The Utah Statesman has undergone a few changes this year, both in design and content. Thus far we’ve had a very positive response to those changes and we’d like to say thank you to those who have supported us this year. In that light, we’d like to take a look back over the past few months and recap on some of the stories you, the student body, expressed deep interest in.

News: Prevalent in the news section this semester was coverage of the 2009 Logan elections. The Statesman took care to ensure students were educated on the various issues discussed by candidates, knew when the candidates’ debates took place and knew about the changes in voting venues. We also went to City Hall election night and talked individually to the politicians, asking questions that directly affected USU students. The Statesman encouraged students to get involved in the local election, then tried to give them the tools to educate themselves and participate.

Aggie Life: The clear winner here is the story titled “The Battle Between Faith and Homosexuality”. Through the experiences of two USU students who chose two different paths, this article examined how individuals with homosexual thoughts and preferences coped as active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the two individuals chose to not act upon his homosexuality and continued to follow his faith, while the other individual felt he could not be gay and a member of the LDS community and chose to leave the church. This story also examined the LDS church’s view on the matter. We, at The Statesman, felt this was a great journalistic piece because it approached a sensitive topic from a variety of angles and began an interesting discussion within the community.

Sports: While USU’s football team enjoyed its most successful season in years, and the women of USU soccer and basketball both celebrated immense wins over University of Utah, the clear choice here is USU hockey’s pair of wins over Eastern Washington. Eastern had beaten USU in every game dating back to a 3-3 tie in the Eccles Ice Arena four seasons ago. But the Aggies demonstrated that what’s past is merely prologue, beating the Eagles 2-1 on a Thursday before topping them 6-5 in overtime two nights later. Aggressive hockey is back in town.

Conclusion: Pick up The Utah Statesman every Monday, Wednesday and Friday next semester and visit us at www.aggietownsquare.com for continued coverage of your campus and community.