Dave Oberhelman
Dave Oberhelman connects student life, athletics and local institutions, writing education-centered stories that follow young people, coaches and officials as they shape school communities on and off the field. He is a sports writer at the Daily Herald, where he has worked since 1999 and focuses on high school and college environments in which classrooms, teams and civic decisions intersect. His coverage spans detailed features on student athletes, profiles of educators, and reporting on county boards, libraries and state programs that affect the spaces where students learn and compete.
College Achievers
A recurring strand in Oberhelman’s work is his attention to former high school standouts who are now shaping college teams, often under the “College Achievers” banner.
He profiles athletes such as Barrington High School graduate Nick Peipert, detailing how Peipert seized an opportunity to become the starting quarterback at the University of St. Thomas and what that means for both his college program and his alma mater. In another “College Achievers” piece, he follows Warren Township High School graduate Ruth Ziegler, explaining her role as an opposite hitter at Illinois State University, her preseason all-conference recognition and early performance as Missouri Valley Conference player of the week. These stories track the path from suburban classrooms and gyms to collegiate arenas, tying current achievements back to the educational and athletic foundations built in local schools.
He uses specific statistics, awards and game moments to show how these students extend their high school identities into higher education and how their development reflects the support structures around them.
Empower and inspire: how educators and coaches shape students’ lives
Oberhelman often frames sports coverage as a story about teaching, mentorship and the broader educational mission of schools.
In his feature on Glenbard East’s John Walters, he describes Walters as both an award-winning instructor and football coach, quoting language about “meeting the needs of the kids” to illustrate how classroom practice and coaching philosophy work together. His tribute to former Waubonsie Valley boys track coach Steve Luke, a hall of famer with the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association, focuses on Luke’s influence across decades and the journey shared with athletes and colleagues, treating coaching as an educational legacy. Profiles of high school players such as Wheaton North quarterback Burke Neibch and Hoffman Estates two-way player Riley Lennert highlight how family tradition, personal drive and school culture combine to produce both athletic performance and character development.
Coverage of Glenbard North sisters Anaiah and Cambria Williams, each on United States youth national soccer teams, emphasizes not only their club and national-team commitments but also their decisions around early graduation and continued participation in school track, linking elite sport to academic planning. Across these pieces, Oberhelman shows how coaches, teachers and student athletes navigate choices about training, academics and future opportunities, framing athletic stories as education stories grounded in school communities.
Marmion dives into girls athletics and other school institutions
Beyond individual profiles, Oberhelman reports on institutional shifts in school athletics, including coverage of Marmion’s decision to launch girls sports programs after more than nine decades, and the rapid build-out of seven teams under the new model. He uses that change to explore how longstanding educational traditions adapt to new expectations about access, equity and student experience, treating the school’s move as both a sports story and a curriculum story. Similar attention to school infrastructure appears in his reporting on the Carol Stream Public Library’s leadership transition, where he explains how a new director will succeed a retiring predecessor and what that means for a public institution central to local learning. His game stories, such as Montini’s 42-35 football win over Carmel or Geneva’s escape from Wheaton Warrenville South’s late comeback, sit alongside these institutional pieces, documenting the competitive environment students inhabit while also acknowledging the programs and adults who support them.
The result is a beat that combines schedule-driven coverage of games with deeper reporting on how schools organize opportunities for students, whether through varsity football, volleyball, soccer or expanded access to girls athletics.
‘People still care’: county boards, community programs and local history
Oberhelman extends his education-focused lens into county boards and community bodies that shape the environment around schools.
His DuPage County Board reporting covers issues such as salary increases for board members and other elected officials, explaining decisions that affect public budgets and, indirectly, the funding context for local services. In a piece on the dedication of a new Victims of Violence Memorial Park at the DuPage County complex, he quotes the sentiment that “people still care” to frame the park as a civic lesson in remembrance and public responsibility. He reports on concerns from animal shelters and adoption facilities about a “kitten boom” straining resources, showing how community organizations grapple with surges in demand and what that means for local families and education around responsible pet ownership.
His story on a nonprofit recognized for lowering energy costs and usage for northern Illinois families focuses on energy-efficient housing and how such efforts reduce burdens on households, touching on the home conditions in which students live and study.
In his coverage of a state program that funds the preservation and maintenance of pioneer cemeteries, he details grants to townships such as Milton and Palatine, including a cemetery dating to 1836, and presents these sites as part of the historical record students and residents inherit. Together with reporting on police chases, judicial decisions and crisis recovery centers, these articles show Oberhelman following the policy, infrastructure and social services that frame daily life in the same communities where his student and school stories unfold.
4 more education journalists.
Bridie Short
Bridie Short reports on how learning environments shape young people’s experiences and their engagement with wider issues. She writes about education for Lynn News, a local news publication with a focus on community stories. Her coverage centres on classrooms and other learning settings, with attention to the people and events that define daily life there. She has written about drama students paying homage to the climate emergency with a performance, framing their creative response as part of their educational experience and blending arts coverage with an education lens. Her education reporting sits within a broader community news agenda, linking school and college stories to general news. Her pieces are grounded in concrete events and activities, showing what students and staff are doing rather than focusing on abstract policy.
Catherine Strohfeldt
Catherine Strohfeldt reports how education policy, money and behaviour collide in Queensland classrooms and childcare services, focusing on what government decisions mean for students, families and teachers day to day. She is an education reporter at Brisbane Times covering schools, universities and early learning alongside related state policy. She often starts with a single school, subject or provider to explain shifts in funding, discipline and workforce conditions, treating suspension statistics, surveys and on-the-ground accounts as complementary evidence. Her work links school fees, capital funding and teacher pay deals to who can access which schools and on what terms. Her beat extends into childcare chains in crisis and university leadership and governance. She also covers Queensland government, planning and environmental issues, showing how housing, health and coastal decisions reshape the communities in her education reporting.
Charles Bliss
Charles Bliss is a features-led reporter at the Eastern Daily Press whose distinct focus is education told through human stories about schools, pupils and the adults who work with them. He writes about what it feels like to be in a classroom or school community, using specific events, characters and concrete activity to show how reading, creativity and wellbeing are encouraged in young people. His education coverage centres children and teachers rather than policy, turning visits, campaigns and workshops into narrative pieces with practical detail. He gives particular weight to wellbeing, mental health and sensory learning, linking health, psychology and horticulture through tangible examples. Alongside education he covers health, environment, behaviour, everyday guidance and local innovation, using plain explanation, step-by-step advice and narrative structure to show how people learn, adapt and look after each other in their communities.
Conor Duffy
Conor Duffy stands out for linking education policy to the daily lives of students, parents and teachers, treating the classroom as part of a wider social system. He is the ABC’s national education and parenting reporter. His beat spans schools, universities and family life. He covers education policy, test scores, rankings, funding, teacher workload, behaviour, school refusal, student wellbeing and parenting stress. He reports on NAPLAN, university rankings, the Job Ready Graduates legislation and the cost of humanities degrees. He also covers privacy and school data. His reporting combines hard data, policy detail and personal stories. He has also done foreign, environment and investigative work for the ABC, including as North America correspondent, and has worked across Lateline, 7.30 and AM.