Caroline Watkins

Brandon Stanton's "Humans of New York" project inspired me to connect people online through storytelling. Like Stanton's project, I created a similar model for my high school, titled "Humans of McLean" on Facebook. By sharing stories of the diverse body of students at my high school, I've created a tight-knit community online full of not only students from my high school, but also other residents in my community (McLean, Virginia), interested in what others in the community have to say.

Just like Humans of McLean, I hope to utilize the Odyssey to create a similar online environment. As I look forward to attending the journalism school and honors college at the University of Missouri next year, I hope to initiate another online community, this time full of collegiate students looking to broaden their perspectives through hearing the voices of their peers. Whether I will be writing articles about challenges college students face to writing about activities to do in the community, I hope to inspire other millennials to take part in the revolutionary "connecting power" social media and online journalism possesses.

When I'm not studying or writing, I'm either manning Humans of Mizzou, at Magazine and or Women in the Media club, or chilling with my homies in Schurz.