I am the Burtonsville and Silver Spring community reporter for The Gazette. My journalism career began in my senior year at Blake High School writing for the Blake Beat. I went on to study journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. I joined the staff of The Gazette full-time in May 2012 the day after graduation. While at Maryland, I worked at The Diamondback, the campus’ independent student newspaper. During my final semester, I worked in the online bureau for Capital News Service — a student-run wire service – where I wrote a series of articles on same-sex marriage in Maryland: Same-sex couples travel to D.C. to marry and Maryland wedding planners and vendors eagerly await same-sex marriage vote. I have also been published in The Diamondback, the Hyattsville Life & Times, The Prince George’s Sentinel, USA TODAY and USA TODAY College.