Meet the Echo 2024-2025!
Valentina Gonzalez-Ahuerma
Valentina Gonzalez-Ahuerma is a junior at Urbana High School.
She was born in Mexico, and moved to the United States with her mom and older brother at age two. In fifth grade, inspired by her paternal family’s passion for volleyball, she joined the sport. Quickly ensnared by the competitive nature (and lack of running) involved,Val began to pour hours into the court. Now, she plays both on the UHS team and a travel team, practicing almost year round.
She discovered journalism her sophomore year, with encouragement from her older brother (who is currently Editor in Chief of The Prospectus, Parkland College’s newspaper). Spurred on by the creativity and fun involved with writing for the paper, journalism has found its way onto her list of passions (not to be overshadowed by shopping, sleeping, or modern art).
She is now co-Editor-in-Chief of The Echo!
Ruby Pittenger
Ruby Pittenger is a 16-year-old staff member who is already in her third year of writing for The Echo. This year, she is taking on a new role as co-Editor-in-Chief!
A fan of Taylor Swift, Ruby has seen her live in concert and has the merch to prove it. She’s been a fan since she was young and loves the nostalgic, fun, and positive vibe of Swift’s music. Despite focusing on positivity, Ruby has no time for the haters.
Ruby loves the Fall. The colors, how pretty it is, and of course, pumpkin spice make it her favorite season. She loves how calming and cozy it is, kind of like her favorite show Gossip Girl.
In the future, she wants to move to New York City and become a dermatologist to help other people feel more comfortable in their skin.
Until then, she will continue writing for The Echo!
Rachel Lyubanksy
Rachel Lyubansky: reader, artist, and soccer player, is a senior who is joining the UHS Echo team for the first year!
Lyubansky played park district soccer up until 8th grade. Then freshman year she tried cross country for the first time and shortly realized that was not her. Luckily, her old soccer coach reached out to her and asked her to help coach the younger girls, something she’s been doing ever since.
Art has been prominent in Lyubansky’s life, as she has been taking art lessons since she was just 5 years old. At first she was forced into it by her parents, but over time has grown to love it just as much as they do.
Lyubanksy has a passion for reading and drawing like no other. If she doesn’t have her nose in a book, she will have a pencil in her hand ready to draw. She reads many types of books: fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi. If you name it, she’s probably read it. Although she does not have a favorite book or author, her favorite genre to read is non-fiction.
Her recent reading has been more for purpose than pleasure as she’s been focusing on psychology books to prepare herself for college, where she hopes to study psychology and ultimately become a therapist.
Until then she will be putting her skills to work to write for The Echo!
Danyla Nash
Danyla Nash is a 17 year old senior who, like the rest of us, is ready to get out of this school!
The owner of a bearded dragon, Danyla is full of surprises. She is a member of Color Guard and loves to perform, showcasing her many talents (including juggling!).
She is a person who enjoys many things such as eating a perfect mango and writing slam poetry that she claims “helps get issues out without directly saying the issues.” When it comes to journalism, however, she’s all about speaking her mind directly, preferring to report facts over opinions.
As this year’s High School Confidential correspondent for the News-Gazette, you will be sure to see a lot from Danyla both in print and on uhsecho.com!
Lily Kacich-Schaub
Lily Kacich is a 17-year old senior. Despite just joining The Echo for her senior year, she is already a valuable addition to the team.
Born March 26, 2007 in Urbana, she has lived locally her whole life. She enjoys going out with her friends to Target and Starbucks, especially in the Fall to get a nice Pumpkin Spice Latte™
Lily has her future planned out ahead of her, including moving to North Carolina to be closer to the beach and to attend NC state university for her junior year of college for medicine.
Using her skills, she one day dreams of working in a hospital as an anesthesiologist and making lots of money with her two assistant pet mice, Runly and Pumpkin.
Though she will be gone next year, we already know she will leave her mark on the school and The Echo!
Sanaa Parker
Sanaa Parker is a second-year staff member at The Echo who is looking to expand her creativity in journalism and beyond.
Painting, crocheting, and sewing are just some of the creative outlets Sanaa enjoys to decompress from the stress of school. Last year, she discovered a new creative outlet, designing infographics, while competing for The Echo’s IHSA competition team.
Creativity runs in the family. Her aunt inspired her to pick up the crochet hook, and her father, a mechanic, has always encouraged her to use her hands to take things apart and put them back together in creative ways.
When she’s not trying to relax, she enjoys the thrill of True Crime. Discovering the genre over Covid, Sanna was drawn to the personal aspects: what goes through a killer’s mind? What leads them down this path? How does it impact the victims and their families?
This curiosity about people is a defining characteristic of Sanaa, who wants to go into medicine or law after high school.
Until then, she will share her curiosity by writing stories for The Echo about the people and events that make UHS the school that it is!
Vincent Podroykin
Meet Vincent! The Echo’s 15 year old sophomore staff member.
Vincent is a persistent person with many goals and ambitions in life, who plans to be in the entertainment industry so he “can be rich.”
Vincent had a tough first year of high school, but after trial and error, Vincent “was saved,” making a good bounce back into what I’m sure will be a wonderful sophomore year for him.
Vincent enjoys shopping and bonding over food with his brother. In fact, his favorite foods are Chipotle and Wingstop but either way, he still loves food. Food has always been the glue that holds many family and friends together, and Vincent and his brother’s relationship are no stranger to that effect!
Vincent enjoys shopping as a hobby, focusing on self care items and clothes. He maintains an entire collection of different body scrubs, lotions, perfumes, oils, and things of that sort. “I’m obsessed with it, I love smelling good,” he laughed.
When it comes to smelling and looking the part, some could say Vincent is already rich. He also expresses how he loves sampling smells from different places and window shopping for clothes in the mall, a passion I’m sure all of us at home could agree with.
Vincent has lived in many places over the years, including Nebraska, Georgia, and Kansas, but has since settled into our cozy world of Urbana. No matter where he goes, his room is where he likes to be most, unless working for The Echo as it gets him out of his room and into the world of journalism!
Alex Schwartz
14-year-old Alex Schwartz is a freshman with lots of future goals! Her main one at the moment is to get more sleep, as Schwartz claims she’s always thinking about sleep (unless she’s actually asleep, that is).
Other than sleeping, Schwartz enjoys playing video games like most teenagers do. Her favorite video game is Zelda but her other top 3 video games are Starcraft, Civilization VI, and Skyrim.
Schwartz also enjoys the comfort of Indian food. her go-to order is Chicken tikka masala, especially from Campus Signature Grill.
Schwartz was born in Minnesota, lived in Ohio, and has now settled into Urbana, Illinois, a place she has now learned to call her home.
She also has a new home in The Echo. Look forward to reading her stories throughout the year!
Savannah McClain-Crook
14-year-old Savannah McClain-Crook is the Echo’s newest aspiring journalist. Savannah has called Urbana her home her whole life, starting at Yankee Ridge Elementary, going to Urbana Middle School, and now to Urbana High School, where we are excited to welcome her onto our team.
Savannah has many interests, one of which is Strawberry Cows. “They are pink and so cute. I wish they were real,” said Savannah. Her other interests include video games like Roblox and Minecraft, Anime, and Halloween! A fun fact about Savannah is that she was born on October 29th, and Halloween is her favorite holiday—a two-in-one!
After high school, Savannah plans on attending the University of Illinois and doing something related to baking.
Until then, we are excited to see what she will become with The Echo!
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