The Albert Lea Tribune has hired a reporter who will cover multiple beats.

Sarah Kocher is covering Shell Rock River Watershed District, Albert Lea School District, arts and culture and human interest beats.

A Lincoln, Nebraska, native, Kocher spent one year in southern England working for a religious nonprofit organization, Young Adults in Global Mission, following college.

Kocher attended Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she majored in journalism and English.

Kocher has always wanted to write and was informed by a journalism professor how easy it was to double major. While in college, she worked for the school newspaper, The Augustana Mirror, for four years, serving as an editor for three of those years.

To Kocher, being a journalist is important because of the need to bring different perspectives together.

“I think journalism is a really good way to do that,” said Kocher, who added she enjoys informing herself and the community of news items.

“I love that journalism is a profession where you get to pick people’s brains all day long,” she said. 

Kocher has two brothers, Phil and Ted, and one sister, Erin.

In her spare time, Kocher enjoys reading, knitting, going for walks and baking.