I am a junior student at MU majoring in Journalism with a focus on Writing & Reporting and a minor in American Constitutional Democracy. For as long as I can remember, and as my graveyard of diaries and journals over the years can attest, I’ve loved to write.
I have now spent a year in professional newsrooms as a beat reporter, consistently completing work for publication and reporting on assignment. My writing and reporting for every story is rooted in emotion— I seek out what drives actions, words, movements, or inaction from people, places, communities, businesses, or organizations.
Working on the Boone County Journal beat assignment this semester, I have learned how to build trust and lasting relationships between my newsroom and the Ashland, MO community. For my remaining two semesters at Mizzou, I will continue my work as a professional, regularly published journalist, working closely with my editors and professors to polish my news writing. I have also completed coursework and gained real newsroom experience preparing multimedia journalism pieces, including creating audio stories that meet NPR's publication standards, producing news packages and making social media content to share news.
I’ve been named on the Dean’s List in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025. I am a Kappa Delta and member of HerCampus Mizzou, both large time commitments, and I also work part time at Starbucks in Memorial Union as a Student Supervisor through MU Campus Dining Services.
What I’m most grateful at MU is that I don’t walk into a journalism class and be lectured about journalism, I’m given the tools and then assigned to seek out, pitch, and compose real news stories that meet standards for publication. My classroom is a newsroom— working at the Columbia Missourian and Journal as a Writing & Reporting student means I actually go out and do real reporting.
I’ve been on a beat assignment for two semesters now; I’ve built my sources, taken time to learn about the community and deliberately tried to report news through community-centric stories.
This semester, I’ve reported on several events where my reporting directly informed the community about critical information, such as the local school district considering a four-day week calendar, or where SNAP recipients not receiving funds due to the government shutdown could go for food.
I aim to write news content that is true, informative, relevant and community-focused. I am excited to continue a lifetime of writing stories I am proud of, reporting with the community in mind and equipping them with essential information to make informed decisions.
