Glynn Hill ’11

When he was in sixth grade, Glynn Hill '11 remembers hearing that his cousin wanted to be a journalist. He thought she was crazy. “It sounded really hard to come up with something to write every single day,” he says with a laugh.

That is now Hill’s eternal task: finding the stories behind the stories at the fabled Washington Post, where he has been a part of the news/sports team since 2020. At a time when the field of journalism is changing dramatically, Hill is part of a growing number of journalists being tasked with reshaping their roles in the field. 

Hill is the right person for the job. He has a knack for finding the story. “I do pride myself in finding stories that others might not be paying attention to,” he says.

Some of these qualities were planted during his Prep days. He remembers taking Journalism during his senior year and credits teacher Andrew Whelan with encouraging the class to find stories that spoke to them, which helped The Nose Newspaper, the class’s by-product, become an outstanding piece of student journalism. 

“I remember Glynn as a natural journalist,” Whelan says. “His curiosity and standards for excellence inspired us all. I always knew that Glynn had what it takes to be a professional writer. Also, I recall that our Journalism class was able to tour City Hall's courtrooms because of the kindness and generosity of Glynn's father, the Honorable Glynnis D. Hill.”

As part of the class, Hill also visited the old offices of the Inquirer/Daily News on North Broad Street. There, he met some journalists who attended Howard University, a school that he was interested in attending. These experiences led him to becoming a journalism major, and consequently, onto the path he is on today. 

Howard University has produced many outstanding journalists, including Pulitzer Prize winners. During his time there, Hill took advantage of all of the opportunities: TV broadcasts, sports play-by-play, writing, editing, and more. “I had my hands in everything because I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do,” he says. “I wanted to be versatile.”

After graduation, he interned for the Associated Press in D.C. Among other things, he covered the Supreme Court ruling on Marriage Equality and spoke regularly with politicians on Capitol Hill. Though he seemed to be moving towards a career in covering politics, he changed course after he took a job at the Houston Chronicle. There, he had multiple roles before eventually settling into sports. After five years, with three spent mainly covering college sports and professional soccer, the Washington Post came calling. 

Though mainly on the sports desk, he has also been involved in political coverage and foreign stories, and was assigned to the Beijing Olympics in 2022. He said the editors at the Post want him to find stories. 

“When the Post approached me, they were saying they wanted me to reinvent the role,” he says. “They had an idea of wanting to expand the idea of what a breaking news reporter is. My range of experience allowed them to let me go and find stories. Find fun, quirky stories. In one form, this is them looking to branch out from what they normally do.”

A self-professed “writing nerd,” Hill says that journalism has helped him in so many ways. “I was a fairly shy kid, and journalism helped me grow,” he says. “You are often put into uncomfortable and challenging situations. You have to become that person who can manage that. It has helped me grow and become who I am.”

In addition to Mr. Whelan, Hill has fond memories of teachers such as Mr. Dave Fortin (history) and Dr. Chris Rupertus (English). “The way those three in particular taught was about teaching me to how think more expansively; to think and operate a bit more freely,” Hill says. “They helped shape my early approach to journalism and they are foundational to what I do now. They had an enormous influence on me and there is a major connection between who I am now and what I do now.”

Hill is proud to be part of the Prep’s “journalist fraternity.” “Dr. Rupertus sometimes tweeted out some names of Prep alums who are now journalists, people like Tyler Tynes (’11), who has created his last two positions and is now with the LA Times, and Ryan Reilly (’05), who has been doing outstanding journalism,” Hill says. “The Prep is a ‘mini-incubator’ of journalists. It’s always so cool to see that and to be part of it.”