Hello Lacombe!
It’s finally here. The first ever edition of the Lacombe Express. I am more than excited we are up and running and I am looking forward to continuing provide Lacombe and Blackfalds with all the news that is fit to read.
First though, a little bit about me. I have two younger brothers. The younger of the two is finishing his first year of engineering at University of Saskatchewan and the older is a police officer in Saskatoon.
My dad is a retired police officer who now runs the town hockey rink in the winter and works as a farmhand in the summer.
My mom is a teacher who, I’m convinced, has taught the majority of students who went to school in Saskatchewan between the years of 1988 and now.
I’m originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan but grew up in the very small town (village, actually) of Viscount, just east of Saskatoon.
After graduating from high school, I moved to Calgary where I studied journalism at Mount Royal College, which became Mount Royal University halfway through my studies.
It was while studying at Mount Royal that I met my girlfriend, Lisa who was also in the journalism program and lived just across campus from me as we both stayed in residence for the entirety of our post-secondary careers.
Lisa grew up in Ponoka and as such we spent our summers (and later on much more of the year) largely apart from each other.
After graduating from Mount Royal, I got a job as a reporter for the Hanna Herald in Hanna, Alberta. While working in Hanna, I also volunteered with the fire department, something I had also done as a junior firefighter in Viscount.
I worked in Hanna for a year before being promoted and transferred to Pincher Creek to take over as editor for the Pincher Creek Echo.
While working in Pincher Creek, I quickly fell in love with the country around southern Alberta.
Being from Saskatchewan, I had already developed a deep passion for mountains during my time in Calgary and found Pincher Creek to be the perfect place to indulge in that passion. Close enough to the mountains to admire them, but not so close as to make a former prairie boy feel claustrophobic.
I spent a fair amount of time taking advantage of the hiking and outdoor activities surrounding Pincher Creek. However, I was not able to take advantage of the beautiful countryside for too long. After a few months of working in Pincher Creek, Lisa and I decided that after five years it was time to start a life together and I took the job here as editor of the Lacombe Express.
Lisa and I have since found a comfy condo to rent here in Lacombe (after a month of looking) and will be moving in next weekend. I am very happy I will not only be getting to know this great City by working in it but I also get to join the community and become a part of it. I have not been in the Lacombe area for very long but I already get the strong feeling that I am going to like it here.
Already, I have found the community to be very friendly and welcoming to both myself and the paper. This is something I am quite grateful for and I look forward to continuing to develop a relationship with this community and its citizens both personally and through the paper.
As such, please feel free to drop in the office to meet me and the rest of the staff at the Lacombe Express.
If you see me out and about covering events, feel free to come by and say, “Hi!” I’m also looking for stories and ideas so feel free to share them with me or email them to news@lacombeexpress.com.
Again, I’m very excited to meet all of you and I hope to see you soon!