Joseph D. Szydlowski - Fall 2009

Joseph D. Szydlowski

I found my passion as a 5-year-old child, though I didn't know it. I loved writing, especially short stories about a private eye solving mysteries.

Yet it wasn't until high school in Cincinnati that I discovered my ideal career involved another type of investigator and another type of writing.

Before my senior year, writing had called me, but I usually let it go to voice mail. It was during my senior year, however, that I finally picked up on it.

I then began desperately searching for a career that valued writing skills. Hoping to hone my linguistic abilities, I started at The Purple Quill, Elder High School's newspaper. I quickly realized how much I enjoyed researching and reporting. After I became the opinion page editor, I decided to pursue a career in journalism at Northern Kentucky University

I began working at my school paper, The Northerner, after taking a few journalism classes. I've held positions ranging from reporter to layout editor to editor in chief.

In the summer of 2007, I began internship with The Cincinnati/Kentucky Post and stayed on until it ceased publication that December.

I spent a month in 2008 living with a host family in the Spanish city of Segovia, about an hour-and-a-half northwest of Madrid. It gave me a new perspective on the world and a lot of practice with a language that I minored in at NKU.  

I worked in Corporate Communications for The E.W. Scripps Co. during the past summer, where I wrote articles for and worked on Scripps News, the company's intranet news site.

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Any news outlet may use Scripps Howard Foundation Wire stories, photographs and videos as long as the wire gets credit and the reporter gets a byline.