The Hampton Chronicle has a new face in its newsroom now. Serving as the Regional News Editor of the Sheffield Press, Pioneer Enterprise and the Hampton Chronicle, is Caitlin Ware.

     Ware, 21, comes from Panora, where she was a news reporter for the Guthrie County Vedette, the Guthrie Center Times, Lake Panorama Times, Adair County Free-Press and the Fontanelle Observer. She primarily wrote features and news stories.

     Originally from Newton, New Jersey, Ware graduated from Rowan University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and a minor in psychology. At Rowan, Ware was primarily involved with The Whit, Rowan University’s weekly campus newspaper, where she was features editor her senior year.

     Ware’s experience in journalism is extensive, having interned with Philadelphia Style Magazine, a respected fashion and lifestyle magazine in the Philadelphia Metro area, as well as with the South Jersey Times, Southern New Jersey’s largest news organization. She is a decorated journalist, having won the New Jersey Collegiate Press Association’s third place award for layout and design, as well as her university’s Claudia Cuddy Award for Excellence in Editing and Publishing Medallion.

     “Hiring someone with the skills and capabilities of Caitlin Ware is a coup for newspapers our size,” said Ryan Harvey, president and CEO of Mid-America Publishing Corporation. “We are truly excited to have her join the company. Her writing style is one our readers will enjoy. Her personality is one our community members will appreciate, and her willingness to dig into issues to get to the bottom of it is one you expect.”

     “I believe she is an extremely capable journalist who will fill a key role here and I couldn’t be happier to add her to the team,” Harvey continued.

     Ware’s path to journalism was not a direct one. She had always liked writing in high school, but intended to college for forensic science. She had received a scholarship to the University of New Haven, Connecticut, and was planning on accepting and attending, with intentions to enter its Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences.

     “To be honest, I’m not really sure how things shook out the way they did,” Ware said. “I had one last college to visit before making my final decision: Rowan University in New Jersey. And as soon as I stepped onto the campus, I fell in love. I knew it was where I wanted to go to school.”

     Unfortunately, Rowan did not have a forensic science program. In a frenzy to pick a new life plan, she fell back on her love of writing and thought a career in journalism would be the best way to use her skills.

     “I entered the journalism program and never looked back,” Ware said. “Here I am, four years later, and I’m still doing it, and loving it. So I must have done something right.”

     When it comes to journalism in small towns, Ware’s approach is to listen. If she has learned anything since moving to Iowa, it’s that the biggest thing one can do to help one’s work is to get out and talk to people, and hear what they have to say.

     “It’s 2017, but these towns still operate on word of mouth, ‘I heard it from so-and-so who said their uncle knows the guy who did it,’” Ware explained. “If you aren’t getting out there and mingling, you probably won’t have anything to write about.”

     In journalism, Ware believes no two days are the same. Every day, one learns something different. One day it’s writing about crime, and figuring out how to understand the legal system, and the next, it’s writing a feature about someone interesting in the community. One can go from writing about how a city budget works, crunching numbers, to covering events like fairs and rodeos.

     “You’re never bored, and very few days are the same,” Ware said.

     As regional news editor her hope for herself is to cover the issues and stories that matter to the community.

     “I am happy to be here working within these communities, and I am excited to see what the future brings,” Ware said.