Atticus Hempel recently joined the Juneau Empire as a reporter, covering Juneau news and events. Hempel was born and raised on the East Coast, and some of his earliest memories are kayaking with his dad on the bay near his family’s home in Connecticut. As he got older, he would hike in the White Mountains with friends.
“I was interested in a sort of alternative style of education, and Tidelines Institute has a labor component to their education, along with self governance,” Hempel said. “They give the student body a certain amount of autonomy over the institution along with the traditional academic classes, and that was the driving force for me.”
He moved to Gustavus for the first time in June 2023 to study at Tidelines, accumulating credits toward his degrees at Swarthmore. After spending the spring of 2024 semester studying abroad at Oxford University in England, he went back to Swarthmore and graduated in May 2025.
Photo courtesy of Kristin Hempel Atticus Hempel and his dad, Chris, kayak on Milf Pond in Connecticut in 2007. Atticus, who is four years old in this photo, said his dad has encouraged him to get outside for as long as he can remember. “My dad’s motto is, ‘Take a winding route in life,’ and this was definitely out of bounds,” Hempel said of moving to Alaska during college.
“I came out to Alaska to try to become more connected with this place by eating it,” Hempel said. “So I’ve been gardening and fishing and hunting with a few friends for all my food for the past few months.”
Hempel, who has experience working in government at the local, state and federal levels, said he’s most excited to cover subsistence issues throughout Southeast Alaska. He’s also worked on political and environmental campaigns and held various advocacy positions, which he said sharpened communication and research skills that will compliment the responsibilities of his new role at the Empire.
“I spent hours studying texts and trying to understand the story and the argument behind a lot of authors,” he said. “Those arguments were philosophical and economic, and I wanted to try to understand how opposing ideologies created some of the policies we see around us today.”
Hempel said he’s most looking forward to hearing stories and sharing them with the public.
“I think it’s important for me to be relatable, and for people to feel like these stories are a part of their lives,” Hempel said.
Read his stories for the Juneau Empire online or in the twice-weekly physical editions.
