Once again this semester, The Villager staff worked remotely during the pandemic. While the present circumstances certainly had some challenges, it also taught students the lesson of adaptability and how to pivot the way the newspaper operates. Additionally, this year the staff took on additional responsibilities of boosting the newspaper’s social media presence and building the photographic library.

As the advisor to The Villager, it’s been a pleasure to work with such a wonderful group of students who wanted to learn more about the field of journalism and produce a campus newspaper.

Here’s a little bit about each of the writers and editors from this year’s Villager course:

Rysleigh Reeves

My name is Rysleigh Reeves, and I am a senior Business Communication major. I have been writing for The Villager for four semesters and serving as an editor for two of those semesters. As graduation nears, I look back on how much I’ve grown as a writer from my first journalism class at Stevenson University. As if that wasn’t enough, my group and I worked to get The Villager on various social media platforms. It was fun to build these accounts from the ground up and for them to be passed down to editors after me to continue to promote and showcase all The Villager does.

Emily Pellini

My name is Emily Pellini, and I am a junior Business Communication major at Stevenson University. This is my fourth semester writing for The Villager and my second semester as an editor. This semester, I worked on the photography team for The Villager. This team was created to update and expand the photo library we use for the newspaper. I have always had a passion for writing and photography, so having the opportunity to incorporate the two into my semester has been an amazing experience.

Jevan Leyh

My name is Jevan Leyh, and I’m a senior, about to graduate this May with a degree in Business Communication from Stevenson. I was also a part of the men’s soccer team as well. I was an editor on the journalism staff, and I’ve always enjoyed the writing and editing aspect while being as an editor. I also loved working together as a class to produce the best stories possible for the school. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity I got to join this staff, and it will be something that I will always remember. 

Justin Trapani

My name is Justin Trapani, and I’m a senior Business Communication major. I have worked on The Villager for the past two years, one year as a writer and one year as an editor. It’s one of the best classes I have taken. It’s helped me improve my writing and editing skills tremendously. When I first started this class, my writing skills were not strong, but I found my niche writing sports articles and started to enjoy writing. 

Ayanna Dorsey

My name is Ayanna Dorsey, and I am a senior Communication Studies major. This is my first and last semester on The Villager as I am graduating in May, and I’ve really enjoyed my time here! Some of my favorite articles to write were lifestyle articles about fashion, movies and good food. I am thankful for my experience on The Villager, and I feel like it’s made me a better writer. 

Isabella Maxey

My name is Isabella Maxey, and I am a graduating Business Communication senior with a passion for writing and speaking. I’ve been a journalist for The Villager for two years, and an editor for one. The articles I have enjoyed writing feature stories about faculty at Stevenson. Outside of journalism, I spend my time playing and writing original music. I have several songs out on several music platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.

Lauryn Davis

My name is Lauryn Davis, and I am a junior Business communication major with a minor in marketing. Here at Stevenson, I am a member of several clubs, organizations, honors societies, the SU honors program, and the women’s volleyball team. This is my first year as an editor for The Villager and I enjoyed it so much that I will be returning to the staff next year! Not only was I an editor this semester, but I was also in the Journalism II class concurrently, which meant writing double the articles. My favorite part of being in both classes was pitching story ideas to the Journalism II class whenever Professor Verni could not make it and acting as a liaison between the two groups.

Izabelle Torres

My name is Izabelle Torres, and I am a junior Business Communication major with an interest in public relations and event planning. I am also the current President of Phi Mu. The Villager has been such a great experience to gain journalism experience for my future career in public relations. I was assigned to be a part of the photography committee to take photos across the main campus for article use. My favorite story I wrote was called  “Things to do on Stevenson break days” because of how optimistic the piece was.

Jaquan Robinson

My name is Jaquan Robinson, and I am a Business Communication major with a minor in Real Estate. This is currently my third journalism class, but it is the first one I had to take virtually. Taking Journalism from home is a completely new experience, where I had to find new ways to interview and contact people.

Houston Wilson

My name is Houston Wilson, and I am a senior Business Communication major. I was a writer on The Villager staff for one semester, while also being a part of The Villager photography team as well. My beats were the Career Connections Center and SUTV/WSR. I really enjoyed reaching out to my beats and looking for story ideas. My favorite pieces to write were sports stories, because as an athlete myself, I loved being able to share other athlete’s perspectives and experiences with The Villager readers. 

Thomas Markey

My name is Thomas Markey, and I am a sophomore Business Communication major. I have been working with The Villager for two semesters now, and I definitely plan to do more in the future, because it has been a great experience so far. I love writing about current events and getting the opportunity to interview and interact with people who I otherwise may not cross paths with. My writing and editing has come a long way, and I would definitely recommend the class to avid writers of all subjects and interests.

Cordell Brown

My name is Cordell Brown, a I’m a junior Business Communication major here at Stevenson University, in addition to being a member of the Men’s Lacrosse team. This is my first semester being a part of the Villager, and it was very enjoyable and gave me insight to what goes behind making a school newspaper work. It was also a great way to think critically and outside the box when it came to suggesting story ideas for each week for the newspaper.