Will Campbell joined the Emerald his junior year, but this wasn’t his first exposure to journalism as his family has owned The Columbian since 1921. Though Campbell grew up around the Columbian, he didn’t really have a passion for journalism until he got to college. He always had a passion for storytelling and spent a lot of summers growing up making documentary videos for the Columbian. After high school, he decided he wanted to become an EMT and pursued this at Portland Community College. His time as an EMT taught him a lot about people skills, he shared “part of that process is dealing with people in some of their worst moments and really critical moments in their life and being able to remain calm and ask them a series of questions as to what is happening to them and be able to record that information.” His love of learning through hands-on experiences in his EMT training and reading in his free time led his father to ask him if he would be interested in being in the newsroom as a reporter. He shared, “So that was kind of the moment when I realized, yeah, you know, I could, I could join the Colombian and be a storyteller and be learning about everything all at once and talking to people who are dealing with something and there is a bit of an adrenaline when you’re like on deadline or you’re talking to someone or you’re in this high tense, intense situation.”

At the Emerald, Will worked his way from news reporter to senior news editor. After graduating from University of Oregon in 2017, he worked as crime and public safety reporter at the Spokesman Review, eventually joining the Columbian in 2019 as an associate news editor where he focused on finding fiscal sponsors. In his first year and a half, he secured their first fiscal sponsorship with a local media foundation. Shortly after, he became the innovation editor and focused more on fundraising and campaigning. Despite drifting away from reporting in this new role, his storytelling skills were still integral as he now has to tell the story of why the work the Columbian and their reporters are doing is worth funding. The initial goal was to get enough funding to get one additional reporter to cover homelessness issues in Clark County, and since then they’ve raised enough money to be able to hire five full time positions. These reporters are covering housing, homelessness, transportation, environmental issues, health, and nonprofits, all issues that resonated with the community and that they therefore helped fund. Their nonprofit arm of the newspaper was inspired by the Seattle Times who has had fiscal sponsorship for about ten years. As a result of their own success over the past three years, they’re now working with other communities and media companies to share the impact of fundraising and how to effectively bolster your newsroom with it. A key part of their fundraising efforts has been through an event called Columbian Conversations where they create a live news article on stage in front of an audience. Last year, they did one on wildfires and showed a video about the growing threat of wildfires, interviewed an expert panel on stage, and even gave the audience an opportunity to ask their own questions of the panel and feel what it’s like to be a reporter. They had around 300 people show up and it’s been a great way to allow for donors and community members to get a feel for the work they’re supporting. Now Will and his brother are co-owners and though they both have their areas of the Columbian that they specialize in, Will said it’s been nice to be able to collaborate with his brother.

Will credits his time at the Emerald with the critical thinking and storytelling skills he’s using now in his career. “Frankly, I learned a lot more at the Emerald than I did in any class, and it was so important for me, as I’m sure you’ve heard from others.”