To start, I want to thank you all — the readers of The Valley Times-News — for allowing me to work in this community you call home. I hope I can continue the great work that is expected of this publication by becoming ingrained in the community and making it my home as well.

My name is Chris Heaney and I am a freshly-graduated Auburn University journalism major. My position at the Times-News will be my first “real” job as a journalist, and I could not be more excited to be starting it here in Chambers County.

I’m originally from Pensacola, Florida. As such, the Southeast has been home for most of my life, minus the few years my family moved around due to my father’s position in the Navy. I chose my career path when I discovered that the heart of journalism is people. Talking to people, learning from people, sharing people’s stories with others; these are the basics of what journalists do. Being that I consider myself a people person, I quickly took to the thought of doing this for a living.

To get my feet wet in the field, I worked at Auburn University’s paper, The Auburn Plainsman, during the second half of my college career. I started as a staff writer and wrote whatever stories were thrown my way. I dabbled in the lifestyle section of the paper, where writing columns and reviews about movies and video games were my main areas of focus. I was a social media assistant for a brief time, helping to create, design, and schedule posts online for the digital audience.

I eventually worked my way up to the position of campus reporter, where I was tasked with reporting on all of the university’s breaking news, covering events on campus, and writing about the interesting things that students and faculty did. I kept readers informed on what happened at the school they loved, and that’s what I hope to do here at The Valley Times-News.

As readers, you care about what is going on with the people and places around you. My goal is to cover these things in an accurate and descriptive way so that you stay informed. I look forward to serving your — well, our — community and appreciate any feedback along the way. Feel free to reach out via email at chris.heaney@valleytimes-news.com.