Greetings to the readers of the Southside Times!

My name is Jacob Musselman and starting this week I will take over as the new editor of the Southside Times. This week is my first official working week for Grow Local Media, but you’ve certainly seen my work before.

Since November 2019, I have been working as a freelance photographer for various GLM publications. You may have seen my most recent work when Roncalli softball won the state.

I’m very excited to start telling the stories on the south side. Fun fact, I grew up about a mile from our office so coming back to where I lived for the first seven years of my life will be nice.

So as I will be in town more often and I hope you will see me hanging out, here is a bit of who I am.

After leaving Greenwood, I lived in Lafayette, Indiana until 2011 when I moved to Greendale, Indiana, a small town right on the Ohio River. I graduated from Lawrenceburg High School in 2018 and after I graduated I went to Ball State University. Well actually I’m still going to Ball State but I’m graduating in December of this year.

Growing up, I never had any interaction with the world of journalism. I didn’t even read a newspaper until I was in second year at university; and if you told me when i was younger that i would work in a newspaper when i was older i would have laughed at you.

Upon entering my first year at BSU, I was declared a criminal justice major. I attribute this to the fact that I am obsessed with real crime. It wasn’t until the first day of orientation, before school started, that I thought about journalism. That first day I met a professor from the journalism department and got to see the installation and that was enough to catch me.

I joined The Ball State Daily News, the college student newspaper in January 2019 as a reporter. After my first stories, where I had written and taken pictures, they told me that I should start taking pictures for them more often. Eventually, I would become the photo editor.

My time at DN has been amazing and I have had a lot of fun opportunities. I have attended countless sporting events. From college football championships and boules to basketball tournaments, I’ve photographed every sport that college athletics offers.

Besides working for the school newspaper, I was fortunate enough to be a freelance photographer which means I don’t work for an organization but can get contract work with them. I have worked with several organizations in Indianapolis and around the country including The Indianapolis Star, WTHR 13 and University of Texas Track and Field.

Currently I live in Noblesville with my wonderful girlfriend Hannah and our sassy black cat Tumbles and little French Bulldog Sarge.

Now, I’m not going to bore you with more aspects of my life, but there is a little glimpse into my life.

I am very happy to be able to tell stories in the community where I grew up. I might be young, but I love this community and I love journalism. So if you see me wandering around Garfield Park with a camera or buckets of sweat at the county fair say hello!

Jacob can be reached on his email [email protected] on Twitter and Instagram @jhmusselman or by mobile phone (260) 271-9728.

Do you have a story idea? Let’s talk!