Olivia Gleason '26

by Olivia Gleason '26 on September 18, 2025

Sarah McCall

Hello Cowl readers! Welcome to our first issue and welcome back to campus! I am very excited to be back on campus, even though I spent the entire summer denying that I was a senior. I am reflecting back on everything I have done over the past three years, and I cannot believe how fast it has gone. At the start of my freshman year, I was pretty much mute; I was in a new place, there were all new people, and I had never been away from my family for that long. I was scared. One of my professors noticed this and heavily encouraged me to join The Cowl. I had no idea what to expect, and I didn’t want to flat-out say no to my professor (even though I tried), so I joined as a copyeditor. I would not be exaggerating when I say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Little did I know, I had just joined the multi-year winner of “Best Section on The Cowl” and would have a crazy place to spend all of my Wednesdays.

Since my freshman year, I have grown into myself and found my voice, both literally and figuratively. My roommates actually struggle to get me to stop talking. That is also my goal with these ed columns: I have an uninterrupted platform to say whatever I want. In preparation for this year, I compiled a list of fun facts so you can get to know me. I am a history and women’s and gender studies double major and am in the Honors Program. My favorite movie is probably The Greatest Showman. I am really into podcasts. Specifically, Long Winded with Gabby Windey and Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. I just got back from studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. I have a trampoline in my off-campus house. I was born in Manhattan, moved to Brooklyn, moved to Cleveland, and now I live in New Jersey. I think my favorite animal is a frog, but I am still deciding. And finally, I love the stickers feature on iMessage.

I am so excited for what this year will bring as co-Editor-in-Chief with the best partner I could ever ask for, Olivia. I am so grateful to work with Olivia and the amazing writers, section editors, and obviously the copyeditors who will work tirelessly to make sure we publish each week. Thanks for reading and join The Cowl!

Olivia Gleason

Stepping into The Cowl office as a wide-eyed copy editor my freshman year, I could have never imagined what this newspaper would come to mean to me and my time at Providence College as I enter my senior year. What began as a simple desire to get a sense of the editorial world has grown into so much more: within The Cowl, I have found a community of individuals who share my passion for writing and journalism, a vibrant space for discussion, and an unmatched opportunity to augment the voices of students with a diverse array of interests and beliefs. The Cowl has truly become a cornerstone of my experience at PC, and I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to represent this community and promote student journalism as co-Editor-in-Chief with Sarah this year. 

To describe myself in the typical college student nutshell, I am a senior English major and political science minor, a peer mentor in the Honors and English programs, and an editor of the College’s literary magazine, The Alembic. I have lived in Ashland, MA, my entire life and am a Red Sox fan to my core. I have always had a passion for literature and writing and could talk about Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women for days on end. I love fashion, the fall, playing piano, early 2000s TV shows, and spending time with family, friends, and my Coton de Tulear named Aspen. Something I love about The Cowl is that anyone can share any number of passions and personal anecdotes such as these and feel pride in doing so. Our publication is special because it is both a mosaic of journalism rooted in fact and a platform for students to share pieces of themselves with the broader PC community in just about any form of their choosing, from photography and creative compositions to opinion-based writing.

Coming into this role as co-EIC is an endeavor I am so eager to dive into. Learning from The Cowl’s past, engaging with our current staff, and charting an invigorated vision for the paper’s future are all on the agenda for the year, as Sarah and I are intent on nourishing what has made this newspaper a success in years past while also working to extend its possibilities. This is not possible without campus engagement and input—so I encourage you, if you have thoughts about or suggestions for The Cowl, send letters to the editors (editor@thecowl.com), submit pieces for guest writing (or better yet, apply to be a member of the writing staff!), and share the newspaper with others. Good journalism is always important, but it feels that much more valuable in the tensely divided socio-political world we live in today—and such campus engagement will help us to create the best possible version of The Cowl. Thank you for your readership and support. I can’t wait to help shape this year’s publication with your voices at the center of it.