A new beginning: Creston News Bureau

The Creston Neighborhood Association News Bureau sat down for their first training last night. Wanting to give fellow Grand Rapidians an idea of who they are, the members of the bureau interviewed each other and created an article with what they learned.

Mac Brown was born in Battle Creek. In his childhood years, he was in a boy choir for eight years traveling all over Europe and Australia as well in the United States and Canada. He moved to Grand Rapids in the fall of 2003 to attend Grand Valley State University. Brown has worked at Creston Neighborhood Association (CNA) since the fall of 2008. Brown hopes to "apply community organizing knowledge on an international level, and learn basic skills in the Creston neighborhood to help other countries in need." Brown also hopes to also work for the government at the state department level.

Abby Koning, a senior at Calvin College currently majoring in Stories and Development, a major she created. She enjoys traveling, most notably to Eastern Europe and Africa. In the future she looks forward to working with nonprofits, and possibly in Africa. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, specfically poetry, and reading. Koning hopes to write about the community gardens and profiles of the neighborhood. She adds, "I have some pretty cool people on my street I'd like to interview." Koning will be a college volunteer helping this bureau come to life as well as writing on behalf of the bureau.

Allen M., of City High School, was born and raised in Grand Rapids. He has lived in the Creston neighborhood all of his life. His favorite topic is government. His father just graduated with a journalism degree from Western and his mother is a published poet. Allen wants to attend college at College of DuPage to study recording engineering. Eventually, he would like to continue his education at Columbia. To prepare for his career in the music industry, he is currently taking music lessons at Triumph Music Academy. Allen hopes to cover a wide variety of topics on The Rapidian. "I want to write about reviews of musical concerts that are local. I wouldn't mind writing restaurant reviews. Any local news would be cool, too."

Akilah F. is a passionate and involved high school junior. She is a member of the Mayor Youth Council and on the board of a youth summit of Above the Influence, a campaign against violence and substance abuse in teens. In her spare time, Akilah likes to play sports and works at a law firm downtown. Akilah hopes to someday be a lawyer or do work in business management. She hopes to use her role within the neighborhood youth bureau to "address neighborhood issues such as violence, crime and environmental pollution."