Senior Lily Temkin has been an incredible member of the KO News, with her strong writing skills, her eye for errors while editing, her commitment to the staff, and her bubbly personality.
After applying to be on the paper second semester freshman year, Lily became an associate editor for the features department. After that she became the Head Editor of Features in her junior year. Then, for her senior year, she was Managing Editor of Features and Arts. She took on pretty big responsibilities, excelling in every way possible.
Lily’s older sister, Alyssa Temkin ’23, encouraged Lily to take journalism as soon as possible. “She literally told me no matter what classes I end up taking, I have to take journalism my freshman year,” Lily recalled. “She told me it was gonna be some of the best skills I could develop for my writing, regardless of whether I wanted to join the paper or not.”
Working in features, Lily didn’t have front-page pieces until last winter, when she wrote about KO’s production of “A Chorus Line.” “Last year I wrote the article on ‘A Chorus Line,’ and it was my first cover page article because I write for features and normally we’re in the middle section of the paper,” Lily said. “So it was just exciting to be able to bring the paper home and show that to my family.”
Lily really enjoyed feature writing because it required deeper thinking when trying to come up with article ideas. “It’s just so creative and imaginative while also so hard at the same time because coming up with something that isn’t news and isn’t opinions is so mind-boggling at times,” Lily said. “During planning meetings, we would come up with an article and realize it was news or pick an article and realize it was opinions. It really forces you to think deeply and imaginatively and get in touch with what’s going on at KO and really take that deeper dive.”
Lily also wrote for the Arts department, showcasing her life long commitment and love for the Arts. She wrote many articles highlighting the artists and musicians in the community, as well as had an article highlighting her contributions to the Arts at KO.
The KO News staff thanks Lily for her time, dedication, and commitment to the paper. The KO News wishes Lily the best of luck at UConn, where she will attend college in the fall!
