Kelsey Brugger

There’s a fresh face in the newsroom, and it belongs to our new reporter, Kelsey Brugger. A Redondo Beach native and UCSB grad, Brugger has jumped head-first into covering the Santa Barbara scene, already writing about jail food strikes, standardized testing scandals, and flamenco school wars in just a few weeks at the office. Though she was obsessed with broadcast journalism growing up, Brugger—who penned The Santa Barbara Independent’s “Found in Translation” column before shifting to news—is so far digging the transition to media’s printed word. “It’s like school in a funny way,” she said. “Every assignment is a mini-research project, which I love.” Follow Brugger at independent.com/brugger.