Senior Kaitlyn Philavanh is a new addition to the Etched in Stone staff and brings creativity, passion and dedication to the newspaper at Fossil Ridge High School. After dropping College Trigonometry at the end of the first semester of her junior year, Philavanh decided to dive deeper into her two passions; photography and writing, to explore the world of journalism. Growing up around cameras because of her father, the interest in photography flourished for her. Capturing social issues with her photography, Philavanh is hoping to incorporate that creative skill into her journalistic work this coming year. Meeting and working with new people and engaging in the ‘family’ atmosphere of the journalism class is something she is looking forward to most this year as well as “learning as much stuff as I can.”

Outside of the journalism classroom, Philavanh has a busy schedule involving symphony orchestra, track, Key Club and NHS. Another new path she is ambitiously taking in her final year at Fossil is participating in TV. She hopes to explore the world of film and corporate those skills into journalistic work for Etched in Stone. “By including more video and film into the school newspaper, I think it will draw more interest as well as provide an interaction concept for viewers.” Following her high school graduation, she plans to dual major in music and international affairs or journalism. Kaitlyn also has a “slight plan to apply to film school and if I get in then I may possibly go”, but she is keeping her options open.