Meet the Editors: Fabulous Features

By: Andrew Nowel, Editor-In-Chief

As we enter the final stages of 2026 and the fall semester, even though it feels like summer outside, inside The Griffin office roams a section that highlights the people of Canisius: The Griffin’s features section. Madison Howard and Helena Kottas, the section’s editors, bring positive energy to the office on Thursday nights as well as awareness to every club, organization or person at Canisius on Friday mornings.

Howard became a staff member of The Griffin last spring as a freshman at Canisius. Joining the features section as the assistant section editor to Kaitlyn Belile, Howard started to spotlight smaller clubs that were either just starting or that were building up their members from their small reputations. “I wanted to bring in a consistency of articles. I wanted to have it so you could see this type of article every week or once a month such as Meet the Editor or Club Spotlight,” said Howard.

Kottas joined staff this semester as she entered her final semester at Canisius. Graduating a semester early with a degree in Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC), Kottas had always wanted to join The Griffin, but just needed the push. That push came from Dr. Maura Snyder, a co–advisor of The Griffin. “I was always nervous about joining staff, and Dr. Snyder helped push me to apply by telling me that people I knew did it. That helped me to be less nervous because I knew fellow seniors that were part of it,” said Kottas. She also fell in love with the features section as the tone that Kottas likes to write in is very free, which suits well with a feature article.

Both Howard and Kottas grew up in the western New York region. Howard in Rochester, N.Y. and Kottas in West Seneca, N.Y., so each drew from their own experiences of being in western New York, not only for school, but their maturation years as well. “Being nervous to talk to people, it’s easy to connect with someone that is wearing a Buffalo Bills hat. It brings people together in The Griffin, or even if someone doesn’t like the Bills, there’s a commonality in interests in sports or just journalism in general that help just bring people together,” said Kottas. 

Being a psychology major and child and family community studies minor, Howard uses her writing to reach people at a deeper level. She also is strengthening her writing skills, something Howard will use in her career. “With every article, I’m improving. In my future careers, I’ll have to write reports, so this will help with that,” said Howard. Even though she is not a journalism major or going into a writing field, Howard is still utilizing the opportunities of writing for The Griffin as well as the teamwork skills with working with Kottas and other editors on staff to be prepared for a future career.

For the fabulous feature section of The Griffin, they strive to spotlight every club and organization that Canisius has to offer while showcasing the people of Canisius. If you have a club that you want spotlighted or a fun story that you want featured in The Griffin, reach out to Howard, howard52@canisius.edu, or Kottas, kottash@canisius.edu, to let them know your story.

So the next time you pick up the paper on a Friday morning, bagel in hand, remember to flip to the features section and read about what’s going on around Canisius; whether that be on club row, in Churchill Tower or even what Thanksgiving food you should eat.