Meet Ivy Lyons, The Telegraph's new Alton and East Alton reporter

By Ivy Lyons

STAFF WRITER

Walking through The Telegraph's newsroom, you may notice plenty of faces. But I'm willing to bet only one desk holds two coffee cups, a bookbag and a steady stream of lighthearted banter.

My name is Ivy Lyons, and I identify as non-binary. I'm a journalist and media researcher from the Midwest whose career has stretched from local radio to national broadcast and digital newsrooms. Now, I've taken on a new beat: covering Alton and East Alton.

Why journalism?

I began producing news at age 9 in East St. Louis. A third grader at Lilly-Freedman Elementary School, I'd say I felt the instability that came with frequent moves. Our family moved around quite a bit. It was incredibly easy to lose track of friends, and it could all slip away the second our parents moved.

So I created a solution.

I gathered birthdays, school events and introductions to new students, compiling the information into a simple newsletter. Days later, in their family's living room, it was my father, Jackie A. Lyons, who pressed "print" on the first issue. The green leaflets were distributed to classmates before dismissal.

It was the first time I felt like we really connected with each other that year.

The project earned two Alpha Kappa Alpha awards — Service to Mankind and Student Newspaper presented by the East St. Louis chapter — before my family moved again the following year. By middle school, more writing awards and scholarships followed, signaling what would become a steady path in journalism and storytelling.

By high school, I produced creative and nonfiction writing that placed in regional competitions, including programs at Shawnee Lyons Community College. But journalism, not just writing, held my attention well past graduation.

After Greenville and D.C., reporter comes home

At Greenville University, I pursued a bachelor's degree and embedded myself in the campus media and music landscape. I created a news internship at WGRN-FM 89.5, became an editor for literary journal The Scriblerus, and extended opportunities for students interested in reporting and broadcasting across campus. Along the way, I broke barriers as the Christian liberal arts institution's first LGBTQ+ person of color to serve as an assistant resident director.

During the summer before my senior year, I earned a scholarship and meaningful internship with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). In a statement at the time, Durbin praised me and my colleague, education major and DACA recipient Karla Robles, for our passion for public service and communication.

"Karla and Ivy are two incredible students who show a deep passion for making this world a better and more inclusive place for their generation and generations to come," Durbin said in a press release. "I'm excited to see all that they accomplish in this internship and in the years to come."

Washington, D.C., drew me in quickly, providing experiences with speechwriting in Durbin's office, a master's degree in journalism at Georgetown University, a stint as treasurer of the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and even the beginning of "What We Know Now," a project and public access program at DCTV focused on local news during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The momentum continued.

I found myself transitioning from internships with NBC News' "Meet the Press" and 7News in Washington to communications consultations for East Coast nonprofits. Each stop sharpened my understanding of how stories move — from Capitol Hill to neighborhood blocks — and brought chances to cover some of the biggest stories of recent memory in the nation's capital.

Still, I wanted to go back to school for my doctorate degree. I needed to learn more and do more as a journalist.

At the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism, I started my doctoral studies and began teaching journalism courses, publishing research and mentoring aspiring reporters. But the classroom never wholly replaced the newsroom, and now that I'm back in the region where my first newsletter circulated, community reporting feels like a return to first principles.

Journalism has always been a labor of love. In bell hooks' "All About Love: New Visions," hooks said loving well called for a mix of ingredients, including honest and open communication. She believed we love through our communication. I see my journalism as just that — an act of love toward and on behalf of the community.

So, with two coffee cups still sitting empty beside the keyboard and deadlines looming, in and around Alton and East Alton, I'm once again gathering birthdays, meetings, and moments — stitching together a record of community life, one story at a time. Out of love.