Sammy Roth ’10 is the new editor-in-chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator. He formally started the position on Dec. 10.

“I have the job now, but the hard work really starts next semester,” Roth said.

Roth joined the 200-member Spectator staff his first semester at Columbia as a writer for the news section. He served as deputy news editor in 2011 and as campus news editor in 2012.

“[It] is a complicated process,” Roth said. “The way it works is the Spectator has a managing board of 25 editors, and at the end of the fall semester they start the application process.

“I had to write a 20-page proposal about what I’d do with the job, I had to take a several-thousand-word ethics test and I had an hour-long interview with the turkeyshoot,” a board consisting of editors who are not applying for new positions but instead are evaluating applicants. “I was thrilled,” Roth said. “I had no idea what was going to happen.”

Roth was a managing editor of Chronicle during his senior year.

“Chronicle was the main thing I did on campus,” Roth said. “I really liked working with people [and got to] understand how publications works.”

Roth is exploring his post-graduation options. He is considering entering sustainable development and the publication industry for possible careers.

“I’m going to give it more thought before I graduate,” Roth said.