She calls herself the Jack-of-all-Trades.

 Her name is Shandi Dix and she is a Hutchinson Community College graduate who is now working for The Daily Union, a newspaper in Junction City.

Shandi (rhymes with Rhonda)  attended HCC for two years and graduated with a degree in early elementary education but also minored in visual communications, working as a Collegian staff member for several semesters.

“I had in my mind growing up that I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher but I always had a camera in my hand,” Dix said.

She was halfway through her college career when she decided that she could not handle 15 to 20 5- and 6- year-old children for eight hours a day, five days a week.

Her cousin suggested she double major and since she was already taking some photography classes, she decided to pursue a degree in visual communications for fun.

Dix only needed six credit hours to finish her elementary education degree.

She was offered the job at Junction City at the end of the semester in December 2007, but they were willing to wait for her to graduate and finish the busy holiday season at Long’s, a downtown store where she worked for over a year..

 She started working at The Daily Union on Jan. 2, as a paginator, also known as a page designer.

“I design all of the news pages, front page, nation and world pages, local and state, record pages, lifestyle pages, and the back page. Our sports editor does the sports pages so I don’t have to worry about the sports sections,” she said.

“ I also do some photography and reporting because our photographer is due any day with her 4th child and since I have photography and writing experience they are allowing me to do those things as well. I call my self Jack-of-All-Trades though, because I do my job and others when needed.” 

Dix had heard about this job from Alan Montgomery, journalism adviser, who had been notified by the editor of The Daily Union.

Montgomery had posted the position on the journalism computer lab’s bulletin board.

“I sent a resume to the paper and a few weeks later was called for an interview. When I was offered the job I was actually given the option of a reporter’s position or the paginator’s position.

“I decided to take the paginator’s position because I would be in the office more and wouldn’t have to attend long, never ending city, county, or Fort Riley meetings,” she said.

Dix usually does most of the feature and agriculture related stories because she says the other reporters don’t know much about the country life. She spends most of her mornings in front of the computer and her afternoons in reporting and photography.

“I like to sit in the office all day but I also like hiding behind the lens,” she said.