Akilah Nelson covers high schools sports. The New Jersey native began sports writing at the Daily Tar Heel in Chapel Hill, N.C., and was a high school football correspondent for The (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun. After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 2003, she covered the WNBA and minor league baseball as an intern at The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J. She was an education reporter at the Public Opinion in Chambersburg, Pa., for 18 months before joining The State's sports staff.