Jewels Phraner working at The Maneater, the University of Missouri's college newspaper.

I’m a multimedia journalist with a passion for in-depth storytelling and watchdog journalism. I currently work for the Ligonier Echo, a weekly newspaper in Ligonier, Pa. It’s part of Trib Total Media.

I graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in May 2009, earning a bachelor’s of journalism. I emphasized in print and digital news and minored in sociology.

I’ve pretty much always known I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t consider journalism until joining my high school newspaper staff in 2003.  After attending three journalism camps (yes, I’m a big dork) during my high school career, I was pretty much hooked.

Once I got to MU, I started writing for The Maneater, MU’s twice-weekly student newspaper. At The Maneater, I dabbled in page design, section editing, copy editing and spent one summer as editor-in-chief. But my true love is reporting.

I also spent two semesters working for the Columbia Missourian, MU’s laboratory newspaper. The Missourian is a community daily edited by J-School professors and staffed by students. While I was there, I focused on local government. During my university career, I also spent one semester away from school interning at the Peoria Journal Star in Peoria, Ill. There I mostly worked on features, but spent much my time off researching and conducting interviews for a 100-inch piece on the Central Illinois transgender community.

After graduation, I had a month-long stint interning at the Tribune-Review in Greensburg, Pa. Trib Total Media also owns that newspaper, and I was sent to Ligonier after being hired full-time.

In my personal life, I’m addicted to watching baseball, listening to hip-hop and Google Reader. My personal blog is found here. And my favorite color is purple, in case you were wondering.

You can also find me on Facebook, Linked-in, Tumblr and Twitter.