I am privileged to bring you the news and stories of our community and get paid for it! It’s really all I ever wanted to do. I used to pretend to be a news or sports broadcaster all the way back in middle school. I got serious about it in college, obtaining my bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Cedarville University. That also marked my first taste of living in Ohio. But I was always a Midwest kid at heart, growing up mostly in Michigan and also living for short periods in both Illinois and Iowa. Once I enjoyed college in Ohio, I decided to stay and work in Dayton, and here I am still enjoying it years later. I am grateful to continue to work hard each day to bring you investigative stories about the people and policies that impact your lives. I cover the Dayton/Montgomery County beat, especially focusing on government, law enforcement, crime, and courts. It’s an honor to help my community to become more aware and understand what is going on, making news accessible to everyone. I have been fortunate to cover dozens of important stories in my time at WHIO-TV. Some of the noteworthy news recently included the Pike County Massacre and the eventual arrest and punishment of those involved. I also spent months documenting the disappearance of Cheryl Coker, a Riverside mother who went missing and whose body was finally discovered in Greene County. Maybe the most memorable recent story that we are all still dealing with as a community is the night in 2019 when the Oregon District shootings happened. It’s probably the story where the rest of the world found out what I already knew, which is that the people of Dayton will always come together in times of need. Along the way, doing the work I enjoy, I’ve been blessed to win several awards and citations. The most recent was a first-place win in Crime Investigations from the Society of Professional Journalists for a story about mental health challenges in the criminal justice system.