A Journalist by Nature

By JACKSON WANG
Executive Editor

Lauren Halligan, a senior communications major at The College of Saint Rose, is usually the person asking the questions in an interview, not the one answering them. So when she agreed to be the subject of an interview for a senior profile, a nervous Halligan asked “Can I do this in writing?”

With a print journalist mindset, opening a Microsoft Word document and putting words on the screen is something Halligan is used to, and truly enjoys doing. It’s a passion that started in middle school, where she reviewed a Fall Out Boy concert for the school’s newspaper.

“Basically I wanted to tell everyone how much I loved the concert, so that’s still the route I’m going with for journalism,” said Halligan, looking a little more comfortable in the interview.

With a passion for music and a love for writing, Halligan would learn at an early age what profession she wanted to pursue.

“Journalism was a way to go to concerts, sometimes for free, and do what I like,” Halligan said. “But the other thing I like is writing, so music and writing just fit together for me.”

And it’s a passion that she gets paid for today by working for The Saratogian, an opportunity that she picked up on after working as the editor of The Scene over the summer. That was also her first experience of working in a professional newsroom environment.

“I got to do a lot of cool things,” a smiling Halligan said. “I got to cover music, fashion, and arts. It was everything I loved. That was honestly the perfect summer job for me.”
Along with working in Saratoga, Halligan also writes for the Sacandaga Magazine, where she does business features.

“That was my first endeavor into advertising writing for me,” Halligan said.

After graduating from Galway High School in 2010, Halligan began her college education at Schenectady County Community College (SCCC), majoring in humanities and social sciences because the institution didn’t have a journalism program. But, she still had an opportunity to write for a campus publication at SCCC called the Binnekill.

“I covered a lot of cool things,” said Halligan, who interviewed Chuck D and Richard Marx for stories for the publication.

After spending three semesters at SCCC, she transferred to Saint Rose, where Halligan took her first ever journalism course taught by Cailin Brown.

“(Brown) really helped me dive right into it,” Halligan said. “She told me when The Chronicle meeting was and I came to the first one and I never left.”

“(Halligan) is a journalist by nature,” Brown said. “And she had an inquisitive mind from the start.”

Halligan first joined the student-run newspaper as a staff writer covering a variety of stories, which included campus events, profiles, and music. She first impressed Brown when she wrote a story about milk delivery in the Pine Hills.

“She woke up at about four in the morning and rode around in a milk truck with the Meadow Brooks delivery people,” Brown said. “And it takes a certain student to do that and it takes somebody who is motivated and has initiative and (Halligan) did a good job with that.”

And by the end of her first semester at Saint Rose, she was asked to be features editor.

“I was very happy to be asked to be features editor,” Halligan said, who also received a scholarship from Women’s Press Club of New York State that summer. “I really felt like I was part of it all.”

After serving the role of features editor for one year, she entered her final semester of college as the news editor of The Chronicle.

“News is kind of a switch for me, but it was a challenge for me,” Halligan said. “You have to stay in tune with all your news outlets and know what’s going on in the world, which is good for anyone to do, but it’s especially important for the news editor to be on top it.”

Managing editor Chris Surprenant, who has known Halligan for two years, said she does a lot of the hard work in terms of stories.

“She covers a lot of really important things that other people don’t want to,” Surprenant said. “She does the hard work that a lot of other people won’t be because she’s very dedicated to the business.”

That dedication to journalism will help Halligan, who graduates this week, be very employable, said Brown.

Halligan said that after she finishes college, she plans on continuing to work for Sacandaga Magazine and The Saratogian. She said she’ll soon start to apply for jobs in the Capital Region.

“I would love to stay local,” said Halligan, who looked more at ease now than at the beginning of the interview. “It’s just what I’ve grown up with and I know most.”

In five years, Halligan said she would love to be working fulltime at The Saratogian. She said her dream job would be writing for Rolling Stone. But wherever she works, Halligan said she will be doing journalism.

“I’ve learned that the journalism field is right for me,” Halligan said.

“I’m going to miss laughing with her, I’m going to miss going out for Chronicle Happy Hour with her, and I’m going to miss Lauren Halligan in general,” Surprenant said.