A new semester at the Claremont Colleges brings new leaders to the helm of TSL. Adam Akins PZ ’27, Claire Welch SC ’27 and Joelle Rudolf SC ’28 have officially taken the reins as the newspaper’s spring 2026 editorial board.
A Sacramento native and pre-med English and biology double major, Akins steps into the role as editor-in-chief in his sixth semester at TSL. He joined TSL in his first semester of college as a sports editor, photographer and writer, before diving into opinions editing as a second-year student. He returns to the editorial board after his time as managing editor of arts and culture and opinions last fall, a role Welch has assumed proudly.
Welch was born in Hong Kong and moved to Washington, D.C. after graduating from high school. She is now double-majoring in philosophy and foreign languages, and joined TSL as a features writer in the spring of her freshman year, moving on to columns the next semester. After spending the second half of her sophomore year abroad, she held the title of arts and culture features editor last fall.
Rudolf, a psychology and writing and rhetoric double major from Seattle, is in her fourth semester at TSL. She spent the past three semesters deep in the news section, progressing from writer to associate and finally to editor last fall. She is this spring’s managing editor of news and sports.
For all three editors, TSL has been an integral part of their college experience. Akins said he initially joined the paper to expand his social circle beyond Pitzer. He also has a long-held passion for student journalism, having attempted to start a newspaper in the sixth grade with his best friend and later running both his high school’s newspaper and literary magazine.
Rudolf was seeking a substantial commitment to a paper that reached a wide audience, so she joined TSL as soon as she could.
“I joined my freshman fall as this giddy news writer who had just started journalism at her high school, and I was like ‘I’m gonna do this in college,’” she said.
For Welch, joining TSL her freshman year was a more spur of the moment decision. She heard about TSL from a classmate, and the rest was history.
“[My classmate] had a copy of TSL, and I was like ‘Wow, I really want to make something,’” Welch said. “I didn’t apply, I just went to the first section meeting.”
The trio would not be the leaders they are today without the mentorship and inspiration from TSLers.
“I think it was really fascinating to be the Opinions Editor at the height of protest on campus,” Akins said. “I learned a lot about trying to meditate discussion and mediate arguments between people who care very passionately, down to the letter … I thought it was really amazing to see that much passion in writing.”
Welch said her editors inspired her love for TSL. Maya Zhan, the features editor in her first semester at TSL, was one of the most memorable motivators for Welch.
“[She] was so intimidating, but exuded incredible intelligence,” she said. “I also honestly think a lot of my continued dedication to TSL is that I’ve had people edit me really well. I’ve learned a lot of ego death in a good way from being edited.”
For Akins, being on senior staff his first semester allowed him to meet a plethora of new people, just as he had hoped. Welch described her fellow TSL staffers as earnest. Rudolf shared similar sentiments.
“These aren’t super intimidating people,” Rudolf said. “We’re all writing nerds — that’s so fun!”
“These aren’t super intimidating people,” Rudolf said. “We’re all writing nerds — that’s so fun!”
Rudolf’s ascension to managing editor was fueled by her love of editing and growing confidence in the newsroom, which inspired her to assume greater responsibility in supporting TSL. Welch similarly said she likes feeling like a “cheerleader” for other members of TSL and in shaping its broader goals.
This semester, the trio’s vision for TSL knows no bounds. They each expressed excitement about expanding the Multimedia and Special Projects desks to create a more interdisciplinary paper with a wider impact. The team also emphasized the importance of student journalism and TSL in particular.
“TSL is the paper of record for the Claremont Colleges,” Welch said, emphasizing how people will be able to look back on prior issues and better understand what was going on at the time.
Akins and Rudolf agreed.
“You can see the artifact of how people cared about [past events],” Akins said. “I think that’s a responsibility of student journalism, to have a finger on the pulse of a generation of people coming into their adulthood.”
Rudolf noted the importance of student journalism in a time when the press is under fire. She said she believes TSL has the ability to identify oppression — especially regarding institutions that need to be held accountable — and tell stories to address it.
“There’s a lot of things that would go under the radar and left unaddressed if we weren’t there to ask those questions,” she said.
Facebook Comments