For a lot of high school students, “What comes next?” is a difficult question. Deciding what you’re going to do for the rest of your life can feel very intimidating, but this wasn’t the case for Natalie Dunlap.
Graduating in 2020, Natalie Dunlap always knew she wanted to have a career in writing. But she wouldn’t figure out what kind of writing career she’d want to pursue until she reached High school.
Ever since Dunlap was a kid she liked to write. During one of her 8th grade English classes, a group of students from the West Side Story came and gave a presentation. This presentation was about Foundations of Journalism(a prerequisite for all Journalism classes) which she decided to give a chance. She realized pretty quickly that she enjoyed interviewing people and hearing their stories. Combined with her love for writing this set Dunlap down a path that would lead her to becoming the Assistant Digital Editor at the Daily Iowan.
While Foundations of Journalism started Natalie Dunlap on her path to be a journalist. The dedication she put into West Side Story and her articles goes to show how hardworking she is. When she was a West Side Story Staff member, Dunlap would visit middle schools the same way those students had visited her. During her time working on the West Side Story she had also managed to reach a journalism milestone that at this time only 2 others have achieved. That was posting over 100+ web posts onto the West Side Story Website.
One work of hers is an article about how the 2019 senior class did a senior prank that resulted in police getting involved.
Besides her time on the journalism staff, Dunlap talks about how greatly West’s English classes and teachers helped her to improve as a writer and interpreter of text.
“I’ve always liked writing and so they helped me become a better writer and better dissecting texts, which I still do in like other types of writing in my English minor as well.”
— Natalie Dunlap
Above all, Dunlap believes that living in Iowa City gave her quite the advantage. This is because Iowa City is a UNESCO city of literature. Which just means that Iowa City is a part of the UNESCO’s City of Literature program. A program that aims to highlight cities that promote literature and meet their various other criteria. With the University of Iowa also being ranked #2 in the country for it’s writing. It makes sense that a lot of well-known writers and journalists have come to Iowa City.
“I think my one my English teacher had talked about how a lot of famous writers really like being in Iowa City for some reason, and a lot of them live here”
— Natalie Dunlap
From Natalie Dunlap’s introduction to Journalism at West to her position at the Daily Iowan. It is safe to say that her ‘taking a chance’ helped to guide her down this path. While this doesn’t take away from the fear that can come from not knowing. It can be a great example of how taking a chance can lead to great things.
