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Summer 2015
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Eventually, the
Chronicles
went under;
Berks-Mont
newspapers
wanted to fill the market void, so they created the
Lehigh Valley
Newsgroup
. Mitchell was given the opportunity to create her
own newspaper, the
Parkland News
. In 2007, Mitchell reached
her goal: she was offered a position with the
Kutztown Area Pa-
triot
as editor. Currently, she also fills the positions of managing
editor of
Berks-Mont Newspapers
and editor of the
Tri County
Record
.
For the
Patriot,
Mitchell sometimes works remotely in Pop’s
Malt Shoppe, the previous site of the newspaper, and frequents
other spots in Kutztown often.
“What I have found is we better serve the community by
working remotely in the community rather than sitting in an
office,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell says it is the community that has kept her in this industry.
“I entered the newspaper field for a love of writing and discov-
ered that what I love most is connecting with the community. A
weekly community newspaper is more than just the top news;
it’s about the people in the community. I view the paper not as
my paper, but the community’s paper. This is their forum to share
their news, share their experiences and share their opinions.”
Mitchell has been honored for her contributions to the
community by the Women’s Center at KU. She and the
Patriot
were awarded a Pennsylvania Newspapers Association award
for general news, and the Berks County Public Libraries’ 2014
Outstanding Business of the Year for exceptional coverage of
the Fleetwood and Kutztown libraries, excellence in journalism
and commitment to promoting literacy.
Even after writing professionally for 13 years, Mitchell still
loves what she does.
“Every day is an adventure, from helping a bee keeper install
bees in Honey Brook to watching Richmond Elementary’s principal
kiss a pig to reward students for reading,” she said. She thanks
KU for allowing her to thrive in this environment.
“I did so much on campus, and I can juggle so much now
because of what I did back in my college days. KU prepared me
for that.”
“It was only one article: an obituary for a cardinal,” Mitchell
explained with a smile.
But it was her first, and there would be many more to follow.
From creating newspapers for her Barbie Dolls, to actively
participating in her high school’s journalism club, to being a
founding writer for the
Reading Eagle’s
teen section,
Voices,
Mitchell has always been writing. But when it came time for
college, she decided to go another direction.
“I came to KU in denial about the whole newspaper thing,”
Mitchell said. “Everyone said I wasn’t going to make any money
at writing. I thought, I’ve got to do something practical. So I
majored in psychology.”
Mitchell had Dr. G.D. Rains for one of her first psychology
classes. She found him fascinating, and ended up writing a
feature on the professor for her writing composition class.
“I got an A on the article, meanwhile I was getting a C in my
psychology course,” Mitchell admitted. “I realized I was fooling
myself thinking I was going to do anything with psychology; I’m
really just interested in people.”
It took that single semester to show her that writing was the way
to go, and she immediately changed her major to professional writing.
Mitchell was heavily involved around campus, holding posi-
tions in three offices — the Writing Center, the Women’s Center
and KU’s University Relations Office — and writing opinion
pieces for the Keystone newspaper. Mitchell submitted her
opinion pieces to Nikki Murry ’98, who was an editor at the
Hamburg Item
and later, the
Kutztown Area Patriot
.
“I remember her coming to talk to our class. Her advice was
to move back in with our parents and freelance,” Mitchell said
incredulously. “I thought, that’s crazy; I can’t do that.”
Once the lease on her off-campus apartment ended, Mitchell
did move back in with her parents. She started freelance writing
for the
Southern Berks News
and
Saucony News
immediately,
with a goal in mind: to work for the
Kutztown Area Patriot.
Her
first part-time reporting job was for the
Chronicles,
a series of
weekly newspapers for
The Morning Call,
and she soon moved
up to a full-time position.
lisa mitchell ’01,
editor of the
Kutztown Area Patriot
and managing editor of
Berks-Mont
Newspapers,
wrote her first newspaper
when she was 10 years old.
By dale
Bond ’14 M’16
photography By
John seCoges