The choice was archaeology or journalism for Pam Baert. Her math and science scores always topped her English - but the need to know and the need to tell won out. So, it was off from Immaculate Conception High School in Elmhurst to Northern Illinois University, earning both a bachelor's and master's degree in journalism. She worked at the Northern Star, one of the top daily college newspapers.

She found her passion for community news at a weekly paper, Genoa-Kingston-Kirkland News, where she became the editor. There, she did everything - covered meetings, paste-up, developed film in the washroom and delivered papers to stores.

Pam joined the Daily Herald as a stringer, then became the Schaumburg community columnist before joining the paper as a part-time copy editor in 1997. Now, she is the Neighbor News Editor, overseeing the production of the Neighbor section as well as the staff for the Food and Health and Fitness sections.

Outside of the newsroom, Baert is married to Rick Baert, also a journalist and former Daily Herald copy editor who retired recently from Pensions & Investments. They have three children who live in the Northwest suburbs, as well as a granddog, Bowser. She has been an active volunteer with the Girl Scouts and with St. Marcelline in Schaumburg, which included youth mission trips to Appalachia.

And, her interest in history has not waned. In her spare time, she is writing a mystery series. The series features a 17-year-old girl in 1919 who solves mysteries involving people who are marginalized in society. Her story parallels the upheaval America experienced as the country left its rural, button-up, safe life of pre-World War 1 and dived into the rollicking Jazz Age with its changing morals, class and immigrant struggles and booming technology.

Pam has received interest from agents, but so far, the work is unpublished. In the meantime, she is polishing her storytelling craft, losing herself in research and enjoying her family.