Meet the Staff

While juggling her responsibilities as the yearbook chief, Zoe Blumfield, senior, enjoys learning about psychology and working with children. Over the summer, Blumfield visited her mom's cousin's clinic, where she works as a pediatric occupational therapist. This clinic specializes in working with children's fine motor skills and learning basic tasks. Seeing this, along with her sister's brain reset process in a clinic in Westlake, opened her eyes to the world of psychology and occupational therapy. "I kind of saw that, and I was just like, 'wait, I really do enjoy that,'" Blumfield said.

She hopes to fulfill this passion by going to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for college next year as a psychology major. Blumfield hopes to attend Cal Poly because of its hands-on opportunities and because she loves the campus. She also loves the college life around Cal Poly because of the town nearby. "I want to go because they have a program that's called 'Learn by Doing,' which is a campus on a campus [...] people go to the field where you are [working] and practice with hands-on experience," Blumfield said.

In order to meet her goal as an occupational therapist, she will major in psychology. By volunteering for her mom's TK class in her free time, she found her passion for working with kids. She finds working with children with disabilities to be the most rewarding. "When we don't have school, and they do, I go volunteer there, and I just think it's such a great environment," Blumfield said. "Sometimes it's difficult; they're four years old, but they're so cute. I like working with them on their fine motor skills and their sensory bins–it's cool to see how they go from shy to recognizing me and writing their names."

Outside of these activities, Blumfield loves the ocean and enjoys participating in many activities on the water. She loves going swimming in the ocean during summer when the weather is hot. Many times, she has gone paddleboarding with her cousins on lakes in Mammoth. This is a way Blumfield is able to relax, refresh, and have fun during her breaks. Blumfield said, "I'm an ocean kid; I love the ocean."

Writing and journaling for Camille Chase, senior, is not just about typing words on a screen, but about telling stories of the people around her. When it comes to future careers, Opinion Editor Chase hopes to one day make a career of her skills in journalism and writing.

For Chase's senior year, she decided to push herself in her last year of high school. "I've always tried to be really good at school. But oftentimes, I kind of just don't really push myself academically…So a goal I have for the senior year is to push myself while also allowing myself to reminisce on past memories and experiences," Chase said.

Over the summer, Chase spent three weeks at Fordham University in New York to get a university-level look at journalism, participating in a program that worked closely with The New York Times. "My dream school would be UC Irvine for literary journalism, and then afterward graduate school at Columbia for journalism," Chase said.

Chase expresses a love for storytelling at its core, something that comes from different places and people. "I think that journalism offers a very specific form of storytelling where you can reveal information and inform people and bring light to topics that are maybe overlooked or misunderstood," Chase said.

Between the theatre program and newspaper, Chase specifically prefers writing about people, featuring their lives and who they are. Chase also expresses interest in being a news anchor or interviewer. "I definitely would like to explore [broadcast journalism]," Chase said. "I think it's really interesting. You write your own segments. I do think there is a level of performance to it, which I'm used to with theater."

Elizabeth Barnes, Editors-in-Chief of the Panther Prowler for the 2026-2027 school year, is a senior looking towards her future and reflecting on her past. With this being her final year at Newbury Park High School, she shifts her gaze onward towards the finish line.

Barnes joined the Panther Prowler in her freshman year, and she has many articles she enjoyed writing. The article she wrote about the Iranian conflict especially stayed with her because it was a time investment to write, along with the difficult interviews she conducted with victims from Iran. "During the article about the conflict of Iran, I had to talk to people from Israel, and that took a lot of quick thinking because I was trying to stay sensitive about the topic, but also wanted to get information from their perspective," Barnes said.

Barnes looks towards her future and has big dreams of becoming a lawyer in the medical field. After graduation she aspires to go to college at Pepperdine University and major in political science. Medical lawyers handle behind the scenes of all successful hospitals, healthcare practices and patient protection. High school classes help teens narrow down their possibilities for future professions, and Barnes took a class on medical terminology, which peaked her interest.

"I am specially interested in the medical law field, because I enjoy my medical Terminology class, but do not want to directly work as a doctor. So this is just another way to be involved in the medical field while not actually working with patients," Barnes said. Down the road she also wants to become a law professor, along with when she is ready, a mother.

Outside of school, Barnes likes to shop at Erewhon, hang out with friends and from time to time, enjoy food at Sugarfish. Since high school is coming to a close for Barnes, she can put her headphones on and sit back to listen to "Vienna" by Billy Joel. "I feel like [Vienna] is a reminder that we all just need to slow down. We're not in a rush. You are not on anyone else's plan but your very own," Barnes said.

Great listener, caring but also really friendly. These are words that Mika Inouye, senior, would describe herself as. This is Inouye's fourth year on the staff, and as an Editors-in-Chief, she holds a lot of responsibilities. "I want to have built a very strong community in Prowler. I want it to be very welcoming, and I want everyone to be able to connect … so that we don't have certain groups in Prowler; we're all just sort of one family," Inouye said.

One of Inouye's favorite things about Prowler is seeing how everyone's stories are different, and how they develop. "Every year I feel like there's been one major story, and I'm kind of excited to see what that is this year. But I'm just excited to see what our big impactful story is because, publishing a newspaper, we do make a lot of changes. I'm just excited to see what that big story becomes," Inouye said.

Other than being on Prowler, Inouye enjoys Japanese dancing, spending time with her friends, acrylic painting and pickleball. Inouye also spends a lot of time journaling her feelings daily. "I feel like it's just a great way to decompress and release my emotions and my feelings," Inouye said.

Inouye really enjoys Japanese dance because it helps her express her creative side while showcasing her talent and culture. "I started Japanese dance when I was in first grade, and this was because a family at our church who's also Japanese brought it to our attention, and so my sister started dancing and she really loved it, and then I started dancing, and I just really loved it," Inouye said.

Inouye also loves listening to music, whether it's in her car or in her headphones. "I really like Bob Marley because his music is so nostalgic to me," Inouye said. "And I have a CD in my car that I just play on repeat."

"As busy as a bee" is a phrase that seems to perfectly embody Sophia Zhang, senior and co-managing editor on the Panther Prowler. From teaching dance to children with autism to volunteering at Los Robles Hospital, Zhang's schedule is packed with activities that benefit the community. Despite her many commitments, Zhang always shows up to fulfill her duties alongside her Co-Managing Editor and is passionate about helping new Prowler staff members. "I am always willing to help others and I like to bring a positive spirit to the class," Zhang said.

Originally asked to join the Prowler after one semester of Introduction to Journalism class her freshman year, Zhang is now in her fourth year on staff. Outside of school, Zhang applies her lifelong love of dance in a way that helps the community. "I volunteer at this non-profit organization called Peer One-on-One, which [is] an organization that supports children with autism. I teach dance classes over there which is super cool because I'm able to apply my hobby in a meaningful way," Zhang said.

After high school, Zhang plans on entering the medical field, further showcasing her call to help others. "I'm thinking of either going into medical school…[or] I want to be a nurse," Zhang said.

As a Co-Managing Editor, her responsibilities include organizing the fundraising for the Prowler, as well as the advertisements and subscriptions. In addition to her role as a Co-Managing Editor, she is also the Backcover Editor, a role that requires creativity and is a prime example of her diverse skills. "It's really such a privilege having this responsibility," Zhang said.

Kate Slack, Co-Managing Editor, fell in love with journalistic writing freshman year in her first journalism class, despite its substantial difference from her also much-loved English essay writing. Found in the Panther Newsroom at B10 most mornings, Slack particularly enjoys the structure and the intel on real people and stories that characterize journalistic writing. Within the style, Slack's favorite articles to write are news stories, features and columns–specifically food reviews.

In addition to baking, painting watercolor, and watching movies, Slack enjoys analyzing metaphors and symbolism in English and writing about political opinions–both of which involve some creative interpretation of the murky or somewhat unclear evidence provided; obviously, the art she creates isn't just via paintbrush.

However, Slack doesn't just appreciate figurative language analysis and the method of journalistic writing; "the page design, that was really interesting to me," Slack said. She feels most fulfilled and accomplished when she finishes her page at "late night". "It's very good to look at, especially when you do magazines in color, and you don't have your photographs," Slack said.

Indeed, the Prowler is so rewarding that Slack wants to pursue journalism in college and perhaps attend grad school after getting a job at a publication: a living contradiction as the polar opposite of her surname. Thankfully, Slack's older sister has been her anchor in de-stressing. "She told me to think about where I'm going to be next year," Slack said. "I mean, next year I'm going to have it all figured out on what college I'm going to and stuff like that–so, just think about that, and you'll get through it."

Finding simplicity in a chaotic world can be as straightforward as black and white — a mindset Staff Writer Yulissa Mao, senior, embraces by staying grounded. "I think we all need to live like a panda…learn to be more carefree," Mao said. Although this is Mao's first year on the Prowler, she brings high hopes and curiosity to the newsroom.

"I initially was recommended by my English teacher to join Prowler; however, I also enjoy writing and wanted to try new things that were out of my comfort zone," Mao said. "I write about different events happening locally as well as around school. I think I'll enjoy opinionated articles the most because I enjoy sharing my input."

Beyond Prowler, Mao's approach to the world takes many forms, whether she is out on the tennis court or fidgeting with the computer she built. "I typically do things on the computer I built, such as video editing or gaming," Mao said. From tinkering with PCs to studying the cosmos, her interests stem from a single, driving question: how things work beyond the surface.

After high school, Mao plans to follow in her family's footsteps as an engineer, but she is also drawn to physics at Georgia Tech and is currently preparing through her AP Physics class. "I've always been interested in specifically astrophysics. I've always found it pretty fascinating, just knowing the way the world works," Mao said.

Mao enjoys working alongside her parents to observe the world, applying logic to understand both the universe and human creations. "I like how simple things are when there's no hue … like a panda; we can learn to take the things around us with a grain of salt because there is so much to be grateful for," Mao said.

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it is Samuel Power, senior and staff writer, typing and drawing as fast as he can. This year in Prowler, Power hopes to create a comic strip section to share his talent for drawing that stems from his passion for comic books. "Recently I've read superhero [comics]. Those are the most common. But I also read a horror [comic], which was cool, and the art was really weird to look at," Power said.

Power, in addition to creating a "boom" and a "clang" in his comic section, hopes to write articles that interest NPHS's student body. While Superman might wear his emblem in the middle of his chest, Power's personal emblem would consist of a pencil or paintbrush symbol. "If I had to come up with a superhero emblem at this moment, I would probably say it would be a pencil or a paintbrush, because to me, what really defines my character is creation, whether that is writing or drawing or really anything," Power said.

Being the child of a painter and psychologist, Power believes that his upbringing has prepared him for his academic and personal future. Coming from a family on unique career paths, Power plans to attend college to major in English and further his knowledge of writing. "I think that my parents having unique jobs has affected me in the environment they raised me in […] Both of them also fostered an environment of creation and exploration because of the different art stuff that I was exposed to," Power said.