The sound of waves crashing onto the beach, the smell of salt in the air. Senior Maddie Marshall feels a sense of tranquility wash over her as she takes her surfboard out into the water. 

Marshall picked up the skill of surfing over quarantine, and is as passionate about it as she is about all other activities she devotes her time to, including her lifelong passion for soccer.

“I’ve played at all levels, ” Marshall said.

Marshall’s passion and drive extends beyond just soccer; these qualities earned Marshall the title of co-editor-in-chief, working alongside fellow senior Brooklin Barilone.

Marshall’s journey with journalism started when she received her letter of recommendation for the class her freshman year. 

“The day I met [the journalism advisor] was the day I decided I wanted to join,” Marshall said.

Even though her first year doing journalism was tainted by having to do distance learning, she still was able to fall in love with the class.

“[My sophomore year], I would stay on the journalism Zoom for another 20 or 30 minutes, almost every day,” Marshall said. “When we got back in person, we talked about bringing back the paper and introducing videos, and having all of those ideas made me a lot more invested in journalism.” 

Her spark shined through in the articles she wrote and she achieved the role of sports section editor her sophomore and junior years. This led to her finding creative ways to enhance the paper.

“I stayed in journalism almost every lunch period,” Marshall said. “I introduced different styles of videos to the website, for all different sections.”

Her impressive resume made her well-qualified for the position of co-editor-in-chief, and the role allows her natural leadership skills to shine.

“I can tell Maddie loves journalism, she talks about it a lot and does a lot for that class,” said senior and longtime friend of Marshall, Sage O’Neil.

In the fall, Marshall plans to take the skills she learned from journalism to major in communications at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, Calif. 

“I visited [PLNU] last spring break and I just loved it. I fell in love with it more everyday,” Marshall said. “It just seemed like the perfect environment for me.”