New Resident Director Katie Northcott: the Pursuits of a Journalist

Read about Katie Northcott's (JRN, '25) journey from a PHC student and graduate coordinating news across four radio stations, websites, and social media pages to PHC's new Female Resident Director.

Katie Northcott received an email about Patrick Henry College’s Talent-Finder Nonfiction Writing Contest in the Fall of 2020. A few months after submitting an entry, she found out that she did not win. She emailed the judge, Dr. Les Sillars, PHC’s Professor of Journalism, to ask for feedback about her article, and he graciously provided writing critiques. As she continued to learn from him over email, he suggested they meet in person.

Northcott had considered studying at PHC, but she was wary of their Christian claims. It seemed safer to willingly attend a secular school than be accidentally led astray by a school claiming to be Christian. Further, she hesitated to give up her dreams of swimming or diving to come to PHC.

As she learned more about PHC, however, she soon realized that the Christian culture was genuine, and it was worth pursuing. “It was one of those things where the doors to other things kept closing, and the doors to PHC kept getting wider and wider,” she said. She visited and committed by the end of spring in 2021.

Her passion for journalism emerged as she fell in love with how Sillars explained storytelling and the importance of Christian journalistic integrity. Josh Schumacher, her journalism mentor, also encouraged her to persist even through criticism.

“I feel like the Herald became my personality,” Northcott said, reflecting on her sophomore year. The talented Herald staff team lifted her up and taught her how to become a better writer. In the spring of 2023, Northcott applied to be a Teen Leadership Camps (TLC) counselor and an RA. She remembered looking up to her RA Rachel McCracken when she first came to PHC. “I had never seen someone who thought so deeply about their devotions before, and I wanted to be that [inspiration] for someone else.” That spring, she was selected as TLC summer counselor and RA for the following school year.

When she entered her junior year as an RA, she was surprised to find herself in positions of leadership over many other upperclassmen. Despite the different dynamic, she learned then that “you don’t have to be everything to everyone in order to follow what the Lord has planned for you.”

The summer prior to her senior year, Northcott worked for 5 weeks as a TLC counselor again. She then completed 120 hours of internship credit within three weeks through an internship at Thunder Radio in Manchester, Tenn. When the husband of her supervisor, Tiffany Clutter, died from a sudden heart attack, Northcott stepped in to fill her role. “It was one of those things where I felt like I was there for a reason,” she said. She believed the Lord had planned her internship in perfect timing, and she was able to work a productive 40 hours a week at the radio station.

During her senior year, she worked for The Blueridge Leader, a local newspaper serving Loudon County, often visiting county Board of Supervisors meetings to find story topics. She stayed in touch with Thunder Radio, whose owner bought out three other radio stations in January of her senior year.

Following her graduation in 2025, Northcott worked for Teen Camps again and then moved back to her home in Tenn. to work for Thunder Radio and the connected news stations. When Clutter quit in January of 2026, she was left to do one-minute news headlines for four stations, five-minute segments for Thunder Radio, and her own mid-day show for another country station. She also ran the social media accounts for the five stations.

As fall approached, Northcott realized that she did not want to stay in Tennessee. She applied for other positions in communication and news, but they rejected her applications. Northcott called McCracken, who revealed to her that she felt the Lord was calling her to step down from the Resident Director (RD) position. She encouraged Northcott to apply.

Northcott did, and recently started her new job as the female RD at PHC. “It felt like so much of my job in journalism was pointing out other people’s problems without a solution,” she said. “Here, we’re all coming from a background where, even if it doesn’t feel true right now, the solution is Christ.” Working in Tennessee had been difficult, because it had been a shift from PHC’s Christian environment to a workplace where most were not saved. Now back at PHC, she sees other alumni and old friends more often. “This is such a special community,” she said. “It’s hard to appreciate it until you leave and come back.”

Northcott hopes that during her time as RD, “I can not only help people see the beauty in their walk with the Lord but also help them see the beauty of other people’s walk, even if it doesn’t look the same.”

 This article was originally published in PHC's student-run publication, The Herald.

Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.