Jordan Lanham, Patch Staff

E-Mail: jordan.lanham@patch.com

Phone: 314-210-4987

Hometown: Bridgeton, Mo. 

Birthday: Sept. 19 

Jordan first realized her interest in journalism in second grade when she began writing stories, stapling together books and writing  pretend newsletters for her family members. At the age of seven when she announced she wanted to be a writer when she grew up, her mother told her she should pursue a career in journalism--so she did. 

While attending Pattonville High School, Jordan worked for the student paper and yearbook. After graduating with a degree Journalism from Lindenwood University, where she was the managing editor of the student paper her senior year, Jordan worked as a reporter for  the St. Louis Globe Democrat online and  weekly papers in Lincoln County. 

When Jordan is not running around O'Fallon or writing stories for Patch, she enjoys hanging out with her family, taking her little sister to movies, reading the latest vampire novels or torturing her friends with her sad attempts at karaoke. 

Your Beliefs

At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics: How would you describe your political beliefs? Moderate. Are you registered with a certain party? I'm an independent voter who likes to take all sides of an issue into account before making a decision. 

Religion: How religious would you consider yourself? I was  not raised going to a church on a regular basis, but as an adult I have tried out  several different denominations with friends, as part of my research to find the the church that is right fit for me.  It is one of my personal goals this year to find a church in the O'Fallon area that I would like to belong to. I will keep you posted! 

Local Hot-Button Issues

What do you think are the most important issues facing the community? I think it's important to O'Fallon residents and leaders that the city maintain its status as one of the safest, most family friendly places to live in America, while also continuing to grow in business and maintain one of the largest school districts in the state during tough economic times. I'm still fairly new to the area and I'm sure there are more issues that I will discover as I continue to meet people and cover stories in O'Fallon.