Oltman visits Register office

GRUNDY CENTER – Grundy Center High School student Jenna Oltman visited The Grundy Register office in downtown Grundy Center last Wednesday, Oct. 20.

Oltman, 16, visited to learn more about how to get her name out as a critic of murder-mystery novels, and using traditional means rather than going through internet publications.

“I like giving my opinion and I feel like I’d be good at writing a review and getting my voice out there,” Oltman said.

She also wanted to come at it from a different perspective, analyzing not just the content of the murder-mystery novels but the plausibility of some of the conceits in the books as she’s currently studying in a criminology class at Hawkeye Community College.

Oltman also cited her uncle Jerrud Severance’s work with victims of abuse with the Iowa Department of Human Services as a spark for her interest in criminology.

With an existing interest in the language arts, she really got into reading murder-mystery and romance novels during her summer job as a babysitter.

While she is interested in writing, she also would be interested in learning to become a forensic detective.

Oltman’s extracurriculars at the high school include football cheerleading, competitive cheerleading, the honor squad that competes at the UNI-Dome for the state football playoffs, basketball cheerleading and tennis.

Oltman, a junior at Grundy Center High, lives in Grundy Center and is the daughter of Dustin and Jessica Oltman.