LAURA PETERS

EXPERIENCE AGRICULTURE/BUSINESS REPORTER The News Leader, Staunton, VA Sept. 2012-present Currently serving Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County as the agriculture and business reporter, my duties include covering local business, farming and feature reporting on the community. I also accompany many of my stories with video that is shot and edited by me. EDUCATION REPORTER Loudoun Times-Mirror, Leesburg, VA Feb. 2011-Sept. 2012 Within just a couple months in my rst job as a full-time reporter, I have gathered so much knowledge of the news business. Within a year, I was promoted from covering towns and villages to the education beat covering all of Loudoun County. I cover school board meetings and features within the entire school system. Previously, I covered half of Loudoun County on my own. I was charge of Leesburg and western Loudoun towns and any event or town council meeting or decision they make. Ive also contributed to crime coverage, feature writing, video production, photography and investigative reporting. I also copy edit and do pagination for sections of the paper and I was in charge of the West Page, now the East Page in the A section of our weekly paper. With my work with NOVA Exec, Ive been a contributing writer and a creative director on photo shoots. Ive served as project editor on special tabs for the paper and worked very closely with my editors to make sure we produce high quality work. CONTRIBUTING WRITER Patch.com, Leesburg, VA Dec. 2010-Feb. 2011 Moving up to Leesburg, I was immediately offered to freelance for Patch.com. I did an average of ve articles a week on art, town events, politics, history, features and opinion pieces. CONTRIBUTING WRITER Chestereld Observer, Chestereld, VA May 2010-Dec. 2010 I worked as a freelance writer writing feature articles and news pieces. I wrote two to three articles per week. NEWS CORRESPONDENT Capital News Service, Richmond, VA Dec. 2009-May 2009 One of my classes at VCU allowed me to work directly at the Capitol in Virginia as a news correspondent for two publications in Richmond, Virginia. I produced radio pieces for WRIR and wrote articles for the Commonwealth Times, as well as for the Culpeper Times. BOARD OPERATOR/PRODUCER/NEWS TEAM WRIR, Richmond, VA Jan. 2009-Dec. 2010 News Team, Producer of the City Hall Calendar, Board Operator As a part of the WRIR News Team, my rst assignment was to cover the 2009 Gubernatorial Race in Virginia. I primarily focused on the candidate Creigh Deeds and was in direct correlation with his press secretary Jared Leopold. I produced the City Hall Calendar was my internship project that had a direct connection with the City of Richmond. The purpose of the City Hall Calendar was to inform Richmond residents of upcoming meetings of the City Council. The main mission was to empower citizens with the information required to get involved in the planning and decision-making of the city's legislative body. I set up shows that were live on the air, announcing Public Service Announcements and Underwriting. Also, as the City of Richmonds Emergency Broadcast Outlet, I reported on breaking news in the area that directly affected the citizens of Richmond. VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY Richmond, VA - B.S. Mass Communications, Print Journalism 2007-2010 NORTHERN VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE Sterling, VA - General Studies 2006-2007

EDUCATION

CELL (540) 255-9984 E-MAIL PETERSLE10@GMAIL.COM

LAURAEPETERS.BLOGSPOT.COM