Since she was a young girl at Charlemagne Elementary School, editor-in-chief Aria Lynn-Skov has known that she wanted to pursue a career in writing and the language arts. 

At first, she wanted to be a librarian due to her love for books. Then she decided that she wanted to be an editor, because “as an editor,” she would “get to read books everyday and that [would be] my whole job.” This developed into her dream of becoming an author, which is very much still alive today. This way she would be able to write the books herself. 

In the end, however, she settled on becoming a journalist, while also keeping the possibility of becoming an author open. Aria will attend Yale University in the fall, where she plans to major in English and to continue to study French. She stated that her dream after college is to be based in New York City and to become an investigative reporter for The New York Times. 

“I want to travel all over the world and write about things that are happening,” she said. “I want to travel to places that don’t necessarily get good news coverage and that people aren’t necessarily writing about. Because there are a lot of places in the world that don’t have free press or just are often overlooked. And so those are the places that I think it’s most important to write about.” 

Aria has always held a passion for reading. 

“My parents really encouraged me to read,” she said. “When I was younger they would buy me books and read to me and take me to the library. That definitely sort of fueled my love of reading and writing, which has clearly stuck.” 

She also added that another major inspiration to her throughout her life was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

 “I got a biography of her for my birthday, Notorious RBG Young Readers’ Edition, when I was in elementary school, and read it so many times,” Aria explained. “Reading about her and how much power she got from dissent really inspired me.” Aria has also been inspired by many other writers such as Leigh Bardugo, Samantha Shannon, Roshani Chokshi, and Gloria Steinem.

Before leaving South Eugene High School for good, Aria has a few pieces of advice to share. 

“I would recommend that incoming freshmen prioritize friends and really work on getting to know people, because friendships are hard and they take work, but they’re also so fun and so worth it,” she stated.  

As for incoming upperclassmen she advised exploring interests and prioritizing passions.

 “Don’t overvalue test scores and AP classes. I feel like there’s a very competitive culture at South with AP classes. I think that it’s so important to prioritize what matters to you. Don’t put time and energy into things that are just stressing you out, because that’s gonna make you so much more stressed.”

Article by Noa Gitelson