In late 2008, as Zak was winding down degrees in political science, biology and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, he recognized that a career in any single one of those areas wouldn’t completely satisfy his curiosity.
Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, a desire to continue learning new and different things every day, and a passion for providing a service to his community, Zak decided journalism might be the best way for him to square that circle.
After six months of freelancing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and interning at the Pittsburgh Sports Report, Zak knew he’d found in journalism just what he was looking for.
At the Post-Gazette, Zak covered borough government and wrote weekly features for the neighborhood zone sections. For the Sports Report and its child-centric companion, KidSports, he developed feature stories on local high school, college and professional sports.
In January 2010, Zak enrolled in a yearlong journalism graduate program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
At Medill, Zak covered education and diversity in the Chicago area, and later health, science and technology out of the school’s Washington, D.C. bureau.
Between Chicago and Washington, Zak produced a collection of print, audio and video stories for clients that included The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch, the McClatchy Newspaper chain, AOL Politics Daily and NPR’s WAMU radio.
Aside from journalism, Zak is a die-hard Pittsburgh Pirates fan (yes, we exist), an old-school rap karaoke legend and a craft beer lover.
He’s also working on a book about green burial that focuses on Pennsylvania’s first all-green cemetery — Penn Forest Natural Burial Park in Penn Hills.
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 My personal inclinations are liberal, but I don’t align myself with any political party. I enjoy hearing and considering all sides of an argument (especially opposing views) and remain a healthy skeptic of all politicians, absolutists and fundamentalists of any ilk.
Religion I was raised Catholic, but while the topic of religion is of great interest to me, I’m not personally religious.
The interactive map below has information on all 29 baseball players from North Jersey who are playing professional baseball in 2013.
![Four North Jerseyans Break Camp with Big League Teams [Interactive Map]](https://patch.com/img/cdn/users/715072/2013/04/raw/4f8526cd27aa8811942d3d60c96b617b.jpg)
Other top stories this week include a hit-and-run suspect whom cops allege arrived at the police station for questioning with weapons to "deal with police," and a man charged in the death of his girlfriend's 1-year-old girl foster daughte
Radburn and Milnes elementary schools also ranked in the top 52 of New Jersey's elementary schools, according to SchoolDigger.com
Other top stories this week include a hit-and-run suspect whom cops allege arrived at the police station for questioning with weapons to "deal with police," and a man charged in the death of his girlfriend's 1-year-old girl foster daughte
Other top stories this week include a hit-and-run suspect whom cops allege arrived at the police station for questioning with weapons to "deal with police," and a man charged in the death of his girlfriend's 1-year-old girl foster daughte
Here's a rundown of March's 10 highest-trafficked stories. Have you read them all?
Missed any of this week's Fair Lawn-Saddle Brook news? It's all right here.
Other top stories this week include a hit-and-run suspect whom cops allege arrived at the police station for questioning with weapons to 'deal with police,' and a man charged in the death of his girlfriend's 1-year-old girl foster daughte
A fire that started Friday in the basement of a Broadway building that houses a spa and adult medical day care center will keep the facility closed for a few months, its owner said.
![Broadway Spa Sustained Extensive Damage in Fire [Video]](https://patch.com/img/cdn/users/715072/2013/03/raw/11c1b5be174ab16f811fe1a542543c07.jpg)
John Lafferty, 43, of Elmwood Park, was charged with lewdness Wednesday after he allegedly exposed himself and masturbated on a New Jersey Transit bus.
Cristina Cutrone and Joan Goldstein will run on the Fair Lawn Democratic ticket for borough council in 2013.
Other top stories this week include a hit-and-run suspect whom cops allege arrived at the police station for questioning with weapons to "deal with police," and a man charged in the death of his girlfriend's 1-year-old girl foster daughte
Fair Lawn's assistant superintendent of public works said he's hopeful a Morlot Avenue water main break will be fixed by mid-to-late Friday evening.
Saddle Brook Police uncovered a 21-ton shipment of stolen Muenster cheese inside a refrigerated trailer at an NJ Turnpike rest area Tuesday, Police Chief Robert Kugler said.
Approximately 40 to 50 homes are without water and under a boil water advisory due to the break.
The 2013-2014 Saddle Brook school budget, adopted Wednesday, includes a 2 percent tax increase.
The manager's budget allocates $60,000 to install commuter kiosks at the Radburn Train Station and the dirt lot on Fair Lawn Avenue by Route 208.
The popular Fair Lawn breakfast and lunch spot, which has been under new ownership since late last year, will have a new look and a new name come summer.
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan will be out of the office for the next several weeks while she rehabs from multiple stress fractures in her back.
USBands recently went behind the scenes with the Fair Lawn High School winter guard.