Hey there!
I'm Kathryn Winters, a 16-year-old student at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California. Here, I wear a few different hats: I'm a Staff Writer for our digital publication, Scot Scoop, and an Editor for our print magazine, The Highlander. Outside the newsroom, when I'm not writing or designing, I play on the varsity golf team, hold a brown belt in karate, and perform as a violinist with the Peninsula Youth Orchestra.
My Story
I like to think of my life as an endless silver lining, full of unexpected detours that only make sense in hindsight. Take golf, for instance. I’d played tennis for as long as I could remember, until recurring ankle injuries pulled me off the hard courts and onto hundreds of yards of grassy course I never thought I’d learn to love, but somehow did. Maybe it’s fate, or maybe just life doing its thing. But journalism? That was never even on my radar.
Growing up, I loved learning. Well, everything except the humanities. Writing felt like a chore. However, math and science? I could’ve talked your ear off for hours. Problem-solving was my idea of fun, and I was happiest with a STEM textbook in hand.
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But, somehow, the glossy pages of The Highlander magazines, Scot Scoop’s signature gothic script “S,” and maybe the dream of seeing my name in print started to pull me in. There’s something magnetic about where storytelling and information meet, and choosing journalism really has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Journalism isn’t just writing; it’s connection. It’s led me to people I never would’ve met otherwise — CEOs, firefighters, professors, doctors, restaurants, and even airports. But more than the people and the names and faces, it’s their stories that stay with me. Stories of watching embers rain down from the sky during one of California’s worst wildfires and the devastation and recovery that followed, of seeing the world through a colored lens no one else quite shares and still finding a way to paint. I love the creative freedom journalism gives me: the chance to follow any spark of curiosity, no matter how unexpected or unconventional. Some of my most powerful pieces have come from exploring topics others might avoid, such as taboos that, when talked about openly, reveal paths to healthier, happier, and more honest lives, or the secret life too secret it’s become an environmental cost after a chip bag’s expiration date passes.
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What keeps me going is that spark in someone’s eyes when they talk about what they love — that flash of honesty, pride, and vulnerability. I’m here to tell the stories that matter, the ones just waiting for someone to truly hear. I never thought I’d be a storyteller, but maybe my silver lining is proof that fate exists, and these stories were always meant for me to share. I want to make an overwhelming world of eight billion feel like a conversation between five close friends.