Hello, everyone! My name is Elliot Steeves, and I will be serving as a community editor for the Anoka County Union Herald.
I was born and raised in St. Louis Park, just west of downtown Minneapolis and about a half-hour down either 169 South or Highway 100. I attended City of Lakes Waldorf School in Uptown on Nicollet Avenue, then graduated from DeLaSalle High School in 2020 (as this was the year of the pandemic, the ceremony was in my basement, and I got to watch my face roll by on a television screen).
I attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter where I initially thought that I would pursue a degree in political science. I wound up switching to English by my sophomore year, after I discovered a love of words and reading in general.
By my junior year at Gustavus, I decided that it was time to stop sitting around and think about what I would actually do with my degree. My mind went a number of different places, be it becoming an author, or writing copy for advertising. Amidst a flurry of internship applications, I received a hiring email from a little college paper called the Gustavian Weekly.
After writing all about how I could ingratiate them with opinions on movies and music, their head editor wrote back to me immediately asking if I would be interested in news, complimenting the strength of my writing. My interest piqued, I said yes. I was sent all around Gustavus, to everything from student clubs to administration (and even a tiny bit of Greek life) to write about events and key happenings.
My new love for reporting eventually took me to the Gustavus Marketing Office, where I met Luc Hatlestad, the head of internal communications. Here, they had an open internship for the Newswire page on the official Gustavus website, where I was able to select and write about whatever major Gustavus topic I wanted. (If you’ve ever heard of a rapper named NLE Choppa, you will be pleased to find my preview piece of his concert at the official Gustavus website.)
But anyway. Why a newspaper? I think there are several reasons that I gravitated toward this position. First, I love telling stories.
You may not think of a newspaper as a tome of fiction, but I believe that there is still a reward that comes from crafting pieces about key happenings anywhere. And I am thrilled to be doing that for your county, be it right in downtown Anoka or out in Andover.
Second, the opportunity to connect with all sorts of different people through all different walks of life is the crux of why I have kept doing this. This position allows me to help many different people communicate their issues and stories to the public, and I love helping them do that, be it for a mayor, a school principal or a notable student.
Finally, I am keenly aware that this is an election year. As someone who minored in Political Science, I have always had a passion for tracking political and civic issues.
The opportunity to track what is happening here at this particular time is extremely far from lost on me, and I look forward to keeping you all informed about the upcoming campaigns.
That’s all for now!
Look for my name if you are interested in reading what I have to write, and have a brilliant week. I look forward to working on behalf of Anoka County.