Isabel Funk joined the Statesman Journal newsroom in July as the newspaper’s breaking news and public safety reporter.
Funk graduated in June from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Born and raised in Washington state, Funk freelanced for the Chicago Sun-Times, had an editing internship at the San Francisco Chronicle and a reporting internship with Sound Publishing in Federal Way, Washington. Funk also was an editor in chief of the Daily Northwestern , a student-produced publication covering the campus and the Evanston, Illinois community.
“I fell in love with journalism when I accidentally joined my high school newspaper, and it’s been my dream to leave a positive impact on my community through storytelling ever since,” Funk said. “I’m so excited to get back to my Pacific Northwest roots and explore Salem.”
She spent a couple of weeks training and has been meeting members of the community while covering everything from Oregon’s measles outbreak and the Big Lots closures to shootings and criminal sentencings .