Eisla Madigan

Senior Eisla Madigan is a very goal-driven person. She works hard now so that she can retire 10 years from now and become the trophy wife she has always wanted to be. 

At the age of 5, Madigan discovered her love of tennis, saying “It was the only thing I was good at.” This is an understatement as she has played on the varsity tennis team all 4 years of high school.

Madigan has been interested in Journalism since her junior year of high school after she was forced to be in an elective. Luckily for The Echo and herself, she was forced into a new passion!

In her free time, Madigan enjoys the act of “being hot,” which includes being the number one fan of Lana Del Rey and, of course, the color pink. One look at her clothes, school supplies, computer, or phone case is all the evidence you need!

As a senior, Madigan is excited to show her bright colors in Journalism. Stay tuned for the “hottest” stories around!

Ruby Pittenger

Ruby Pittenger is a 15-year-old student with The Echo who already has a year of experience under her belt. A competitor for Urbana’s IHSA Journalism competition team, you can be sure that your news is in good hands.

Brought up in Chicago and the surrounding areas, Pittenger now calls Urbana her home. She is a big fan of nature and enjoys soaking in the beauty of nature while going on nice long hikes. 

Pittenger also enjoys doing yoga, shopping, rom-coms, and last but not least Gilmore Girls (which she absolutely loves). In her downtime, she relishes reading and writing.

If you want to get on her bad side, be sure to be rude and litter, as these are some of the things she hates with her “entire life force.”

As for the future of life, Pittenger aspires to be a dermatologist and is also thinking about becoming an environmental scientist because of her undying love for nature. Until then, she will continue writing for The Echo and making sure

Sage Frazier

Sage Frazier, age 14, is a freshman at Urbana High School. They were born December 5th, 2008, and are the youngest of 5 siblings.

When Frazier was younger they were in and out of the hospital; during all of that turmoil, they started to create. Frazier is an artist of all kinds, physical and musical. 

“I like not having to follow all the rules when it comes to art. I just like puking up all my emotions into one piece,” they said.

Frazier has a few future plans but many of them focus on Marine biology and their hope to attend an HBCU. “I just love water, all bodies of water… I like seeing how (animals’) lives work, why animals do what they do, and what’s under there. How deep does it go?” 

Frazier also has quite a few “wives,” the first wife being Isabel, the second Sophie, and the third Lily. They had husbands, but those marriages “have since ended.” 

Here’s hoping Frazier’s relationship with The Echo lasts much longer!

Morgan Perez

Morgan Perez is a 17-year-old senior at Urbana High School with a wide range of interests, including dog shows, color guard, and track. With that, she has plenty of ideas for journalism and is readily a part of the Echo family!

Speaking of family, Perez has a strong familial bond with her competitors in dog shows. For her, the best part about it is “competing with a family.” She does not always get along with everyone, though, because the hardest part of color guard is trying to work with different personalities during marching season. 

Perez dreams of working as a preschool teacher. She is enrolled to get an early education certificate and plans to go to Parkland for her associate’s degree. Perez is looking forward to having a stable life in the future, a future she is already working hard towards!

Vincent Podroykin

Meet Vincent.

Born in Illinois on April 16, 2009, Vincent is a freshman at Urbana High School with dreams and aspirations to one day be rich like Kim Kardashian.

In Vincent’s free time, he likes to play video games such as GTA, Roblox, and The Sims. He also enjoys online shopping and listening to music by Beyoncé and Lana Del Rey. 

The one thing that Vincent looks forward to the most throughout his high school experience is being able to graduate and walk the stage with all of his friends. 

He joined Journalism with high spirits and a love for writing. He plans to stay in Journalism all 4 years, so you’ll be reading his work for years to come!

Brooklyn Shipman

Brooklyn Shipman is one of the newest members of The Echo. Born on March 25, 2006, she has seen it all and maybe has done it all too. 

She has been to the top of the St. Louis Arch and the big, bad, and beautiful Times Square in the Big Apple. She also has seen THE Mickey and Minnie Mouse at the arm-and-a-leg costing Disney World!

When she’s not traveling, you can find her baking all kinds of yummy sweets and playing games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. And like anybody else, she loves hanging out and going out with friends. 

For Shipman, nothing is out of her reach. Stay tuned to see where she goes next with The Echo! 

Dante Kolak

Freshman Dante Kolak was born on the North side of Chicago, moved to Arizona in the later years, went back to Chicago around the Hyde Park area, and then was brought to Urbana all before 8th grade. Whew! 

Kolak was a soccer player in the past but decided this year he wanted to primarily focus on writing for The Echo. 

He is a “huge” fan of the Star Wars movies and the band The Doors. Like any teenager, Kolak’s interests include sleeping, eating, and doing the very specific “lots of things.” He enjoys reading in his free time and despite his love of editorials, didn’t have a strong opinion on what makes a good book.

“If I pick it up and read it, it’s a good book,” he said.

Kolak enjoys writing as well, so he joined Journalism. He is excited about this year’s articles, and we will definitely be handing him all of the Editorial pieces! 

Deborah Gayatri

Meet Deborah Gayatri! Born July 13, 2007, Gayatri is a 16-year-old at Urbana High School. Gayatri has lived in Surabaya, Indonesia and Urbana, Illinois. She was born in the States, then moved to Indonesia and lived there for 9 years.

With the time she’s been at Urbana High School, she has accomplished great things. Gayatri Is an honors student and has competed in the Young Authors competition. She loves to write and read. Her current favorite book is No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (check it out!). 

Gayatri´s main hobbies currently are playing Idol games and reading. She doesn’t limit herself to those, though, and also enjoys watching anime, typology, psychology, and listening to music (especially K-pop!).

In the future, Gayatri hopes to see herself working in a museum and fulfilling her interest in geography and history. In the future, she plans to move back to Indonesia to be with her family. 

We are very happy she is with us at The Echo until then! 

Valentina Gonzalez-Ahuerma

Valentina Gonzalez-Ahuerma is a 15-year-old sophomore varsity volleyball player who’s making her way toward D1!

Gonzalez-Ahuerma was born in Mexico and was raised there until she was two years old. She then moved to Urbana and started school. A language-lover who is bilingual in Spanish and English, she also has an understanding of French and Italian.

She started her athletic journey playing club volleyball in the fifth grade. She has also played other sports like basketball, but volleyball is truly where her heart lies.

Gonzalez-Ahuerma’s main focus right now is to become D1 in volleyball or at least earn a scholarship for her skills on the court. With that scholarship, she plans on becoming a lawyer or studying marine biology, depending on which university she decides to go to. Her ultimate goal is acceptance into Miami University. 

Until then, she will be using her skills writing for The Echo! 

Sanaa Parker  

Freshman Sanaa Parker has lived in Urbana her whole life with her two dogs. She enjoys listening to music and watching Netflix. 

Although food is what gets her up in the morning, eggs give her nightmares. Forcing herself to eat them when she was younger caused her to hate the smell and taste of them now (but she’ll pretty much eat anything else!).

Parker is looking forward to doing track now that she is in high school. She enjoys writing which is what led her to sign up for journalism. 

She works hard in school to be able to go to a good college and plans on studying psychology. 

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