While at Allegheny College, Sara Holthouse ’21 found her passion for journalism, leading her to a fulfilling career at The Post Journal in Jamestown, NY. Primarily, she interviews community members and writes news stories.
“I really loved my time at Allegheny. Allegheny is the only reason I have my career as a journalist because I’d never had any interest in it before I came to college,” says Holthouse, who studied creative writing and double-minored in history and journalism. “I started with a plan of a creative writing and environmental science double major before, at the end of freshman year, I discovered hands-on journalism at The Campus.”
Holthouse was heavily involved in the student newspaper, eventually becoming its news editor and co-editor-in-chief. She met many of her lifelong friends through The Campus and learned how newspapers operate.
The Campus was my favorite place on campus and that not only did I love journalism, but it was something I was actually really good at, and growing up, I had a hard time finding things I was good at besides writing fiction,” notes Holthouse. “Don’t be afraid to take risks and go for things that you might never have thought you would even a month or two ago.”
In addition to her journalistic endeavors, Holthouse is also a dairy farmer. She says there’s nothing like being there to help or witness a new calf come into the world.
As for her writing, Holthouse hopes it benefits the community, “There is a saying that local journalism matters, and it really, really does, probably more so than I used to realize when I was younger. I’ve always known that I wanted to do something to help people. As a journalist, I’ve found that just being able to tell the small, local stories that the big, well-known places like the New York Times would never cover helps people a lot.”
