The Community Writers project began at The Oregonian last fall to broaden dialog in the paper's opinion section "by including the voices of Oregonians who aren't necessarily professional writers."  George Rede, the paper's Sunday opinion editor, who heads the project with editorial page editor Bob Caldwell '71, says Smith, a Gresham High School graduate, was chosen (along with 14 others ranging in age from 12 to 71) from among 150 applicants because "she said she'd like to speak for her generation."

"She's from the Portland area and now lives in Eugene, so we thought she could represent both the Portland Metro area and the Willamette Valley," Rede says, noting Smith's strong academic background and high school journalism experience.  "her writing samples demonstrated she could write short."

For the next 13 weeks, Emily's work will be published weekly in the Oregonian Opinion Blog and occasionally in the op-ed pages of The Oregonian.  Bios and a brief video of each Community Writer are available on the Community Writers site.  Contributors write on topics of their own choosing.

Although Smith's activities as a student and Community Writer keep her schedule "pretty tight these days," we caught up with her to ask her a few questions.

Why did you choose the SOJC?

Growing up in Oregon, with an interest in writing and journalism, I heard of the J-school's reputation long before I visited the campus. When I started working on my high school’s newspaper I was exposed to more and more of the impressive publications and students that come out of the SOJC. UO was a natural choice, as I have an affinity for Oregon, enjoy in-state tuition and have the benefit of going to a renowned journalism school that's almost in my backyard.

How did you get involved with the Community Writers Project?

I saw the original invitation from the editors in the Oregonian when it ran in the fall. I instinctively wanted to be a part of the project and wanted to apply, but I was taking infohell [Information Gathering] at the time and didn't feel I could take on another commitment. I passed on the opportunity and held out hope for another chance. In February, the invitation ran again, for a second phase of the project. I jumped at the chance, threw together some clips, updated my resume and wrote a statement of interest.

Why did you want to be part of this?

I wrote an opinion column for two years in high school and was lucky enough to receive writing awards and scholarships, due in part to that column. I think public discourse is an important piece of print journalism especially and I love that interesting, educated, well-reasoned opinion writing can really involve people in their community and world.

How has the experience been thus far?

The experience is really just beginning, but thus far the experience has been interesting, encouraging and pretty inspiring. As a student, I am quite used to being told what to do and how to do it. In this situation, they trust my abilities, my ideas and my voice. I have been given a lot of license to write what and how I want to. That aspect of the experience really stands out to me and makes me think that the project will be really successful in getting the strong opinions and the distinct perspectives they are looking for from their Community Writers and readers.

What do you plan to write about over the next twelve weeks?

I'm sure I will weigh in on the presidential race at some point—it's too timely and too important to ignore. I would love to write about some issues affecting college students, maybe women’s and gender issues and whatever strikes me over the next few months.