Class of 1996 Profile: Beth Kormanik Hubbuch

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Beth is interviewed here by Sara Toering

After graduating from high school in Upper Arlington, Ohio, Beth pursued her dream of becoming a journalist by majoring in journalism and minoring in political science at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Upon graduation Beth worked as a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In 2002 Beth moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where she covered politics, government and higher education for the Florida Times-Union, and where she won several state and regional awards, including the 2008 Freedom of Information award from the Florida Society of News Editors. Beth's reporting on the city council's violation of the Open Meetings Act led to systemic changes in the way that Jacksonville local government conducts its business. Beth and her husband Bart now live in Brooklyn, New York, where she works as the editor of Hotel Interactive and managing editor of Buyer Interactive, trade publications that cover the hospitality industry.

Beth's work as a journalist covering politics and local government has led her to ask significant questions the intersection of Christianity and politics, and to examine her own beliefs in juxtaposition to other Christians and other Catholics who may believe differently. She finds the way Christianity often has been equated with the Republican Party alienating, and the way politicians use religion has caused her to feel a sense of cynicism. Critical moments of potential change in the Catholic church – such as the election of Pope Benedict XVI – have felt like missed opportunities. In this Lenten season Beth is reflecting on the challenge of responding to these issues--what should that response look like? Engagement? Avoidance? Both at different times?

When asked to articulate the impact YTI had on her life, Beth stated that she deeply appreciated the YTI community and the lasting friendships she made there, and that YTI instilled in her a desire to seek community in other places in her life. She recalled the last day of YTI as one she will never forget. YTI also inspired Beth to become more of a leader as she headed toward college where she led a student-run fellowship group and was a leader in the campus Catholic organization. Finally, Beth shared that YTI taught her about expressing difference with compassion: She feels that YTI taught her to be a citizen of the wider world.

Beth has recently had several bylines published in the New York Times. Here are a few:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/nyregion/yeshiva-university-stunned-by-tale-of-a-tryst.html?ref=women

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/nyregion/marching-after-anti-semitic-vandalism-in-brooklyn.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion

Beth can be emailed at beth351@gmail.com