This is the first time you are seeing my name on this page, and it won’t be the last, so let me take a moment to introduce myself.

My name is Sarah Culton, and I am a 23-year-old resident of Niles. I love coffee, my cat and traveling the world.

But mostly, I love community journalism.

I have been a reporter at Leader Publications covering Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, Buchanan and, most recently, Dowagiac since May 2017. Earlier this month, I was named the managing editor of Leader Publications’ daily and weekly newspapers, including the Niles Daily Star, the Dowagiac Daily News, the Cassopolis Vigilant and the Edwardsburg Argus. In my new position, I will help oversee our products and guide the newsroom.

I started my career in journalism at Western Michigan University’s student newspaper, the Western Herald. At that paper, I served both as a staff reporter and news editor, before graduating in April 2017.

When I left my hometown for college, there was not a doubt in my mind that I would study journalism and become a reporter. As far back as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a reporter and to write stories that could make a difference. However, I never saw myself working in towns as small as Niles, Dowagiac, Cassopolis or Edwardsburg. I always saw myself as a “big city” girl, but now that I am here in southwest Michigan, I couldn’t be happier with the community I have found.

I grew up in Port Huron, Michigan, a city more than four times the size of Dowagiac in terms of population. However, in the less than two years I have spent in southwest Michigan, I have seen more passion in our communities than I did in my 18 years on the east side of the state. In my experience, the people in our communities genuinely care and want to make their cities and villages better places to live and work.

In smaller towns, you can see the impact of an action or an issue. Here, there are always people in the audience who care about what is being voted on at local government meetings. During last year’s historic flooding, I saw the Niles community rally to support businesses that had to close their doors temporarily. In Cassopolis, I saw residents become energized with the Imagine Cass project. Recently, I was able to see a committee of compassionate individuals formed in Dowagiac to take care of the area’s homeless.

It’s an honor to be here and to serve our communities by reporting on these issues, and I am ready to take on the challenge of further serving our papers as managing editor.   

 

SARAH CULTON, is the managing editor at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7712 or by email at sarah.culton@leaderpub.com