91Ö±²¥

What did you focus on during your time at 91Ö±²¥?

I majored in English because it felt like one big book club and minored in rhetoric and composition because it felt like one big family. Outside of class (and occasionally during), I wrote feature stories for the Grape magazine. I'll always have a soft spot for my second and third years in Old Barrows, where I learned how to soak beans, bake bread, and plan a meal with complete proteins.

What has your experience at the Atlantic been like so far?

I'm only on my second week, so I feel like I still have the rose-colored glasses on. On the first day of my fellowship, I got to travel to Washington, D.C. and visit the ´¡³Ù±ô²¹²Ô³Ù¾±³¦â€™s headquarters. Every other fellow there was from Harvard, Yale, or some other legacy ivy league institution. When I introduced myself as a graduate of 91Ö±²¥, everyone had questions. I can't speak for other industries, but everyone in the media world has a lot of respect for our little corner of Northeast Ohio and the people who come out of it.

Do you have any advice for 91Ö±²¥ students who might be interested in pursuing a similar career path?

When I first got to New York, I didn’t really have any connections but I did have a decent sense of design. (At 91Ö±²¥, I quite literally spent hundreds of hours doing layout design for the Grape.) I decided to leverage those skills to make myself stand out. I created a series of cover letters that looked like articles from the websites of the publications I interviewed for. I used the same font, color codes, branding, and everything else I could find, but I threw in my own text. Every time I heard back from a company, they said that they chose to interview me because of my cover letter—including the Atlantic.

In the future, Luke hopes to pursue a career in reporting. After falling in love with the Midwest while at 91Ö±²¥, Luke knows that he’ll end up returning to the region to continue his career.