Cortlandt’s Emma Ralls: From Campus Journalist to Professional Reporter

By Lauryn Green  

My former classmate Emma Ralls, a 2023 High Point University journalism graduate, is an up-and-coming journalist from Cortlandt Manor and a 2019 Yorktown High School alum.

After completing her undergraduate studies, Ralls became a general assignment reporter for The Saratogian and The Troy Record.  

She covers stories on politics, entertainment, business, and much else. 

I wanted to share this interview I conducted with Ralls for her hometown local news outlet, The Examiner News, to help encourage other young people to enter the field. 

Q: When did you first develop a passion for writing?   

A: I think it’s something I’ve always had a passion for since I was really little.   Sophomore year of high school, I took a creative writing class, which I really loved, and I was also part of my high school’s literary magazine, and newspaper, and yearbook.  So, through being a part of all those clubs, it kind of dawned on me that writing was my passion and the career I wanted to go into.   

Q: Do you think you chose the right major?   

A: Definitely, I absolutely adore journalism.  It’s a really important career because it’s kind of the gateway of information, and unfortunately, the reception of journalists recently has not been the best.  

Q: Why do you think that?   

A: I think just with the influx of people screaming fake news, things that may or may not be fake but using them as the jumping point for a lot of their arguments to discredit stuff.   

Q: What attracted you to print journalism as opposed to broadcast?   

A: For me, writing was something I realized if I could do it every single day for the rest of my life, I’d be happy.  When really evaluating what I wanted to be doing with the rest of my life, my end-all, be-all dream would be writing for a newspaper.  

Q: How do you think the decline of print journalism will affect you in your profession later on?   

A: It may make my dream a little bit more harder to achieve, but I think it’s just causing me to pivot.  There’s still online media houses, and all the newspapers nowadays have online formats.  

Q: Okay, and you were the Entertainment Editor for the Campus Chronicle here, right?    

A: Yeah, I was Arts and Entertainment Editor after only sitting in on two meetings for the Campus Chronicle, and I was in that position until the paper ultimately ended.   

Q: What was your overall experience working with the Campus Chronicle?   

A: There was a lot of good, and there were some frustrating moments like there is with any job.  It gave me some really great pieces that I got to publish.  I wrote a piece for the sports section, where I did an interview with Tubby Smith, which was probably one of my favorite pieces I’ve written.   

Q: What were some of the biggest challenges working with the paper?   

A: It felt like we were really being dictated at times what we could write,  especially when we bled over from the Campus Chronicle into Hi-Po Magazine.  We would have to be very selective of what we wrote and published so that it fit  with the intended image of what the magazine was.     

Q: Speaking of the transition to Hi-Po, why did they discontinue the Campus Chronicle?   

A: I think the main reason we pivoted from Campus Chronicle to Hi-Po was because readership was on the decline.  I wrote a piece actually saying goodbye to the campus chronicle, which was published in the magazine.   

Q: What’s new for you as a print journalist?   

A: I’m focusing a lot on my classes and writing work for them. I’ve sent a piece or two in to Q News, which is the new publication through the School of Comm.   

Q: Where do you see yourself in the next five or ten years?    

A: Hopefully writing for a newspaper or magazine, be that for an online publication, be that for a newsletter, be that for a company as a communications specialist.  I see myself writing.   

Q: What do you want people to know about you that allows you to stand out over other print journalists?   

A: I think I have an interesting wealth of experiences that I don’t know if a lot of people my age have.  I think with the experience I’ve also had with creative writing, I’m able to interweave my creative writing experience into my journalistic articles.  I have a passion for storytelling, I have a passion for writing, and I have a drive to make sure my passion creates the best products I can.   

 Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?   

 A: I would definitely say working on the Campus Chronicle definitely provided 

me with great experiences.  As a whole, I am really appreciative for the experience because it did allow me to really start to find and provide a foundation for my journalist’s voice.

Lauryn Green is a 2023 High Point University journalism graduate and a former classmate of Emma Ralls. Green is now pursuing a Master’s in Professional Communication and Public Relations at the University of Florida.