By Joe Pangburn

Taryn Luna is not afraid of conflict.

“You have to pick your battles,” she said. “And I tend to battle all the time.”

She’s accustomed to friendly disputes. (Her mother, Marilyn, is a Republican, and her father, Robert, is a Democrat.) She also doesn’t back away from larger conflicts, such as confronting people if they make racist comments within earshot. (Her father’s family is Mexican and her mother’s family has Irish roots.)

“I either have to fight them on it or feel bad the rest of the day because I didn’t,” Luna said.

She has applied this passion to her chosen professional path: journalism.

Luna, 21, studies new media communications at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

“Newspapers may be going away,” she said, “but news itself will always be around.”

Originally an English major, Luna tried a reporting class after tiring of Shakespeare and Chaucer. It wasn’t until she was assigned to cover a speech by Rami G. Khouri, a visiting scholar from the American University of Beirut, that she said she discovered her knack for journalism.

Her teacher praised the story and encouraged her to pursue a career in journalism.

Luna took her teacher’s advice and is now focusing on social and community journalism, turning her values into a career.

“I want to help make a difference in people’s lives for the better or inform them about something they didn’t know about,” she said. “Then I know I’ve done my job.”