New Sports Repoter Joins Staff

As our faithful readers will learn tomorrow, we have a news sports reporter at The Saline Reporter and Milan News-Leader. Jana Miller, a 2004 Saline High School graduate who earned a bachelor's degree in sports management with an English emphasis from the University of Michigan, started Monday, succeeding Jerry Hinnen, who was at the helm for two years and was my first new-hire for the papers while I was serving as interim editor in the summer of 2006.

Jana started Monday and has been introducing, or in many cases reintroducing, herself to coaches in Saline and Milan. She has a column that will appear in tomorrow's editions and next week will be her first sports section on her own. I am sure readers are just as excited to have her as I am, in particular since we've limped along since Jerry left in mid-August. In fact, poor Milan sports fans, have a young boy throwing a ball at a milk jug as their main art on the sports front in tomorrow's edition. Sorry about that. I know Jana will do better.

Jana is a former high school athlete, a four-year varsity letter winner in high school golf and tennis, and captain of the golf and tennis teams during her junior and senior years of high school. She previously served as Web site editor at Fans Know Best, and was an intern at the Golf Association of Michigan in Farmington Hills. She also served as a coach for Girls on the Run in the fall of 2004. Diners may recognize her from the Travis Pointe Country Club, where she worked as a hostess and server from 2003 to 2006.

Like Jerry did previously, Jana will be in charge of the Saline and Milan sports sections, writing sports stories, formatting and editing sports submissions, taking photographs, designing both sports sections weekly, producing video of high school athletic events and posting to this blog. If it sounds like it's a lot, it is. So, be patient with her as she adjusts to this new position. It's a big responsibility and I am confident she's up for the task.

Please join me in welcoming Jana to our staff.

Good luck, Jana. I am happy to have you on our team.