The Maroon Key Society hosted a Maroon Mentor event at lunch on April 17 featuring deputy national editor for The New York Times Monica Davey, a 1982 U-High alumna, providing an opportunity for students to learn and ask questions about her journalism career. 

Ms. Davey spoke about her path following high school and her wavering certainty about what she wanted to pursue at that time.

“I came out of Lab without planning to be a journalist,” she said. “I loved the work but didn’t even think about whether this was a career. I wasn’t clear at all whether journalism would be my path.”

At Brown University, Ms. Davey majored in linguistics and was involved in computer science. After college, she returned to Hyde Park, unsure of what she wanted to do next. Eventually, she realized journalism was her passion.

“It all kept coming back to the same thing,” Ms. Davey said. “It kept coming back to the thing I actually love to do, which is journalism. I wake up excited to get to work every day.” 

She advised attendees to keep an eye out for what makes them happy.

“You might think you’re doing one thing,” Ms. Davey said, “but keep your mind on what you want to do every day.”

Ms. Davey shared some of her most memorable experiences and stories as a journalist, like when she traveled on a presidential campaign plane with former Vice President Al Gore. Still, she said the most interesting work is talking to everyday people.

“All of the adventures are fun and interesting,” she said, “but the days that are most interesting are actually just regular people who have personal stories.”

Toward the end, attendees got to ask for advice and questions about her journalism career.

Ninth grader Lia Teklu attended because she wanted to learn more about journalism, considering Lab has its own newspaper, the Midway. 

She said, “I learned about trusting your gut and how security can be such a big issue in journalism.”