My name is Sonora Slater, and I am an incoming fourth-year managerial economics major and the editor-in-chief of The California Aggie for the 2023-24 academic year. Whether you’ve called Davis home for many years, or you’re touring campus for the first time right now, just beginning to envision yourself merging into bike circles and studying in the window seats at Shields Library, welcome to one of my favorite places in the world.
There are certain things that are essential to the unique culture of Davis: meeting friends at the farmers market on Saturdays, watching sunsets on top of Hutchinson parking garage and assigning the Doxie Derby the same level of importance as the Olympic Games, to name a few. Throughout your time at UC Davis, these traditions (and more) will shape the fabric of your college experience, permeating the stories you’ll one day tell your kids, your coworkers or the random person in line behind you at Disneyland.
But there’s one more thing that I hope you’ll make part of your college experience because to me, it’s just as essential to this campus as the cows (bold claim, I know). And that, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, is The California Aggie — the official student-run newspaper of UC Davis, serving the student body since 1915.
Throughout the school year, we distribute print issues of the paper once a week on Thursdays, as well as post online articles every day and share updates on our Instagram @thecaliforniaaggie. For the summer, we have something a little different. What you’re holding right now is a curated selection of articles that showcase the best of what our seven desks have to offer: from campus news to sports, and everything in between.
This issue features student work that includes humor articles, a cartoon, coverage of top research being done at the university, a spotlight on campus dogs, a QR code link to our recently added Spanish article translations, book and music recommendations from our arts desk, a crossword puzzle, introductions to some of the most recent winners of our annual ‘Best of Davis’ awards and dozens of beautiful graphics and photos, most of which were designed or taken by Aggie staffers. It’s jam-packed with exciting, important and entertaining coverage of our very own campus community, just like we strive for every week.
If you’re a student at UC Davis, new or old, I hope that you will let our stories become part of your college experience. And vice versa, I hope that our platform creates a space for all of your voices to be heard. Even if you’re just visiting for the day, I hope flipping through these pages gives you a taste of what (and who!) makes Davis the town it is, and helps you pass the time with some good-old-fashioned reading.
Feel free to reach out to me at editor@theaggie.org with questions, comments or things you’d like to see The Aggie do or cover, and have a great summer!
Best,
Sonora Slater
Editor-in-Chief
