For all you freshmen and transfer students out there, you’re entering NIU in an exciting, progressive time not just for the university but for the Northern Star. And for the returning scholars, we hope this year’s Star surpasses and obliterates all you’ve come to expect from this newspaper.

But let’s talk about us a little later. NIU’s football program is becoming more big-time seemingly by the second. Chicago’s 670 AM The Score will broadcast all the team’s games for the next four years, bringing the Huskies to 38 states.

NIU plays national powerhouse Michigan this year and prestigious programs Ohio State and Tennessee next season. Pretty heady stuff.

Meanwhile, the success on the gridiron has been a big reason for the record numbers of students entering NIU. Just like the city of DeKalb, which surrounds it, NIU keeps growing and evolving.

With its increasing number of applicants, NIU has had to toughen its admission standards. Getting into NIU is no longer as easy as winning money on a Rex Grossman injury pool.

But we digress. What we are most excited about is bringing you the best college newspaper we can possibly produce.

The Star is not about the editors and reporters and ad reps, after all. It’s about you; the student, the professor, the NIU staff member, the DeKalb resident, the NIU alumnus.

We will be bringing you more investigative pieces, and pieces that will inform you, surprise you, entertain you, and possibly depress you.

You know that tall building on campus you can see from distant cornfields?

Look forward to learning all there is to know about it; the good, the bad and the ugly.

New this year there will be a blog on our Web site written by our top editors which will explain the news gathering and selection process. Ever wonder why we covered one thing but didn’t cover another? Why we put a story on Page 1 that you thought could’ve been buried in the middle of the newspaper? Prepare to learn.

After all, the Star is about you guys.

Agree? Disagree? Contact us at [email protected]