Throughout my tenure at the Trib, I have occasionally been told by members of the community, “I’m on the Board of Contributors.”

They usually say this with a sense of pride and ownership in the Trib — which is precisely how the Board of Contributors should work.

But it wasn’t until Waco’s Robinson family bought the newspaper that we thought the timing was right to inject some new blood in this popular component of our Opinion page. Today, we introduce a rejuvenated Board of Contributors.

This group represents a great cross-section of our community, from health experts to religious leaders to nonprofit executives to educators to people who I simply consider experts at making us laugh.

They come from different parts of the community and represent the diverse demographics and politics of Central Texas.

That cross-section even extends to a good representation of people who have long been on our existing Board of Contributors.

Our objective in getting new members for our Board of Contributors is to bring as many different voices from this community as we can.

We reached out to many of these people because we knew they were experts in their fields. We knew they represented a point of view we wanted to see on our Opinion pages.

Others came knocking on our door. We were so impressed with their writing skills that we asked them to join our board so readers could benefit from what they had to say more often.

This board shares several traits. One is a love of this community and a desire to see it improve.

A second, perhaps more important trait is that they offer a perspective that is thoughtful and frequently profound.

Their discourse is not one of attack but of reason and a desire to offer insight for the benefit of all — and not the exclusion of those who may disagree with what they write.

While we’re proud of the cross-section that we have compiled and convinced to write for us on a routine basis, we recognize that more voices means more strength for our Opinion page. At the moment, other potential board members are under consideration for inclusion.

Fret not if you have a desire to be on our Board of Contributors and are not among the people we’re introducing today. Let us know of your interest and be prepared to write a few samples.

We’d love for this board to grow and offer as many voices as we can.

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• The curtain rises on a newly revamped Trib Board of Contributors