Nora Kerrigan is a business and population health double major at Lehigh University, but she was once an editor of The Eagle’s Cry! She was a graduate at Bethpage High School in 2025 and still studies journalism in college. Nora had something big happen recently on campus, she wrote and published an article in the school newspaper, The Brown and White, as a freshman! The Eagle’s Cry interviewed previous head editor Nora following this accomplishment to catch up with her on how college life has treated her!
TEC: How has it been working for your college newspaper?
Nora: Working for the Brown and White has definitely been a valuable experience. I spent about 6 weeks in a “crash course” learning how to write for the media, pitch stories, find sources, and other things like that. Now I get called into the news room to pitch 3 stories to B&W editors biweekly and get my assignment during our pitch meeting.
TEC: Being only a freshman, how does it feel to get such an early start into your own writing?
Nora: It honestly is really exciting; I’m a Business and Population Health double major, so I really thought that my senior year on The Eagle’s Cry would be the end of my journalism career. I had some space in my schedule this semester and just decided to try it out since it was a huge part of my high school experience, and I’m so glad I did.
TEC: Do you believe that being previous head editor and alumni of The Eagle’s Cry has benefitted your college journalism career?
Nora: It definitely has, I think spending a good amount of high school interviewing teachers and administrators that I didn’t know personally has really helped me feel comfortable approaching random sources. For B&W stories need to have 3 human sources per story with no conflicts of interest so having some experience with that was definitely helpful. I also think just having experience writing and editing stories has really helped me develop my writing and pitching process.
TEC: What specific field in journalism are you most interested in studying?
Nora: Currently I’m a News Reporter, moving forward I’d like to continue with the news section and also contribute to the community section. South Bethlehem is a really unique place to live, there’s always something going on and really interesting people with interesting stories to tell.
TEC: How has college life been?
Nora: College life has been nothing short of amazing, but it is definitely an adjustment…your life gets flipped upside down. But it is truly amazing to have a community of new people, experiences, and opportunities. I have made friends from around the country, joined a research team where I’ll get to do field work in Sierra Leone this summer, and of course joined the B&W just to name a few amazing opportunities Lehigh has given me so far.
TEC: How differently is studying journalism in college compared to high school? Do you think it’s more challenging in college?
Nora: I think the expectation is definitely higher in college. We pitch stories biweekly and turnaround on stories is much quicker. For example, I cover events and the stories are expected to be finished on the same day which can be a challenge. Also, all of our sources are totally random; the rule of thumb is if you have their phone number you can’t interview them. On a different note, it’s pretty cool to have a print edition twice a week here and a newsroom.
TEC: Do you think somebody interested in majoring in journalism would benefit from writing for The Eagle’s Cry?
Nora: Although I’m not a journalism major, I definitely think any BHS student whether they are interested in the field or not, should consider writing for The Eagle’s Cry. It really does improve your writing skills and is an amazing opportunity to engage with your community and get to know faculty and students. It is also just such a fun experience.
As Nora continues her journey at Lehigh, she proves that passion doesn’t have to end with high school, it can turn into something even greater.
If you want to check out Nora’s staff profile from The Eagle’s Cry, check out this link!
https://eaglescry.net/staff_name/nora-kerrigan/
If you want to read her current stories she publishes in college, check this out!
