Michelle Pirraglia, Neighbor

Michelle Pirraglia is a Mastic native. After graduating from Mercy High School in Riverhead in 1999, she obtained an associate&#39;s degree in journalism from Suffolk County Community College before earning her bachelor of arts degree in English from SUNY Stony Brook in 2004. During her college years, she was Editor-in-Chief of SCCC&#39;s student newspaper, The Compass, as well as The Stony Brook Statesman. Starting off as a copy editor for Suffolk Life Newspapers, Michelle became a full-time journalist for the publication in 2005. During that time she covered news, features and political happenings throughout Suffolk County, including in-depth coverage each year of the candidates up for election. In 2006, she became the assistant managing editor of the newsroom at Suffolk Life Newspapers. The position entailed supervising both the in-house staff and freelancers, copy editing, reporting and having a pulse on the happenings of the entire county. <br><br>Leaving the post in 2008, she spent two years discerning a vocation with a Roman Catholic women&#39;s religious order before returning to Long Island in May of 2010. Upon coming home, she hopes to continue her efforts to bring residents a fair and balanced report of all the happenings in their hometown. She is very familiar with Patchogue, having grown up in the surrounding area, and her father worked in Medford for nearly 30 years. During her time with Suffolk Life Newspapers, she became very well acquainted with the major issues and happenings in Brookhaven Town government, and is looking forward to getting involved again through her freelance work with patch.com.