Kelby Wingert

Hi Webster City! I’m the newest reporter here at the Daily Freeman-Journal, and I’m excited to get started.

I’m both brand-new and very familiar with this area of North Central Iowa. I grew up just down the road in Fort Dodge, where I graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High in 2010. I spent a couple semesters in Cedar Rapids at Coe College before I finished my journalism degree at Iowa State University in 2015.

After I graduated from ISU, I did a summer internship at the Wilmingon StarNews in Wilmington, North Carolina, before I started my first “big girl” job as the sports editor for the Fort Hood Sentinel, in Fort Hood, Texas.

I moved back to the Fort Dodge area last month to be closer to my parents, grandmother, sisters and three young nephews. During most of the week, I’m at the Fort Dodge Messenger covering education and other general news stories. On Thursdays, I’ll be here in Webster City, getting to know the city and Hamilton County a little bit better while I cover the news in this area.

I’m a big photography nerd. While in college, I focused on photojournalism, eventually rising to the role of photo editor for the Iowa State Daily newspaper. However, writing was always my first love and I’m excited to get back to it.

In my free time, you can find me reading a book, listening to a podcast, hanging out with my cat Daisy, watching the Food Network or just experimenting in the kitchen.