Dylan Atwood has joined The Sampson Independent as a content writer, covering Clinton City Council, the Sampson County Board of Education, the county schools and various other aspects of Sampson County life. He replaces Noah Britt who left the Independent Friday to pursue graduate studies at N.C. State University.
Atwood was born in 1993 in Baton Rouge, La., to Dennis and Ann Atwood, a pastor and a teacher. His dad being a pastor, it brought their family from Baton Rouge to St. Louis when Dylan was two years old, and then from St. Louis to Mt. Olive when Dylan was 10.
Fast forward towards the end of 2025, and a seemingly chance encounter with a friend led Atwood to reach out to Independent and moutolivetribune.com Publisher Sherry Matthews about an opportunity to do some freelance writing for the Tribune.
“Little did I know how much I would fall in love with the work,” Atwood said. “And only like I could have dreamed, my passion and joy for writing and photography have earned me the beginning of a full-time career here at the Independent.
Matthews said she was delighted to have Atwood join the Independent staff.
“He brings a lot of writing talent with him into this job,” the SI publisher said. “Dylan started working for me last year, writing feature stories for our Mount Olive magazine Hometown Heroes, and he advanced from there to taking photographs and covering events in and around Mount Olive and Faison. Then, he wrote for this year’s N.C. Pickle Festival magazine, showing, once again, his talents. When the job came open here at The Independent, he was a logical choice.”
New SI Editor Anthony Goodman said he loved Atwood’s enthusiasm.
“The eagerness and ambition that Dylan has already shown will carry him a long way in this business,” Goodman said, noting that he was happy to have him join a team that now includes Atwood and content writer Trevon McGlone, who will soon move to covering local sports.
Ever since he was a kid, Atwood said he loved movies. Seeing the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies on VHS had a huge impact on his imagination. Particularly, seeing Harrison Ford as both Han Solo and Indiana Jones—who seemed like different people—had Dylan wanting to be something of an actor. Somewhere, there’s at least one home movie with Dylan as a young, young Indiana Jones; it is unknown if there was a sequel or trilogy for that. Dylan fully discovered his first big passion in sixth grade when he was in the ensemble of a stage production of “Peter Pan.” He got the bug for make-believe and storytelling then and has since been a part of 41 productions! Dylan’s love of acting and theatre has only grows stronger.
He discovered his next big passion in eighth grade, when he and some classmates were tasked with writing a newsletter for their middle school. Atwood was placed in charge of keeping people up to date about the library and cafeteria – two of his favorite rooms in the school – and he was surprised by how much fun he had finding entertaining ways to spin news from the librarian and the upcoming food menus. He said he found a lot of joy in weaving words whimsically together and in seeing others entertained by his work, but it would be many, many years before he wrote like that again.
When it came time to graduate high school and choose a college major, Atwood said he was unsure of what exactly he wanted for a career, but he had plenty of ideas to try. He dabbled in architecture, psychology, drafting, and video game design but after several years through many majors across several schools — from UNC Charlotte to Wayne Community College to Appalachian State — he still had no idea what he would be happy having a career in, so he decided to just focus on finding a job instead, always still looking for a job that would bring him joy.
For a long time, his work and passions were separate things. He continued making time for theatre and worked on developing that into a craft. He also took up photography as a hobby, inspired by movies and cinematography, and kept at that over the years. In spring 2025, Atwood started writing again for the first time since middle school. Not literally for the first time since middle school, but for fun for the first time since. Like with acting, he was inspired again by Star Wars, but this time by Star Wars television. He felt how powerful and inspiring strong writing could be, and when Dylan began writing out words that felt like they were spilling through his head, he started to remember how much fun he had writing. Inspiring, entertaining, and connecting with people through his writing became such a cherished gift.
“I am so honored and so excited to have the opportunity to write and report for the community of Sampson County,” Atwood stressed. “If you see me around, I’ll probably be the guy with a big smile on my face.”