Throughout my life writing has always been one of my greatest passions. While I have enjoyed expressing my own thoughts and ideas through writing, journalism has opened up an entirely new outlet that allows me to express the thoughts and ideas of others.
I have always been drawn to the things that do not get talked about enough, the people whose stories are easy to overlook and the topics that sometimes get pushed into the background. My goal is to bring those things out of the dark and give them the attention they deserve.
My name is Kaylynn Crawford, and I am a sophomore at Drake University studying Digital Media Production and Multimedia Journalism with a minor in Graphic Design. I am from Waterloo, Iowa where I first realized my passion for journalism. Being a creative person, I have always loved that journalism offers me the chance to incorporate many of my interests. From writing to photography, graphic design to social media and multimedia storytelling, I enjoy them all.
I particularly like writing stories about people. I like capturing candid shots, attending theater productions, and spotting the small things that can use to help tell someone’s story in a personal way. I also love graphic design and everything to do with it except web design. Whether it be graphics, page layout, photography, or storytelling, I am constantly trying to figure out how to get someone to take notice.
My journalism experience started at Waterloo West High School, where I served as Editor-in-Chief of the Wahawk Insider. I managed staff, edited stories, designed pages, photographed events, and helped run social media. After high school, I continued that work at Drake. I started as a Multimedia Assistant for The Times-Delphic, where I helped with the publication’s website and social media. Now, I serve as the Digital Editor, focusing on the website and social media. One of the things I am most proud of is how quickly I have grown through these experiences. Every position has taught me something new and pushed me to become more confident in what I can create.
My work has been recognized through the Iowa High School Press Association, including being named the 2025 Iowa Journalist of the Year. I have also received awards for entertainment, opinion, news, sports, photography, video, web stories, and interactive graphics. Those awards mean a lot to me, but what I value most is everything I learned while making the work.
To me, good journalism is about honesty and having the courage to say what some people may not want to hear. It is also about making people feel seen. Creating has opened so many more doors than I ever thought were in the long hallway I was walking through.
Journalism has given me a way to speak—not only to the people right in front of me, but to the people on the other side of my stories.
As I continue through college, I want to keep building my portfolio, working with professional newsrooms, becoming a better designer, learning new ways to tell stories, and making connections along the way. I do not want to limit myself to just one way of telling a story. I want to be a journalist and designer who can find the stories others might overlook, tell them creatively, and, most importantly, make the people behind those stories feel seen.