Staff profile: Meet Columbus Dispatch education reporter Cole Behrens
(Editor's note: This article is part of a new weekly series featuring Columbus Dispatch journalists and their work in our community.)
Position
I am the K-12 education reporter at The Columbus Dispatch, covering education in central Ohio and throughout the state. Before that, I covered crime and breaking news in the evenings. I previously worked as an assistant editor at The Athens NEWS and Athens Messenger, newspapers both located in Athens Ohio.
I attended Ohio University and received degrees in journalism and Spanish.
CCS coverage: Columbus School board votes not to close schools for now
Why I went into journalism?
Journalism was always something that called to me, even as a small child in Newport, Kentucky, when I would produce "magazines" from stapled-together printer paper filled with "stories" about my friends, school and other things young boys like such as ninjas and cars. The magazines even featured "advertisements," like ones for cars with astronomically high price tags (think $1,000,000,000,000).
Beyond that, my family still owns and operates a paper in Marysville, and growing up, I was always enamored with the whirring of the press and the smell of ink in the printing house. When I got to high school, my government teacher Chuck Warden did such a good job explaining the importance of the civic process, it inspired me to join the high school newspaper.
What I like best about my role
While covering education, I always look forward to the opportunity to talk to inspiring young people in central Ohio doing big things with their education, even if it makes me think about how much of a slacker I was in my time in high school. In such a diverse community as Columbus, I am always awestruck at the American dream playing out in real time when talented students and graduates from all backgrounds use education as a springboard for greatness.
Education is one of the bedrocks of our society, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share information with the public that inspires and informs something that, frankly, nobody can do without.
What I do when I'm not working
In my free time, I enjoy exercising, reading at the library and exploring Columbus on my e-bike. As a Columbus resident, I am always finding new things to love about this city and central Ohio more broadly.
Why journalism matters to me
The United States is one of the only countries in history with a true freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment, and I believe that a while a free press can either be a good or bad thing, a press without freedom will certainly always be bad thing.
The ability of a society to hold powerful people to account and enact change is only possible when men and women can speak freely and truthfully. In a country with a flagging journalism industry where papers close every month, it is even more essential that we redouble our commitments to free speech, truth and justice — all pillars of what has made our society great.
Cbehrens@dispatch.com
@Colebehr_report
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Staff profile: The Columbus Dispatch's education reporter Cole Behrens
