Matthew Moss
Staff Writer
Sarah Powers is one of The Prospectus’ two student editors. She also writes weekly for the newspaper and helps to manage its online affairs.
Originally starting as a writer in the summer of 2015, she recently stepped up to the position of editor alongside student editor Billi Jo Hart. Having previous experience with editing writers’ work for two fashion blogs, Powers felt comfortable filling the roll.
“I though it sounded like a great opportunity, so I took it,” she said.
As part of her Parkland studies, she is learning graphic and web design. This has allowed her to help maintain The Prospectus’ web page and oversee its social media presence.
She attended high school at Harry D. Jacobs in Algonquin, Ill., a 30,000-person town amongst the suburban sprawl of Chicago. She described it as a typical suburban high school, but says it was unique in its proximity to both rural farmland and urban cityscape.
After high school came the U of I, where she earned her bachelor degree in communications. However, she said their program was lacking in that it taught the logistics of a communication campaign but left out the important technology applications involved with the field. This prevented her from getting the jobs she wanted, which required a high level of aptitude in computer design programs.
She came to Parkland to supplement her bachelor degree with a certificate in interactive media, which she described as a hybrid course between web design and graphic design. She intends to transfer to another school in the near future to complete the course.
In contrasting the U of I’s educational environment to Parkland’s, she said she favors the latter and has had a pleasant tenure at Parkland.
“It’s been a really nice change of pace for me,” she said. “I’m actually really enjoying my classes a lot more than I ever did at the U of I. I like what I’m studying now.”