The Hornet has been around for longer than you might think. Founded in 1922, this newspaper has seen hundreds of reporters, editors and advisers occupy its newsroom and work to keep the Fullerton College community up-to-date with their news.

Current candidate for the U.S. senate and news anchor Christina Pascucci along with California Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva joined former and current Fullerton College journalism staff to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of The Hornet newspaper on Thursday, Oct. 12, in a special dinner inside Cruz Reynoso Hall.

Pascucci, who announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, Oct. 8, was presented as the keynote speaker after her TV reel was played, showing clips from her days at Channel 5 KTLA. In her speech, she talked about the importance of ensuring accuracy as a journalist, and warned that AI, if wrongly used, could implicate a danger to journalism veracity.

Later, Pascucci said she was impressed by The Hornet’s work, all throughout its history. “It’s amazing. It is an illustrious legacy when you look back at 100 years, and you look at the important stories that students have taken risks to tell,” Pascucci told The Hornet.

Although Quirk-Silva joked she was nervous being in a room full of journalists as a politician, she praised Fullerton College in her speech for maintaining a journalism program for over 100 years.

“If we think about history, and we think about what those journalists were like and how they were covering stories right here in Fullerton,” said Quirk-Silva. “You can imagine groves, orange groves, and all of the things that they might have been covering, over a hundred years ago.”

Journalism professor and current adviser of The Hornet Jessica Langlois congratulated the attendees, especially those who have worked on FC’s publications, for their contributions in their important roles as journalists.

“All of us here know that journalists try harder than anyone to cover every story, to get every angle, to be there, to check everything, talk to everybody they can, to find everything out,” said Langlois in her speech.

Alongside Pascucci, Langlois and Quirk-Silva, Fullerton College President Cynthia Olivo and NOCCCD Board of Trustees Chancellor Byron Breland gave remarks at the dinner.

The Journalism Department’s past and present staff members, such as former advisor Julie Davey, former Local Editor and current film maker for the L.A. times Jessica Q. Chen, Current Editor-in-Chief of The Hornet Jake Rhodes and Current Editor-in-Chief of Inside Fullerton Magazine Mariana Ramos, as well as current staffers from both publications, among others, attended the reunion.

All attendees received an invitation from Langlois prior to the event. Many, such as former staff writer for The Hornet, Inside Fullerton, and current reporter at The Daily Titan David Nuñez, said they decided to come because of the good memories they recall from FC’s journalism program.

Many of the former staff shared their memories of working at The Hornet or Inside Fullerton. Some talked about certain special stories they worked on while they were there.

“Two of my sports students came to me one day and they said that one of the coaches, they went over to interview him, and he would not admit that one of his top players had been arrested for drugs,” said Davey. “I called him… and I said, what’s it going to be, coach? One story or two stories? First story is going to be about the student, and the second story is going to be about your cover up.”

Chen, who has worked on documentaries such as “Surf Nation”, said that The Hornet and Inside Fullerton helped her find passion in what she does.

“Everything that I learned about journalism, the seeds are here at Fullerton,” Chen told The Hornet. “When I was here at the magazine, I watched a documentary that I loved, and I went to interview the filmmakers and I think that’s when it all really started.”

Olivo and Breland said they were proud of the amount of time FC’s journalism program has existed for, and the achievements it has gathered in the past and currently.

“I really want to also take the time to congratulate all of you, because I was contacted a few weeks ago about these national awards [ACP and CMA awards], that The Hornet and our magazine are finalists for,” said Olivo.

The dinner was finalized with a short documentary that talked about the process in which The Hornet and Inside Fullerton develop stories and how they teach their students how to become professional journalists.

Langlois, Rhodes and some former staff of The Hornet, were featured in the video. “It was a really humbling experience to see myself in the video, and this is going to be archived for a long time,” said Rhodes. “It is just an honor to be in this room with these fellow former editors-in-chief and staff writers.”

The planning of this event began with the former adviser of the Hornet and current head of FC’s Journalism program Jay Seidel and Langlois. Langlois took the lead with the planning as the event drew closer, and she was pleased with how it turned out.

“My favorite part of the event was meeting past staffers who I did not know before, because once I started talking to them, it felt like they were just another version of me or just another version of my students,” said Langlois.

For the centennial, The Hornet produced special printed editions with stories written by alumni from the journalism program. The newspapers, alongside shirts and other commemorative items were offered for free to all the attendees.

Prior to the dinner, The Hornet started its centennial celebration with an event in the quad that featured games, a photo booth, and free food on Wednesday, Oct. 11, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Following the event was a special screening of Chen’s documentary “Surf Nation.” A Q&A with one of the documentary’s other directors, Jeremiah M. Bogert, Jr. followed at the end of the film. The documentary essentially shows filmmakers following the day-to-day life of mainly two surfers trying to help jump start the Chinese National Surfing Team, where all of their trials and tribulations are put out on full display.

The journalism program plans to be around for another 100 years, following its tradition of being accurate, timely and the voice of the student body of Fullerton College.