Growing up in Detroit, Craig Dewey Stanley II never thought he would one day become a journalist.

Stanley, 19,  a junior broadcast major at Hampton University, said he realized his journalistic ambitions after becoming the Arts & Entertainment editor of the campus newspaper, the Hampton Script.

“I have a passion for the news,” Stanley said. “I like to know the who, what, where and why, and the effects they have on everybody. It’s a little obsession.”

Stanley enjoys informing and enlightening readers,  providing details on what’s going on around them. So far in his young career the best trade off has been, he said, “sharing knowledge and gaining knowledge from people telling their stories.”

Last summer Stanley took advantage of his first opportunity to do so while working as a reporting intern at the Anderson Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C. During his time there, his most gratifying work came when his story on the murder of a 16-year-old African-American youth landed on the front page.

Thinking back on covering that story from beginning to end, and the joy of seeing his byline on the front page, still brings a smile to Stanley’s face.

“Seeing the blood stains on the ground and the reaction from his family was tragic,” he said. “But it was a rewarding experience because I got to become a better journalist by covering it all the way up to the funeral.”

Though Stanley is still undecided about his career, he says there’s no doubt journalism will always be his “little obsession.”