A former College Park Here & Now associate editor is the new editor-in-chief of University of Maryland’s (UMD) student newspaper, The Diamondback.

Sam Gauntt, a UMD junior who served as editor-in-chief of his community college newspaper, Campus Current, during the spring 2023 semester, volunteered as a freelance reporter for College Park Here & Now when he was a freshman and sophomore at UMD. During the summer of 2024, he held a paid position as interim associate editor with the hyperlocal paper alongside managing editor Sharon O’Malley.

O’Malley, a journalism professor at Anne Arundel Community College, is Campus Current’s faculty adviser and works for College Park Here & Now part time.

Gauntt, 21, a journalism and government and politics major, said he has worked at The Diamondback, a student-run digital newspaper, for three years, first as a reporter and section editor and eventually as managing editor.

“I hope to take what I’ve learned in the past three years and use that as a tool to support our entire newsroom,” Gauntt, who started his new Diamondback job on April 19, said.

As editor-in-chief over the next year, Gauntt will oversee more than 100 student reporters and editors.

O’Malley said Gauntt, who lives on campus, has been hardworking since she met him.

“I met Sam when he was … a junior in high school,” O’Malley said. “We gave him a story right off the bat. Not an hour later, I was leaving campus, and I saw Sam walking from building to building, getting his interviews. He jumped right into it.”

Gauntt, who was homeschooled through high school, was dual enrolled at AACC at the time and became Campus Current’s youngest editor up to that point.

“It’s a professor’s dream come true when a student surpasses her professionally,” O’Malley said. “And I think Sam’s the one who’s going to do that for me. He’s going to make my dream come true.”

Former Diamondback Editor-in-Chief Lizzy Alspach has worked with Gauntt for three years.

“Sam has been on The Diamondback since he came to the University of Maryland,” said Alspach, who is a member of Maryland Media, the board that hired Gauntt. “He’s seen us through a lot of different eras, a lot of good moments and a lot of hard moments.”

Gauntt said he knew he wanted to be on The Diamondback even before he started college.

“I applied the summer before I started my freshman year,” Gauntt said. “I just knew that I wanted to get involved with this publication and work with the staff and then be a part of this team.”

Gauntt, who interned at the nonprofit statewide publication Maryland Matters last summer, said he hopes to work for another nonprofit news organization after graduation.

“That was a great experience,” he said, “so I would love to continue working in nonprofit news.”

As he takes on his new role, Gauntt reflected on his journey to the top.

“You know, this is bigger than any one position,” he said. “It’s not just me. I wouldn’t be here without the support of everyone [who] helped me along the way.”