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Rachel at work - Photo by Rachel Swick

Growing up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, there wasn't much to do when it was raining except to sit inside and read. I grew to love the written word and have taken that love and used it to become a journalist.

I graduated from Millersville University, where I wrote for both the college newspaper and yearbook, eventually becoming the editor of both. I learned the bulk about what I know about the journalism field by those two experiences because instead of sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture, I was actually designing pages, selecting pictures, writing articles and putting a newspaper together.

Upon graduating, I immediately started working at newspapers. I have now worked at two daily newspapers, one twice weekly and now a weekly paper. I am just starting to get into freelancing and trying to explore and improve my creative writing.

The majority of the best articles I have written involve environmental issues, town or county governments, land use and development, and human-interest stories. I am also interested in writing about literature and music.

I really enjoy the idea of writing about the lives of everyday people living in small towns because it makes you and your readers realize that everyone has a story. They are all different and unique, but it is exciting to delve into local communities and find out the good works average citizens are doing.