Last year, The Purple Quill saw many great writers walk out of the doors for the last time. I caught up with two premier writers from the 2012-13 Quill staff to see what they are up to.

First I caught up with former sports editor and Co-Editor in chief, Blaise Weber, now enrolled in the Scripps writing program at Ohio University, to see what he was up to.

“I’ve recently become involved with the Scripps showcase which is a group that represents the journalism school,” said Weber. He said he still uses techniques he learned while writing for The Purple Quill, but he also is learning many new things.

Weber also said writing for The Purple Quill helped him prepare for the writing he does in college. “It gave me experience early. Over time I learned some of my weaknesses and began to fix them.”

Weber has wanted to be a journalist basically his whole life.

“When I was eight, I started my own sports newsletter,” said Weber. “Ever since then it’s really the only career I’ve thought about.”

He said that sports writing is his dream and establishing himself as a nationally respected sports writer is his ultimate goal.

I also got a chance to talk to former Co-Editor in chief Sam Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski is also enrolled at OU in the Scripps program. He is one of the few freshmen writing for The Post, OU’s school newspaper, and so far he has been shining.

“My first print article actually made the front page and had the most online hits,” said Kwiatkowski.

Kwiatkowski was pretty surprised to see his article on the front page, but said it was a very cool experience. He even gave our own Gary Rogers a shout out for everything he taught him.

He went on to say how writing for The Post is much different than writing for The Purple Quill.

“It’s a lot different. We have nightly deadlines instead of monthly deadlines. It’s an everyday thing and you have to be able to write an article in an hour or two.”

Kwiatkowski has not just limited himself to writing for The Post. He is also writing for UC, covering some football games for their online publication. He started writing for UC while he was still in high school and they decided to keep him on as a paid writer, writing about recruiting and game day coverage.

As Sam is already accomplishing so much so quickly, I had to ask what his future plans are for his writing career.

“I’m double majoring in public relations, so if I can’t find a job in writing, I’ll go another route,” said Kwiatkowski. “I’d love to work in sports, but again, it’s a limited job market. We’ll see as the years go by.”

I think regardless of what Sam and Blaise end up doing with their careers, they will both be great successes and make Elder Nation proud.

If you wish to check out either of their writings you can find Blaise’s at Sports by Bweb and Sam’s at the Bearcat Journal.