In April, Zoë Hill ’22, print editor-in-chief of Flyer News, and the rest of the staff, including news editor Tori Miller, received word that the publication won a major award. The Society of Professional Journalists named Flyer News the top student newspaper among large schools in a region encompassing Michigan, Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. UD Magazine joined in the rejoicing since both Hill and Miller write for us, too.
1. Tori, when did you first become interested in writing?
I always wanted to become a writer. When I was 7, I had a High School Musical notebook in which I wrote stories. I entered a writing contest sponsored by the local newspaper, the Sandusky Register. I placed third. First and second went to sixth graders; I was in second grade.
2. How did you get started at Flyer News?
My first year at UD, I picked up a copy at Up the Orgs. Coming from a small school, I was insecure about my writing. But I met nice people here who encouraged me. Before Thanksgiving I had a story idea — how to celebrate Thanksgiving like the cast of Friends. I didn’t know if my story was going to be printed until I picked up a copy and there
it was! My sophomore year was during COVID; I wrote a lot. What else was there to do? And it’s my passion.
3. Any special moment?
The October 2022 issue is very special to me. One reason is that I wrote a lot of it. But also it’s how it came together. Editors’ schedules are such that we usually aren’t in the office together. Zoë and I often were there late at night working together, making sure things got done, bouncing ideas off each other. But for that issue more of us were there. We played Taylor Swift’s new album and all worked together. One oddity was a profile on the running club because I was the person interviewed, not the writer. That was Zoë. … The issue is one we entered in the contest.
4. What do you do when not writing for Flyer News or UD Magazine?
I’m an English major with a concentration in professional and technical writing. I’m a technical writing intern for Trimble Inc., as a part of its Google Workspace Team; I teach internal users applications like Google Sheets; and I generate content. I took a class in novel writing; so I’m working on a novel. And with a friend who’s an illustrator, I’m developing a comic book.
5. What’s next?
Writing. I’m looking at full-time jobs in technical writing and health care communications. Next year, when Flyer News is in the Roger Glass Center for the Arts, I won’t be there. And when I get this issue of the UD Magazine, I will no longer be a writer for it. I’ll be a demographic.
—thomas m. Columbus