Students Launch Online Publication for UT Austin

“We should start a magazine.”

That’s exactly what Trenton Henk mentioned to Jacqueline Knox earlier this year. Ironically, it was a couple of days after Knox’s high school journalism advisor mentioned something similar to her.

The two let the idea simmer for a couple of weeks—figuring out if this would be possible and if so, exactly what they wanted their magazine to focus on. They decided to combine their passion for the outdoors with their love of writing and start an outdoor focused online publication for UT. Thus, Drift was born.

Knox and Henk pitched the idea in a PCL study room to some of their peers. The response was better than they expected with all of their peers loving the idea and already eager to help out. Along with the help of these other UT students, Knox and Henk’s dream became a reality.

From there, a small staff was formed, and everyone got to work: the website was created, logos were designed, and writers began working on articles.

However, when spring break extended, school eventually moved online and fears about the future due to the spreading coronavirus started circulating, the two freshmen didn’t know what this meant for their fledgling publication. But they persisted and encouraged the staff to continue working. They already planned to keep their publication online, so they felt they could launch and continue Drift even with everything going on.

On March 27, Knox and Henk launched the website with four articles already up.

“It definitely exploded way more than we thought it would, but I can’t wait to see where this goes in the future,” Henk said.

Going forward, Knox and Henk hope to grow their staff and their audience base, while still producing quality content that connects the students and faculty of UT to the outdoors.

Website: driftmagazineatx.com

Email: driftmagazineatx@gmail.com

Twitter: @driftmagatx

Instagram: @driftmagatx

Facebook: Drift Magazine