Category: Alumni

Dominic Kauffman is 11 and is the cartoon artist for the Lighthouse newspaper. He joined the paper so he could draw comics, something he has wanted to do since he first read Calvin and Hobbes. He dances ballet for the Contra Costa Ballet, and also plays soccer. He enjoys wood carving animals and playing Minecraft. He enjoys reading series like the Harry Potter and Tapestry series. He lives with his brother, his parents, and several hives of bees. He is currently writing the ‘Arry comic, about 2 homeschooled kids named Harry and Barry. He started homeschooling this year.

Blake Killion is a seventeen year old filmmaker, artist and writer in his senior year of high school.

This is his first year in journalism as Assistant Editor-In-Chief and Chief Videographer. He hopes to learn more about TVE and its members through journalism for The Lighthouse, having been a member for all of his teenage years.

Beginning homeschooling in 2008, he has been doing film work since 2015, participating in over twenty shorts, and runs his own filmmaking club called Homeschooled Films. He has a small collection of instruments called otamatones and runs a photography page for them as a hobby, but is not very good at actually playing them. Blake lives at home in five acres of forest where he likes to make digital art, work on fantasy novels, and livestream video games with his friends to YouTube. 

Olivia is 16 and is in her junior year of high school. She is the Editor in Chief of the Lighthouse because she loves writing and because she wants to create connections in the TVE community. When she graduates from college, she would love to work as a journalist for a real newspaper! Right now, Olivia loves reading Shakespeare and watching superhero movies. She is also an acrobatic gymnast in a level 8 trio. She and her family live in Walnut Creek with their weird adopted dog, rabbit queen, and a flock of evil chickens.

Brianna is a 15-year-old 9^th  grader who has been homeschooled all her life.  She lives at home in five acres of forest with her parents and older brother in Castro Valley, California, where she likes to write, draw, read, sing, and participate in her friend’s livestreams.  This is her first year working in journalism, though she has been writing fantasy and fiction since she was about 10 years old. She also loves animals and cloaks, and has been a part of Homeschooled Films as an actor, and the cinematographer in many movies with her friends.

Elise is a fourteen-year-old in eighth grade and has been homeschooling since first grade. This is her first year working in journalism, though she has been writing fantasy and fiction since she was about eight years old. She has written and edited the manuscript for one novel and is working on editing her second. Once she graduates college, she hopes to be an author and work for a publishing house as an editor. 

Elise was in an Odyssey of the Mind team for three years, qualifying for the world championships twice and being thwarted by coronavirus once. Elise is currently doing acrobatic gymnastics, studying Latin, and trying desperately to beat a rouge-like video game that has consumed her life. Other hobbies she enjoys are drawing, painting, and eating delicious food. 

Lucie Ruggiero is in Visual Storytelling for the Videography section of The Lighthouse. She is 16 years old and in the 10th scholastic year. She has been doing journalism (yearbook committee) for three years. Lucie is in journalism because she loves telling stories and discussing world issues. When she is not doing schoolwork, Lucie can be found exploring outside or working on art projects, which can range between and beyond knitting a sweater or painting with watercolors. If it can be made, she is probably making it. Some of her favorite activities include baking, crafting, writing, and drawing, and she would spend most of her time on explorations outdoors if it weren’t for homework. Anything can become a story, or an adventure as far as she is concerned. You just need to be looking for it. 

Emma Ruggiero is 17 years old and is in her junior year of high school. Her job as part of the Lighthouse Staff is the position of Arts and Entertainment Editor. She was part of the TVE Yearbook Club for the past two years, and this is her first year as part of the TVE Journalism Club. Her favorite classes this year are her art classes, her Shakespeare class, and her art history class. She loves to create art, especially drawings and watercolor paintings, and sometimes makes digital art as well. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, reading, listening to music, or working on a new art project. 

Lucas Garcia is a 17-year-old high school senior who has been homeschooling for five years.  He lives with his parents and two younger brothers in Pleasant Hill, California.  He loves streaming video games, drawing, and other things with his friends on his youtube channel.  Lucas is working on a concept for a video game that he hopes will come to fruition later in his life.  He likes learning about animals of all kinds, but mostly Dinosaurs.  As the Science Editor for The Lighthouse, he hopes to help educate people on Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals using the Creature Corner and also to learn skills that may help him write a story for his video game.