Whether you are enrolled at UNA as a first-time freshman, transfer student, returning student or international student, I bid you a hearty welcome from the Office of Student Media. All of The Roar-Ala’s contributors have been where you are and know how exciting — and at the same time, intimidating — a fresh start can be. That’s where we come in.

The Roar-Ala is your SOAR guide to everything on campus in a little more detail. We know SOAR can be fun, but SOAR can also be information overload. Consider this your tool down the road when you wish you could remember how to get a ride late at night, how to study abroad  or whether Harry Potter was actually filmed on campus.

The Roar-Ala is a publication of the Flor-Ala, the weekly student newspaper of UNA, and acts as your introduction to news that will serve you throughout your college experience. We are students just like you working daily to give you need-to-know and want-to-know information. We are not professionals by any means, but we are dedicated to learning and hope you will learn with us.

Throughout the year, we will cover topics from board of trustees meetings to the best restaurants to grab a bite to eat. The paper varies in topics week to week, but will always provide you with News, Life and Sports, as well as a few special sections for fun. And while we will try our hardest to write what we think you want to know, we want to hear from you.

If you want to find out if a rumor is true, want to offer a story idea or want to share your unique perspective, we are hear to listen and report. You have the opportunity to write a letter to the editor in our newspaper each week, and we hope you will take advantage of that. In the last year, we heard from a student who wanted to see a change in graduation processing, the interim president explaining campus investing and even a Florence resident wanting students to use the crosswalk light on Wood Avenue.

Overall, you have been told several times college is what you make of it, and we want to be a part of what makes your experience great. We hope to see you, hear from you and talk to you soon, but most of all we hope you will love your home at UNA as much as we do.