour, Missouri, as the dinky little town down the highway from my only slightly less dinky hometown, Marshfield. The extent of my knowledge about it was that it was replete with Amish horses and buggies. In my past two years covering the happenings of Seymour, I have come to know it as so much more.
My favorite things to write about as a small-town journalist were community interest stories and profiles on the locals. I loved spectating this quirky, tight-knit community.
Dan Wehmer, owner, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Webster County Citizen, led me with, in his words, a “trial by fire” approach. This meant I was sent to learn the ropes of interviewing, photographing and writing a draft of my articles independently – armed with my supplied reporter’s notebook and AP Stylebook. Afterwards, my piece would be printed out with edits, discussed and finished with takeaway points. I found that this “learn by doing” approach helped me build my confidence, and by the end of my first year with the Citizen in 2024, I was approaching interviews with ease.
Out of all of the stories that I wrote this summer, one in particular stuck with me. I had the opportunity to do a “rescue ride” with a local animal shelter, Animal Angels Network. I rode along with Cynthia Suzanne, the leader of the rescue, to the site of a dog in need, all the while listening to stories of the cases her staff deals with day to day. This experience showed me the struggles of independent rescues in rural counties.
This past summer I was tasked with attending the Webster County Commission meetings. This provided me with experience in meeting reporting, as well as familiarizing me with county officials and the intricacies of their jobs. I feel that attending these meetings as a young adult equipped me with the necessary contextual knowledge to be a politically engaged citizen on the local level, all while gathering information to disseminate for other county citizens to do the same.
This perfectly encapsulates why I love to write. Writing is a form of organized thought, and by being put under the constraint of writing for a general audience, I am forced to clarify my wordage into the most straightforward message possible. William Zinsser put it best in his book, “Writing to Learn.”
“Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know – and what we don’t know – about whatever we’re trying to learn. An idea can have value in itself, but its usefulness diminishes to the extent that you can’t articulate it to someone else.”
By the time I returned for my second summer at the Webster County Citizen, I had decided that for my sophomore year at the University of Missouri, I was going to shift my approach from reporting and writing to strategic communication – specifically within graphic design. I’ve always been passionate about art, and Mr. Wehmer took that and ran with it. We shifted gears this past summer, and I focused primarily on designing the marketing material and building ads for the Seymour Apple Festival tabloid. Mr. Wehmer allowed me a lot of creative freedom with this project, and with it we were able to create an entirely fresh look for the festival marketing.
My favorite project that I had the opportunity to work with during the designing of this tabloid was the events calendar. I was tasked with redesigning a poster that was densely packed with information. I needed to provide a fresh, eye-catching look, all while maintaining legibility. I found that the creative freedom coupled with constructive critique that Mr. Wehmer and the rest of the Apple Festival team provided me with led me to a piece I was proud to add to my portfolio.
My time at the Webster County Citizen has perfectly married my passion for writing as well as my passion for design. I am very grateful for my time spent at this newspaper, and I am thrilled to be equipped with the knowledge and skills it has provided me as I move into the next steps of my career.
Lauren Replogle is a sophomore at the Missouri School of Journalism, studying strategic communication.
