This piece is a segment of the ongoing “TNH Alumni Series” that profiles former staff members of The New Hampshire.

Though former The New Hampshire staff member and UNH alumna Hadley Barndollar, ‘16, was briefly an editor, above all else, she prefers writing.

“I knew that writing was my favorite thing, so I was always a staff writer. I think I was a news editor for maybe three weeks, but decided to go back to being a staff writer,” Barndollar said.

Hired last October by The Portsmouth Herald, Barndollar is still making use of her TNH journalism experience.

“I cover everything from crime to town meetings to economics in the Exeter area and surrounding towns. Basically anything that happens in any of my seven towns, I write about it. I’m what they call a ‘hard news newspaper reporter,’ which is what I liked to write while at TNH, so I am really enjoying it. I work closer to a fifty-hour week than a forty-hour week. It’s a lot of work and a lot of writing, but it’s the industry and I’m really glad to be starting out here at The Herald,” Barndollar said.

Barndollar explained that she does not directly work for Seacoast Online, but writes instead for the print paper, The Portsmouth Herald.

“Like any other newspaper, all of our articles are published online. Seacoast Online is just a big name for a bunch of different papers,” Barndollar said.

Barndollar says she has enjoyed working for The Herald so far.

“One of my favorite parts of the job is writing for the Sunday feature paper, which gives reporters an opportunity to dive into more investigative, regional pieces. The last few months I’ve tackled some big topics. I wrote a story about heroin deaths leading to an increase in organ donations around New England. Last week I published a story about Granite Staters concerned about the pending Affordable Care Act repeal on a federal level,” Barndollar said.

However, Barndollar’s passion for the written word did not start at UNH, though her college career may have had an influence in her career path.

“Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved writing. I started out at UNH as an English major but I realized that I love to tell other people’s stories. I caught the bug. So my junior year, I declared as a journalism major and never looked back,” she said.

Barndollar is interested in more than just writing about small town issues, though.

“During this last election cycle I’ve found that other passions have come out. I think in the future I’d really love to write about social injustice, racial injustice and poverty. I’d love to write about the [urban city] and those types of neighborhoods. I hope my journalism career takes me to a place where I can amplify the voices of those that can’t be heard, or are perhaps silenced,” Barndollar said.

In fact, this was a passion that Barndollar got to exhibit while working for The New Hampshire.

“My senior year I got to cover the Democratic National Debate that came to campus and that was a pretty terrific capstone to my TNH career.”

As a Boston area native and fan of the Red Sox, Barndollar said she dreams of, one day, writing for The Boston Globe.