Fresh off the Boat

I'm Elliott Deins. A born-and-raised Floridian, Navy veteran, recent University of Oregon graduate and the new reporter at the Saratoga Sun.

After a childhood of fishing, boating and diving around the Gulf Coast of Florida, I attempted community college. After seeing my terrible grades six weeks into my first semester, I enlisted into the Navy serving five years as an infantry corpsman.

In 2018, I deployed as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit - spending six months squeezed on a ship floating around the Mediterranean. With nothing else to do underway, I rediscovered my fondness for reading and writing.

Two years later, I was honorably discharged with nothing in particular to do and nowhere to go. My best buddy offered to buy me a cat if I moved to Illinois with him. I packed up my junk, moved to the frigid midwest and received my furry pride and joy, Parker.

Still unsure of my next path, I took advantage of the GI Bill by attending classes at College of Lake County. I knew I wanted to write and most of my favorite authors were journalistically trained. I signed up for a news writing course and fell in love. Now, I just needed to figure out what four-year University to transfer to and continue to pursue my new found passion.

My enlistment meant I've lived in many regions of the country - from Illinois, to Southern California, to Texas, to North Carolina. One of the few boxes left to check was the Pacific Northwest. With its pristine cascade wilderness, hilarious mascot (Go Ducks) and stellar journalism program, the University of Oregon was an obvious choice. I made the three day trek from Illinois to Eugene with a packed car and my cat riding shotgun.

In my time at Oregon, I worked on the sports desk of the student paper and was lucky enough to cover the 2022 Track and Field World Championship.

In my first semester at UO, I met Marine veteran and photojournalist Dan Morrison. Morrison put a camera in my hands and brought me along to photograph high school football games in the freezing Oregon fall rain.  That eventually turned into photographing everything from Professional Bull Riding, Israel-Palestine protests on campus and every sport Oregon has to offer.

In the summer of 2023, I spent six months in Southern Alaska working as a media intern for the U.S. Forest Service's Cordova Ranger District. I was able to capture the work of the Forest Service dealing with invasive species and helped to collar and band the dusky Canada goose. My time in Cordova further grew my passion for the outdoors, wildlife and those that make it all possible.

After graduating in June, I spent 16-weeks working as an outdoor reporting intern with the Statesman Journal based out of Salem, Oregon. I produced multimedia stories on prominent Oregon hikes, diving in a chilly volcanic lake and behind the lines of this year's historic wildfire season.

I can't express how thrilled I am to be joining the Sun. I look forward to covering the stories of this town, prep sports and exploring the Platte Valley outdoors.

Feel free to come by the office or stop me on the street to say "hello." We can talk about anything Saratoga, fishing, hunting, fitness, Oregon Ducks or Green Bay Packers.