Communiqué
Former “Our Ohio” Winner found her place in the Ohio University Scripps College of Communication
< < Back toATHENS, OH – In 2022, Hadley Fain of Wellston, was named the 1st place overall winner in WOUB’s Our Ohio High School Documentary Film Festival with a short documentary called The Art of Finding Yourself about the struggles and successes of being a young artist in a small town.
Flash forward to 2025, and Fain has found herself and her place at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication. The visual communication and graphic design double major is wrapping up her junior year and is loving her life.
“My Our Ohio film was about my life as an artist, which was what I thought I wanted to do,” said Fain. “But I’m somebody who is Type A, and I was very concerned about the financial aspect and job security of art. I had done some graphic design in high school, designing t-shirts for the band, and thought something like that had more job security.”
The Our Ohio project challenges high school students to learn about and explore independent documentary film, Appalachian cultural identity, media literacy and multimedia storytelling. Throughout the course of the school year, students work with WOUB News Reporters and Documentary Filmmakers as well as Ohio University professors and graduate students, to learn how to create documentary films. The project connects students to experts at WOUB and Ohio University while giving young people the resources necessary to tell their own story and challenges them to think more deeply about what they want to say and the most effective way to say it.
After high school graduation, Fain applied to an art school in Columbus and realized it was out of her price range. That’s when she decided to attend Ohio University.
“When I first came to Athens, I was just a graphic design major. But then I joined Thread Magazine and got to experience the world of commercial photography,” said Fain. “I wanted to minor in photography but realized I could double major and still finish college on time. So, I decided to do that.”
Photography has opened a whole new world of opportunities for Fain. And when she thinks about how she ended up where she is today, Fain credits some of it to WOUB’s Our Ohio project.
“When I realized I couldn’t afford art school, the place within reach was Ohio University and doing the Our Ohio project opened me up a little bit to the world of opportunities that was available in Athens,” said Fain. “I didn’t know Visual Communication or media school existed. It was my first exposure to what could be.”
Fain says her time at Ohio University has helped her discover her true passion for photography and she’s ready to explore what’s next. Fain is preparing for an internship at a commercial photography studio in Cleveland this summer.
“Photography scratches the itch in my brain,” said Fain. “Photography is where I’m strongest and where I have more fun. I’d love to go into the advertising photography world.”