Freelance photojournalism was not a career Elizabeth Lonky, 1998, even dreamed of when she enrolled at Kenyon College. She intended to major in English, become a writer, and pursue photography on the side. "I came in a writer interested in photography, but I left a photographer who writes," she says. "Professor [of Art Gregory P.] Spaid was a wonderful teacher. He gave me space for creativity by not looking over my shoulder and taught me methods for getting access to subjects."

A California native, Lonky viewed Gambier and surrounding Knox County as decidedly foreign, but she quickly adapted and mined the area's treasures by doing photojournalistic pieces on the historic Woodward Opera House and the veterans who hang out at the Mount Vernon VFW.

Today, Lonky owns and operates Studio SLB Photography, a successful company devoted to photographing newborns, toddlers, and families. As part of the Kenyon Career Development Center's Career Net, she regularly provides advice and insight to Kenyon students and alumni interested in photography-related work.