From student reporter to editor-in-chief
Cordula Schnuer, MA (Joint Honours) 2011, was appointed editor-in-chief of the Luxembourg Times in August, and describes her unexpected journey to St Andrews and into the newsroom.
My path to St Andrews wasn’t straight out of school. I had always wanted to become a teacher – other jobs never even came under consideration – and so I left initially for Germany to complete a Bachelor’s degree in primary school education. It was only in the doing of it and after several work experience placements – mandatory as part of my programme – that I realised it wasn’t for me. And so, aged 20, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had worked towards this single goal and once it evaporated, I felt lost.
With the support of my family, I decided to start over. I applied to universities in the UK as my passion at school had always been English and literature. Two out of my five picks rejected me, but the University of St Andrews gave me the opportunity to figure out my future.
Enrolled for a joint honours degree in English and Film Studies, I dabbled in Classics and Spanish during my first two years. Whereas in Germany I spent up to 40 hours a week in a classroom filling a rigorous attendance record with little contribution involved, here was a system that enabled and encouraged students to study freely, to develop ideas, discuss them with their peers… exactly what you want university to be.
A “mature student” radio reporter
I bridled at the term “mature student” at the age of just 21. Something of the shine of first moving away from home had already worn off for me, but I relished making new friends, trying new things. I became active in the student theatre scene, never in the spotlight but always behind the scenes. Some of my most cherished memories are of rehearsals, performances, afterparties, and the people I met and who are still in my life even if distance now separates us.
These friends of old have been joined by a close-knit group of St Andrews alumni in Luxembourg.
St Andrews was my start in journalism. I chose to make the student radio station Star my home. As news editor in my third year, I led a team of around 20 student reporters who gathered news, created podcasts and hosted shows. To this day my claim to fame is that I interviewed Hugh Grant on the green at the Dunhill Links tournament.
After graduation in 2011, I tried my luck in London, interning at several theatre news sites, which had no vacancies to fill. After a series of rejections from graduate schemes and with empty pockets, I returned to Luxembourg at the end of the summer to regroup. Within a few weeks, the country’s largest newspaper (which had just launched an English online publication) hired me as I brought a local background with international experience.
This mix has continued serving me well. Having grown up in the country, I can speak Luxembourgish with the local politicians, read French press releases, do interviews in German and then write about it all in English.
Forward on the crooked path
As editor-in-chief of the Luxembourg Times, my aim is to bring Luxembourg closer to our readers – not only its place as an international financial and business centre but also in terms of the decisions and policies made there that impact people’s daily lives.
More than 47% of Luxembourg’s population are foreigners. English is the language glue that holds large parts of this international community together, and our team – with diverse backgrounds from Luxembourg, the UK, the US and India – brings both an insider’s and outsider’s perspective to our reporting.
St Andrews gave me the space to find my passion and to try and test different subjects and hobbies that turned into a career. It taught me about teamwork and leadership but also that a crooked path can get you just where you were supposed to be.
From being a teacher in training, St Andrews student, junior reporter and doing a stint at the University of Luxembourg’s communications office to finally returning to journalism and now leading a newsroom… there was no grand plan, or what plans there were more often than not fell through.
At the start of 2022, I couldn’t have imagined that I would take a five-month sabbatical in the second half of the year to travel and take a break, having gone straight from school to university to work. It was a seed that, once planted on my 35th birthday took some time to germinate, but then grew into an idea I couldn’t let go of.
At the start of this year, there was no way of knowing that come mid-August I would be taking over the reins at the Luxembourg Times.
Pursue your goals, but always leave room for the unexpected.