The Road to Here
Pat Thornton is a new media journalist, writer, photographer, Web developer, blogger, dreamer and trail blazer.He works as a Web Content Editor at the Stars and Stripes and does freelance work for a variety of clients.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1984, Pat has always had a love affair with computers. He began making Web sites in middle school using programs like Netscape Composer and Macromedia Dreamweaver.
He built several Web sites by himself and with friends. Eventually, he used his skills to help make Kenston High School into the best educational Web site in the country. In 2001, Kenston won an award from Education World and Cisco for the best k-12 Web site in the country. And you know what they did after winning that award? They rebuilt the site, because that's the kind of thinking you have to have to stay on top. Today, Kenston gets more visitors than the average daily newspaper Web site, despite having just 1,000 students.
Then came college. Pat never had the slightest thought of becoming a journalist, but he was hooked after signing up for the school newspaper on a whim. He was named the Sports Editor Online after his first semester and eventually became Editor in Chief. Over the next few years, The Brown and White would begin to experiment with online technology and look for ways to push the envelope.
Later, Pat interned and worked as a writer for several publications. But something was calling to him. The Web was his home, and finally he has returned.
Now he plans on changing the face of journalism.