MEET A TEEN: Hannah Rose Dominiak
October 18, 2012 3:02PM
Dominiak
Updated: November 20, 2012 10:47AM
Age: 19
Hometown: Whiting
School: Bishop Noll Institute, Class of 2012
At home: mother, Roberta; father, Mark; sister, Maggie, 13; dogs, Coco and Oscar; fish, Nemo
Besides school and home, how do you spend your time? “I’m very big into reading. I’ve been reading since I was little, when I was like 2. And that’s one of my favorite things to do. My parents would catch me — when they gave me a strict bedtime — and, three hours later, they’d go into my room and I’d be under the cover using a flashlight reading a book. So, it’s reading and obviously now, social networking and stuff.”
How important are your immediate and extended families? “My mom and dad and everybody in my family have been immensely supportive throughout high school. I wasn’t the most popular kid, so they’ve been there to support my dreams and pick me up when I was down.
“Basically, they’ve been my rock throughout my whole life. My Aunt Rose has been, too. ... They’re definitely the biggest influences in my life.”
Talk about your work with the BNI JourNoll and some important qualities for a journalist. “I started (with the student newspaper) as a freshman. The main reason I picked Bishop Noll was that I could dive in head-first for journalism.
“I started as the normal staff reporter ... . Sophomore year, I did the same thing. Then, junior year, Miss (Marisa) Renwald named me editor-in-chief. I was editor-in-chief for two years. During my span as the editor, we did a complete layout redesign, we started a Facebook page and a Twitter feed, and started the live web broadcasts of sports. In our senior year, we got our website — that was big ... .
“You must have a lot of drive to do it because it’s very time-consuming. I think if you love it enough, you’ll want to keep doing it in high school because there are lots of distractions. And probably imagination too, because you need to have the keen sense to think of story ideas and try to figure out how you want things laid out in a creative, innovative way.”
College? “I’m going to Ball State University. As a freshman, I’m a pre-journalism major. Eventually, I’m hoping to get on the magazine track, and I’m thinking about doing a double major in telecommunications. With all the broadcasting things I did at Bishop Noll, I really started to like that.
“I’d like to work for the (BSU) Daily News, too.”
— Compiled by
Anthony D. Alonzo,
Post-Tribune correspondent
