Amanda Hancock

Amanda Hancock was a former student at Paul Laurence Dunbar and Editor-in-Chief of PLD Lamplighter. Hancock graduated from Miami University in 2015. After graduating, she interned at Colorado Springs Gazette and received a job at Southern Illinoisan as a reporter.  She is now a feature reporter with Quad-City Times, a daily newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa where she covers food, arts and entertainment.

“In my three years on the Lamplighter staff, I met all kinds of different students who were all passionate about something. It’s a really cool and meaningful place to be where you can talk about all kinds of things and learn a lot from your peers,” said Hancock.

“It’s more about putting out stories that make people think or feel and shine a light on something. I think it causes you to think outside of your own world.”

Hancock interned at various news stations every summer. She says that the experience she gained from Lamplighter helped her in these internships since she already knew the basics.

Not being overwhelmed and taking things one step at a time, are all skills that Hancock has said Lamplighter provided her with the experience of.

“It taught me a lot about hard work, because it’s also just a lot of hard work, a lot of long hours spent striving to make something great,” said Hancock.

Journalism helps spread information on a large scale, allowing people to find out about things instantly especially with the internet at our disposal. A news story can create different kinds of impact on the audience based on the way the writer decides to interpret the story .

Hancock said “I remember my friends or teachers telling me that they read one of my stories and it made them laugh or think about something in a new way. That meant a lot to me. I fell in love with the idea of telling stories that could spur those emotions or make change.”