FS_120618

frankfortstation.com sound off
the frankfort station | December 6, 2018 | 13
Social snapshot
Top Web Stories
from FrankfortStation.com as of Monday,
Dec. 3
1. Lincoln-Way East grad creates business
with focus on beauty
2. Police reports: Necklace allegedly stolen
from Frankfort home
3. Residents raise money to help Frankfort
VFW post
4. Phillips Chevrolet donates to American
Cancer Society
5. Small Business Saturday draws
shoppers downtown
Become a member: FrankfortStation.com/plus
“Snow Day Escapade! Having fun & feeding
the birds!”
— Frankfort Square Park District from Nov.
26
Like The Frankfort Station: facebook.com/frankfortstation
“Congrats to Cory Pitlik on 1st Team All-
State!!!!”
— @LWEastAthletics from Nov. 218
Follow The Frankfort Station: @FrankfrtStation
Sound Off Policy
Editorials and columns are the opinions of the author. Pieces from 22nd
Century Media are the thoughts of the company as a whole. The Frankfort
Station encourages readers to write letters to Sound Off. All letters
must be signed, and names and hometowns will be published. We also
ask that writers include their address and phone number for verification,
not publication. Letters should be limited to 400 words. The Frankfort
Station reserves the right to edit letters. Letters become property of The
Frankfort Station. Letters that are published do not reflect the thoughts
and views of The Frankfort Station. Letters can be mailed to: The Frankfort
Station, 11516 West 183rd Street, Unit SW Office Condo #3, Orland
Park, Illinois, 60467. Fax letters to (708) 326-9179 or e-mail to nuria@
frankfortstation.com.
www.frankfortstation.com.
From the Assistant Editor
From passion to profession
Megan Schuller
m.schuller@22ndcm.com
Some people want to be
astronauts, teachers or
mathematicians when
they grow up. But me, I
always said I wanted to be a
news person.
It was a promise I wrote
many times over on school
assignments when asked to
hone in on a viable future career.
I may not have known
the full extent to which part
of the profession I wanted to
one day settle in on, but even
back then I knew I wanted
to be reporting the news.
I wanted to be a voice, a
mouthpiece of local news.
It wasn’t a decision that
came to me as an epiphany
but, rather, a culmination
of mornings reading
Plainfield’s local newspaper
every Sunday morning with
my father over breakfast,
watching the 6 p.m. news
every night with my mother
and realizing that at my core
I was a wordsmith.
Back then I never could
have imagined myself
where I am today. I had no
inkling that, many years
later, I would end up here at
22nd Century Media as the
new assistant editor.
My journalism journey
began long before I stepped
foot at 22nd Century Media.
I realized I had a knack for
reporting and storytelling
in high school, as I worked
on my school’s newspaper.
This solidified the thing that
I had always known since
the fifth grade: I wanted to
be a reporter and, perhaps
one day, an editor.
I graduated with honors
from Roosevelt University
in Chicago, where studying
journalism and running
the college newspaper, The
Torch refined my reporting
skills and calibrated my
news judgment.
This led me to freelance
for the U.S. Navy’s publication,
All Hands Magazine,
as well as the Herald News,
the Morris Herald and most
recently all of the 22nd Century
Media publications. I
have covered stories from
as far away as Charleston,
South Carolina, to as close
to home as the Lincoln-Way
community.
If my byline seems familiar,
well, that’s because
you’re right: it is. I’m back
in action. I have been freelancing
with 22nd Century
Media since April, covering
homegrown stories across
the local community. I have
covered everything from
Village and Board of Education
meetings, to features
on locals making a difference
in the community, and
everything in between.
Writing about the homegrown
stories in our area is
where my passion for journalism
truly lies. Capturing
the hyper-local stories that
impact every aspect of the
community, from local government
to the person reading
this now, is what makes
me tick. I firmly believe that
this kind of local journalism
is impactful and needed
now more than ever.
A little known fact about
me is one of my biggest
supporters, my fiance, Justin,
is an active-duty sailor and
is currently deployed on
the USS Greeneville. Right
before he left, he sent me a
package with a DSLR camera
I had been saving up for
to use for my freelancing. I
always say, because of him, I
continually look at the world
around me with a new lens
of gratitude and humbleness
whenever I report.
Early on, I was taught the
mantra that, as a reporter,
my first obligation is to the
truth. I had many professors
and mentors of the craft.
But one in particular mentored
me meticulously in
feature writing. He always
stressed the importance of
scene reporting so that, in
print, the story feels as real
to the reader as it did when
the reporter experienced it.
He used to say that if there
are tears in the writer, there
will be tears in the reader.
I hope that by working as
the assistant editor for The
Mokena Messenger, The
Frankfort Station and The
New Lenox Patriot I can
work alongside my editors
and the community members
I have come to know
well from the freelancing
I’ve done across the area.
Most importantly, I hope
I can keep local journalism
alive. They say knowledge
is power, and if that’s true,
then I’d say that local
journalism has its own sense
of power through education
and access of information.
I have had people tell me
that print is dying and I’ll
sink trying to stay afloat in
the newspaper industry. I am,
in fact, the opposite and keeping
my head well above the
water. I still believe in holding
a newspaper — the feel
of the lightweight, off-colored
pages and the smell of the ink
warm off the press. I believe
there is still value in this, and
that is why I dedicate myself
tirelessly to my profession.
The black cap I threw up
in the air on my graduation
day last December was decorated
in newsprint to read: If
you write like it matters, it
will. As a reporter, and now
assistant editor, I continue to
live by these words and the
many lessons my mentors
have passed on to me.
nfyn
From Page 12
Reporting by Amanda Villiger,
Assistant Editor. For more, visit
MokenaMessenger.com.
FROM THE ORLAND PARK PRAIRIE
Santa, shopping and
sparkling lights shine at
Holiday Fest & Tree Lighting
Sleigh bells were jingling,
voices were singing and
twinkling lights adorned the
tree outside of Village Hall.
The Village of Orland
Park welcomed in the season
Nov. 25 with its annual Holiday
Festival & Tree Lighting
Ceremony, held from
4:30-7:30 p.m. at the Civic
Center. Along with witnessing
Village Center transform
into a winter wonderland,
attendees were able to enjoy
entertainment, crafts, visits
with Santa Claus and much
more.
The winter weather caused
event organizers to move
select outdoor elements indoors,
including the Holiday
Market, which opened
at 3:30 p.m., while the food
trucks, Jingle Johns (lighted,
singing portable toilets), live
reindeer visits and the icesculpture
demonstration —
the last of which was new
this year — offered exterior
fun for families.
“Tonight, we have a great
cross section of families
here, because we have things
outdoors and our vendors
inside,” explained Nancy
Flores, Orland Park’s director
of recreation. “The tree
lighting puts everyone in the
Christmas spirit.”
Mayor Keith Pekau welcomed
Santa Claus back to
Orland Park at the start of
the festivities. The pair then
invited children to join in
leading the countdown to the
tree lighting, which culminated
with the illumination
of holiday features displayed
on the Village Center lawn.
Reporting by Laurie Fanelli,
Freelance Reporter. For more,
visit OPPrairie.com.