Welcome to Volume 53!
A message to our readers, writers, and community members as The Medium enters the 2026-2027 school year on the mission leading us this year and the new initiatives we’re bringing to UTM’s student paper.
To the members of The Medium’s community,
It is a true honour and pleasure to welcome you all to Volume 53 of The Medium, the student newspaper of the University of Toronto Mississauga!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this publication, student journalism at UTM was born in 1968 as The Erindalian, which was the first student paper of what was then Erindale College. As years turned into decades, the paper went through numerous changes, from shutting down in 1973 to being refounded as Medium II in 1974 and then as The Medium in 1995, to moving into its current space in the Student Centre in 1999. Fast forward 27 years to that same space, where, this Monday, countless first-year students got their first taste of our paper as they engaged in The Medium’s annual orientation event, which this year, was a Newsletter Development Studio.
I mention these first-years because I believe their presence and engagement with The Medium even before they step into their classes represents more than just a successful event. To me, their interest speaks to the fundamental nature of what The Medium is and will be: a space for students to express themselves through the development and application of their critical thinking and creative abilities. This space is seemingly detached from the world around it and even from the people behind it. For this event, attendees didn’t need to know what The Medium was, who produces it, or its history. They didn’t even need to know exactly what they would be doing or what The Medium was able to offer them. All they needed was a passion and the willingness to pursue such inclinations.
Every year, without fail, these very young people compose the new waves of talent which crash on our shores, and through intentional practice and careful mentorship, grow as writers and leaders who ultimately join the forest of pillars that hold up this paper and ensure its survival year after year. Even when faced with the business of student life and responsibilities, the reason we are still here is that very passion that brought us to The Medium in the first place. It is when we choose to follow and embrace that passion that we are inspired to take what we have been given and build upon it, paying respect to the legacy left behind by fulfilling our obligation of advancing our mission.
What is that mission you may ask? The Medium exists to (1) uncover the truth (2) unify our campus, and (3) entertain, inform, educate and challenge. This year, we aim to do just that by continuing to bring our readers the community-created, quality journalism that has been read and enjoyed by generations of UTM community members. As in the past, our paper will include News, Features, Opinions, Sports, and Arts sections, and will be joined by a yearly magazine published in March, which will allow writers to contribute longer-form and creative pieces.
While these plans are age-old practices that serve as the paper’s bedrock, what truly excites us are the various new initiatives that will be implemented this year. As a paper, it is imperative that we do not just remain the same year after year, but that we add to what has been given to us and take risks that put us in a better position to best serve our campus community. Perhaps the most notable plan we are thrilled to share is that this year, associates, staff writers, illustrators, key columnists, and cover artists will be paid for their work. This decision is meant to recognize the dedication that goes into the work of our team—labour that must be carried along academic workloads and other extracurricular activities. For those interested in learning more about the details of this new initiative, please check out our Instagram or any of our weekly emails.
Below are the other changes that will be rolled out this year:
- Our outreach efforts have expanded significantly, and will feature even more events for writers and community members throughout the year. These efforts will include various tabling events, office activities, and socials, which will grow our visibility on campus and offer aspiring and current writers more opportunities to get involved with us. Our outreach team will also lead our yearly photo and short-story contests. Stay tuned for more information concerning those!
- Our paper will increase in page count from 12 to 16 pages, allowing for even more content to be distributed, more voices, and more cool new additions to the paper.
- Our issues will now feature cross-word puzzles and comics! Such additions have been long-requested by readers and this year we look forward to adding these and other cool elements to our paper!
- All of our issues will now feature cover art. We’ve seen for a while now how such art both attracts readers to our paper and serves as a creative archive that reflects the unique message of each issue. The increased frequency of the art also inspired us to pay the talented artists who developed such pieces.
- This year’s volume will see 3 new themes, in addition to the list of themes that are repeated annually. In 2027, we’ll join the rest of UTM in celebrating its 60th anniversary through an issue dedicated to the campus and its history. In our second issue of the Winter semester, we’ll give students the chance to reflect on the idea of “Coming to Age,” an issue which has been carefully placed in early 2027 to give students the chance to reflect on the first semester and the growth they’ve experienced. Finally, our last issue of the Fall Semester will be Holiday-themed, giving writers the chance to close off the year in a festive manner while discussing their experiences celebrating the various holidays that take place in December.
- Video content is back! The Medium will publish weekly videos on our social media and website to go along with our regular publishing stream. These will include article features, a brand new archive series, video coverage of events, and more!
- The Medium will feature columns that will continue throughout the year and serve key purposes in illuminating routine events and ideas. In News, our administrative column will review the discussions which take place in UTM’s various committees, including the UTM Campus Council, Academic Affairs Committee, Campus Affairs Committee, and Quality Service to Students Committee. The Opinion section will feature “UTM, Unpacked,” a column which will allow writers to critically (and comically) break down the UTM and U of T condition—or, in other words, what it means to study, work, love, fail, and succeed at our university. Finally, the Arts section will once again feature the “Theatre Erindale” column, which will serve to explore the various productions run by UTM’s Theatre and Drama studies program and the awesome talent underpinning every aspect of each show. Moreover, given the time and effort these positions demand, our columnists will also receive payment for their work!
- Voiceovers are here! For the first time, our staff will record audio voiceovers of all The Medium’s new articles. We hope this will improve ease of access for all our readers (and listeners!).
- We will be expanding our advertising opportunities, with increased collaboration with students clubs and societies, university branches, and external businesses, to both help these groups achieve their institutional goals and to enable us to further realize our aspirations through additional income.
- And much more! We’ve re-developed various internal systems to refine our work-flows, and we’re also in the process of launching different initiatives and projects throughout the year to support our institutional sustainability and impact. Stay tuned to hear more about them!
This year, it is our wish to take The Medium to new heights and we hope that through intentional planning and dedicated work, we can do just that. We also know that we only achieve such goals with the support of the awesome team and community that calls The Medium home. It’s my pleasure to welcome the team that will oversee the work of our paper this coming year:
- Yasmine Benabderrahmane (Copy Editor);
- Gisele Tang (Copy Editor);
- Natalie Ramadan (News Editor);
- Mashiyat Ahmed (Opinion Editor);
- Madhav Ajayamohan (Features Editor);
- Diana Varzideh (Arts & Entertainment Editor);
- Tyler Medeiros (Sports & Health Editor);
- Melody Zhou (Photos Editor);
- Sehajleen Wander (Design Editor);
- Jannine Uy (Social Media & Online Editor);
- Samm Mohibuddin (Videographer);
- Rojin Hajiabbasali (Outreach Coordinator); and
- Rameen Hashmi (Outreach Coordinator).
It’s been a privilege to get to know (or know more!) about you these past few months, and it’s an even greater honour to have the chance to push towards our ambitions and face awaiting challenges together.
While this is the team that we’ll be starting with, it is not a complete representation of our family. We await the arrival of fresh talent that will bring us new perspectives and ideas and form the team that will take our paper to new frontiers. In this respect, our goal as an organization is more than just to produce a weekly publication—it’s to be an incubator for aspiring writers, creatives, and student leaders to grow and flourish. Whether you feel confident in your writing, journalism, or illustrating skills, or are looking for opportunities to receive mentorship to hone your craft, our talented editors and generous community are always available to provide guidance to help you become better at what you want to do.
With Volume 53 and the 2026-2027 school year ahead of us, we’ll leave you all with a warm invitation: this year, we want to continue to make UTM the focus of our journalism, which means that we want to hear from you on what you want to read about. Whether there is an event your club is hosting, an opinion you want to see brought to the spotlight, an individual you want interviewed, or an idea about what you want to see in our paper, our doors and ears are open. You can find all of our emails in the paper’s masthead—don’t hesitate to contact us!
On behalf of the team, we’re grateful to have you on board this year and can’t wait to see what V53 will bring us all.
Happy reading!
Samuel Kamalendran, Editor-in-Chief
Aaron Calpito, Managing Editor
News Editor (Volume 51); Associate News Editor (Volume 50) — Samuel is a second-year student at UTM studying Politics and English. He previously worked with The Medium as an Associate News Editor and currently serves as the publication’s News Editor. Samuel is passionate about employing the power of writing to enhance our student community and hopes to help nurture a bright future for The Medium this year. In his spare time, Samuel can be found working out, creating music on the piano and drums, or exploring nature.
