Leader Publications recently welcomed its newest reporter, Aly Gibson, to the staff.

Gibson, 23, will be covering anything and everything happening in Cassopolis and

Dowagiac.

She looks forward to getting to know the two communities.

“I like letting people know what they need to know to make decisions in daily life, whether it is political or with their kids’ education,” she said.

Gibson worked for six months as a city and education reporter at the Ottawa Delivered (Ottawa, Ill.) before the paper closed in February. Prior to that, she interned at the Bourbonnais Herald in Bourbonnais, Ill.

She earned her journalism degree at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais and graduated from Traverse City Central High.

Gibson was born in Florida, but moved shortly afterward because her father was a member of the U.S. Navy.

“I’m a military brat,” she said.

Gibson’s family eventually settled down in Virginia Beach, Va., where Gibson spent most of her childhood. Gibson moved to Traverse City in 2001.

She loves photography and her e-reader.

“I got a kindle from my mom for graduation last year and it’s all I do at night,” Gibson said. “I read, I buy books. I shouldn’t because they make it way too easy to buy books.”

Gibson also has a dachshund named Lucy.