Christine Simmons has been named editor-in-chief and Jessica Rhodes, managing editor, of The Daily AthenaeumWest Virginia University’s student-run daily newspaperfor the 2006-07 academic year.

Simmons, a senior from Newark , Wirt County , began her career at The Daily Athenaeum, or DA, in January 2005 as a junior staff writer. At the encouragement of a co-worker, she went on to become associate news editor.

That’s when the DA took over my life,she said, laughing.But there’s not a better way for me to have spent the past years in college.

In addition to her work at the newspaper, Simmons completed an internship with The Marietta Times. But it wasn’t until working the city hall beat at The Charleston Gazette that she found her true passion in government reporting.

Simmons will intern with The Washington Times this summer. She hopes to someday go abroad in her reporting career.

My long-term goal is to one day be an international correspondent,she said.It would be a totally awesome experience.

Rhodes, a junior from Morgantown , has been working at the DA since she was a freshman. The news-editorial major started as an unpaid junior staffer, writing one story a week to build her portfolio of clips (all news-editorial majors are required to have 500 or more published inches of writing by graduation) and honing her journalism skills.

It really helped me get into working at a paper and get more real experience,Rhodes said.

At the end of her freshman year, she applied for a staff writer position, covering schools on the Evansdale Campus for a year. She was then promoted to news editor, a position she’s held now for more than a year.

It keeps me busy, but it’s a lot of fun,she said.

Besides working at the DA, Rhodes did a stint as the student chairperson for New Student Orientation last summer.

Set to graduate next May, she plans to pursue a career in magazines or newspapers, but she’s keeping her options open.