The Quiet Assassin: Peggy Chen 2025 Journalist of the Year

When Peggy Chen originally joined the journalism program at Green Hope High School two years ago, she was a largely reserved person. Three years later, she graduated not only the editor-in-chief of her school’s news site, but also as the 2025 North Carolina High School Journalist of the Year.

“She was one of the shyest people I’ve ever met,” Matthew Mace, advisor, said. ”But what happens is Peggy, she wrote really well, but she wasn’t much of a leader yet. And what happened was, she started slowly becoming more of a leader, and that made her writing better.”

Mace has taught at Green Hope for eight years, but described Chen’s transition as especially powerful.

“We call her the quiet assassin,” he said. “Because she’s quiet, but she gets stuff done.”

Chen began her high school journalism journey in 10th grade after being told freshman couldn’t join.

“I actually got interested because I did newspaper in my middle school, because it was pretty much the only activity my school offered in the writing area,” she said. “By the time I was in 10th grade, I kind of knew that I wanted to jump right in.”

She began as a staff writer before becoming news editor and, finally, editor-in-chief senior year. Though she once loved creative writing, journalism largely captured her attention.

“I actually found that I really like journalism because (I get) the opportunity to talk to people and there’s that research aspect you don’t really get in creative writing,” Chen said.

Over time, Chen developed a passion for both human and data driven stories.

Chen’s leadership stood out to her classmates, too, including Incoming Editor-in-Chief Nolan Sullivan.

“She kind of helped run things with our teacher, Mr. Mace, (she) kind of made sure everything was running smoothly and going as it should,” he said. “She kind of set a bar for future classes, future writers, and future editors to kind of follow, so just kind of making the program better as a whole.”

Chen led by example, taking on environmental stories in her community and winning awards for her work.

“She wrote several articles on the wetlands,” Mace said. “As she obtained awards and saw her writing grow, she got more confident.”

Even when she wasn’t reporting, Chen left a lasting impact on the program.

“She was super sweet, she always made sure that everyone was doing the work they needed to but also that everyone felt supported and knew they could ask questions or ask for help,” Sullivan said.

When Mace found out Chen had won the award, his response was immediate.

“I cried,” he said. “I was just so proud of her.”

Though she won’t major in journalism at Cornell University, Chen plans to keep writing.

“She can do whatever she wants,” Mace said. “She is one of the most dedicated, honest, sincere, kind hearted, focused students I’ve ever taught.”