Courtney Oakes, Patrick Kelley and Jake Harkins (Photo by Isabella Perry)

Courtney Oakes ('99), Jake Harkins ('02) and Patrick Kelley ('04) are experiencing first-hand the evolution of a weekly newspaper into a new daily in Aurora.

"When I accepted the newly formed position of features editor at the Aurora Daily Sun & Sentinel in the summer of 2004, I honestly had no idea what to expect," Harkins said. "I knew building a department from scratch would be a daunting task in itself, but adding in the responsibilities of helping grow a new daily newspaper from the ground up has made life here intense, to say the least.

"We currently produce the daily Monday through Friday while still putting a weekly product (the Sentinel) on the shelves each Thursday. One of the challenges that we continue to face is figuring out what news to put in what paper and when."

Oakes said he worked at the paper for a few years prior to the April 30, 2004, launch of the Daily Sun.

"I started at the Aurora Sentinel in 2001 when it was just the weekly paper," he said. "They wanted to ramp up their sports coverage in a community that now has 10 high schools. They were trying to cover everything with just a couple of part-time stringers."

Oakes said the idea of going daily had been around at the Sentinel for more than 15 years, but in a city of about 300,000 people, it seemed well overdue, "especially with the little attention the Denver papers gave to Aurora," he said.

Oakes said the prospect of starting a daily was "energizing and terrifying at the same time. Nobody was sure quite how it was going to work or how in the world we could cram more into our already-packed schedules and long work weeks. So there was some trepidation at first, but we all got a surge of adrenaline once the first Aurora Daily Sun hit the stands. It's not very often you get to start a paper." While the first few months were a little rough, Oakes said that before long, the process began to work more smoothly.

Oakes, who also has layout and editing duties, said his hectic schedule has eased a bit since Kelley came aboard and relieved him of some of his photo responsibilities.

Kelley joined the staff after graduating in December.

"It has been an interesting transition from free-lancing and interning at the Daily Camera and taking photographs for the Campus Press to becoming the only photographer at an up-and-coming daily newspaper for such a large city as Aurora," he said.

"I've had to learn to prioritize my photo assignments. I want to be everywhere, all the time. But I am forced to admit that there are only so many hours in a day, and I am only a one-man department.

"When my photos excel, the front page does, too. And when trying to brand a new product such as the Daily Sun, my photos can be the difference between grabbing a new reader or turning one away," Kelley said.

"My job is both thrilling and stressful, but it certainly pays better than the Campus Press." pkelley@aurorasentinel.com, jake@aurorasentinel.com, courtney@aurorasentinel.com