Three years of hard work finally paid off for University of Iowa junior Lily Abromeit, after she was announced as the new editor-in-chief of The Daily Iowan on Monday.
“I feel prepared. I think the experience that I’ve had at the DI and the people that I’ve worked with and under have taught me a lot,” Abromeit said. “I’m really excited to work with people at the DI and be back there.”
Abromeit, who double majors in journalism and mass communication and international studies, with a minor in Spanish, is studying abroad in San Sebastian, Spain, located in the Basque country.
The Student Publicans Inc. board members named Abromeit as the new editor after an hourlong interview with her. She will begin her tenure in May.
Emily Henningsen, the vice head of the SPI Board, said the members chose Abromeit because of her excellent job application.
“All of the things she had done for The Daily Iowan were phenomenal. The other external internships she’s done really hold her into an excellent candidate,” Henningsen said. “She wrote some phenomenal pieces that were a joy to read.”
Abromeit interviewed for the Bill Mertens Memorial Daily Iowan Scholarship in her high-school senior year prior to coming to the DI in her freshman year. An out-of-state student from Lawrence, Kansas, she said, the scholarship was the reason she could pursue her studies at the UI.
“I started working on my first story even before I had moved onto campus, even before I had moved into the dorm rooms,” she joked. “They sent out story emails, and I ended up having a story because I think I was a scholar and so I had to work on it before I moved in.”
Over the course of her DI career, Abromeit has served as a Metro reporter and editor, an assistant Arts editor, and the convergence editor.
“She’ll be a really good leader; I think she’s ready to take over the editor role and take everyone under her wing,” Henningsen said. “She’s really sweet, a fast learner, and so I think that once she gets the job down, it’ll be a breeze for her.”
Abromeit has also done journalistic work outside of the student newspaper. In her freshman year of college, she completed a summer internship as a social-media intern at a nonprofit called Friendship Works in London. She also has experience working for the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
She said she would like to continue working with the DI’s current online efforts and push for more social media and online content.
“To have more cross-platform content. So to have our TV and print stories line up and have more collaboration,” Abromeit said. “One thing that I am really looking forward to is to take advantage of the opportunities that we have for online content and to create different ways to present content to our readers.”
Current Editor-in-Chief Stacey Murray said she is very excited about Abromeit taking over next year.