The Johnson City Press welcomed a new member to its reporting staff on Monday. Originally from Haysi, Virginia, Kayla Hackney is a senior at East Tennessee State University studying journalism and minoring in creative writing. Hackney writes poetry in her spare time and frequently binge-watches âStar Trek.â How did you get interested in journalism? I was actually a media and communications major at ETSU focusing in public relations, and someone told me I should apply to write for the East Tennessean since I liked writing, and I got hired and fell in love with it. I changed my major at the end of my sophomore year and havenât looked back.