A week into the new job, Leader Publications’ newest addition is excited to get to know the Dowagiac community through his new job as community editor of the Daily News.

Ted Yoakum, 27, is a St. Joseph, Mich. native and recent graduate of Western Michigan University, where he majored in journalism and double-minored in e-business and political science.

“I wanted to do a job where I would make a difference in people’s lives. Originally I wanted to become a lawyer for that very reason, but I basically just became kind of disillusioned with the idea of becoming a lawyer,” Yoakum said. “I’ve always been interested in writing, so I decided to study journalism instead because that’s a field that I’ve always looked up to and admired. I studied journalism in high school and decided to give it a go.”

Yoakum has experience at multiple newspapers, including his college newspaper, a Western Herald where he worked for a total of two years, and the Kalamazoo Gazette, where he interned for six months.

“For the past three or four years I’ve been really serious about the profession,” he said.

Yoakum said he is excited to hear the stories of the people of Dowagiac, and looks forward to seeing residents in the area when he moves into a new office in the downtown area later this year.

“What I notice about Dowagiac is for a city that’s not massive by any means, it’s got a very diverse population. The people there, despite that, they all share a common love for the community. I think nearly everyone I’ve spoken to is really invested in Dowagiac. They want to see their community prosper,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to say (the city is) the exception in this area, but there’s something really special about the way Dowagiac does it considering the fact that they’re not the largest town by any means.”

Yoakum encourages people of Dowagiac to send information on local events and news to ted.yoakum@leaderpub.com, call him at (269) 687-7706 or stop by and see him at his new office, to be determined soon.