Bill Whelan probably won’t forget his first week on the job as Wareham Week and WarehamVillageSoup’s reporter, Arriving on Dec. 30, he barely had time to get oriented before a foot of snow shut down the town for a couple of days.

Fortunately, Whelan hails from Long Island – not Florida! "I'm used to the cold and the snow," he says, but quickly adds: "I definitely prefer the summer!"

Whelan succeeds reporter Caitlin Russell, who will continue to pursue a writing career in both journalism and novel writing in Tennessee and wherever else her restless soul takes her.

A 2012 graduate of Boston University where he majored in journalism, Whelan comes to Wareham from Blank Slate Media in Williston Park, N.Y. At Blank Slate, publisher of five local newspapers, he covered community news and helped manage the papers' website.

While at BU, Whelan interned with the New England Center for Investigative Reporting and the Eco News Network. As part of his coursework, he served as the Somerville beat reporter for the BU News Service, seeing some of his work published on The Boston Globe’s website. After graduation, Whelan interned at Long Island Pulse Magazine.

A four-year varsity cross-country and track & field athlete at BU, Whelan made the 2012 America East All-Conference Team. He continues to run, and lists the Falmouth Road Race as an event he’d like to enter.

We think all that experience perfectly equips Whelan for his new role in Wareham: Covering town government, events, sports and more for our daily online report and weekly paper.

Of course, he doesn’t yet know everything about our town. Long Island doesn’t have selectmen or Town Meeting, and most towns don’t have two separate, independent fire districts! A first story involving the Wareham Fire District’s Water Department provided a crash course, but there is still much to learn from experience in Wareham – and from you.

So, please welcome Bill to our community. He’s now a Wareham resident, so you’ll see him around town at meetings, events or just buying groceries. To contact him: bill@warehamweek.com or 774-766-7706.