Graduating Editor Guides Award-Winning Student Newspaper Into New Era

It’s just before midnight on a Tuesday, and The Suffolk Journal office is eerily quiet.  

For decades, Suffolk student designers and editors, reporters and photographers toiled together into the early morning hours every Wednesday to meet each edition’s print deadline. But tonight there are no frantic rewrites or last-minute front-page tweaks. Instead, staffers are experiencing something increasingly rare and valuable in the age of constant news alerts and multiple side hustles: a night off.  

There would be fresh editions of The Suffolk Journal at elevator banks around campus again the following week, part of the biweekly print schedule established by editor-in-chief Maren Halpin in 2024 to reduce costs, lessen stress for staff, and align with a digital-first pivot that’s playing out in newsrooms across the globe.  

Halpin spoke with student reporter Francisca Baduya and fellow graduating journalism student Claury Carner during a special Commencement edition of "The On-Ramp."

Halpin, Class of 2026, loves a good pivot. She came to Suffolk as a politics, philosophy, and economics major planning to go into law or policy to make her impact on the world. Becoming a reporter was far from her childhood dream, she laughs: “It wasn’t even a childhood passing thought.” 

But within a month of tagging along to a Journal meeting with one of her track teammates, she’d written her first story, landed on the front page, and changed her major to print/web journalism.  

“The feeling that something that I had written—and pinpointed about the community—resonated so much was just magical,” says Halpin. “Everything became so clear so quickly.” 

Bold, decisive action has been a hallmark of her time at The Suffolk Journal, where she took on the role of editor-in-chief in her junior year. She worked with colleague Julia Capraro, Class of 2026, to create a new position, managing editor of newsroom and initiatives, focused on digital innovation. Together with their staff, Halpin and Capraro have enhanced the paper’s website, optimized content for search, developed multiple newsletters, and increased its social media presence.  

They’ve found new ways to save money and time while increasing readership. At the same time, the paper is racking up impressive accolades. This spring, The Suffolk Journal received six Apple Awards from the College Media Association and three honors from the college division of the annual New England Newspaper & Press Association’s Better Newspaper Competition, earning nods for its crisis coverage, photography, social media, website, and newsletters—as well as the paper’s front page and two second-place overall awards.  

Studying journalism in 2026 means fielding constant questions about an industry grappling with many potential threats, from media consolidation to AI. Under Halpin’s leadership, The Suffolk Journal has served as both a newsroom and an experimental lab where student journalists can take big risks to prepare for whatever the future holds—and develop critical skills to help their future employers adapt, too.  

Professor Charles St. Amand, faculty advisor to The Suffolk Journal, notes that Halpin has encouraged a culture of professionalism among the paper’s staff, including promoting crucial networking opportunities at industry events. Though he says all the editors-in-chief he’s worked with have been excellent, he praises Maren for doing “an exceptional job building a loyal team and breaking important stories.” 

After completing coveted co-op and part-time reporting positions at The Boston Globe, Halpin started her first full-time role as an innovation reporter for the Boston Business Journal a few weeks before Commencement.  

Her success comes as no surprise to those who’ve worked with her, including Suffolk University’s Vice President of Communications Greg Gatlin.  

"Maren is thoughtful and prepared in her questioning and looks for the bigger picture rather than the click bait,” says Gatlin, who regularly works with Halpin and her staff as they report about University issues and interview senior administrators, including President Marisa Kelly. “She is respectful, yet fearless in terms of asking the tough questions—and she gets answers.” 

Gatlin says Halpin’s ability to mentor and inspire her successors has ensured a strong transition of leadership for the paper. “The Suffolk Journal has been lucky to have her. I would say the same goes for the Boston Business Journal. They’ve landed the real deal.”   

As she prepares for post-Suffolk life, Halpin looks forward to supporting The Suffolk Journal as a reader—and to seeing how rising editor-in-chief Alexis Crochiere and her staff put their own stamp on the paper.  

“I have so much confidence in this next generation,” says Halpin. “I can’t wait to see them make it their own, try new things, and take the kinds of big risks I got to take.”