Announcing Ananya Gupta as the next editor in chief
In continuing our tradition of training the next generation of journalists, we are excited to announce that Ananya Gupta will be our new editor in chief.
Currently a junior at Skyline High School, Ms. Gupta has been on our staff since the summer of 2021. She started off as an education reporter, covering the return to school from COVID-19, before writing two of the most popular articles on our website to date — on a local teen’s dress donation nonprofit, and on Eastlake High School’s Patriot Day controversy.
On the community beat, Ms. Gupta covered a myriad of local events and organizations, from a church sponsoring a refugee family, to an 11-year-old author’s memoir, to Hopefest. She became community editor in July 2022, and has since continued to showcase our city’s diversity through her work, reporting on the push for a botanical garden, a Bulgarian folk dance group, and an Indian language institution. She also managed a team of three reporters covering community news and events.
As editor in chief, Ms. Gupta wants to “help students in Sammamish develop a new way to express their own interests to the world.”
Ms. Gupta works to strengthen her community even outside of the Sammamish Independent. As president of her school’s Red Cross club, she helps plan and execute a variety of service projects. She also writes and speaks about societal issues that are important to her through platforms like Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. In her free time, Ms. Gupta enjoys cooking.
She will take over the position of editor in chief from Kelly Lin, who will be graduating from Eastlake High School in June and attending Brown University in the fall.
The staff of The Indy is incredibly proud of Ms. Gupta for her accomplishments, and excited for what she will bring to the table as editor in chief of Sammamish’s only independent and youth-led newspaper.
