2020-2021

Lauren Peace

Lauren Peace covers public health threats for the Mountain State Spotlight. She was a reporter for the Democrat and Chronicle/USA Today Network in Rochester, New York, where she helped lead coverage of a sexual harassment case at the University of Rochester. In 2018, she received a Fulbright research grant and moved to Kosovo, where she produced an interactive documentary project highlighting the stories of women throughout the country. Peace is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, where she played soccer, and is a soon-to-be graduate of Columbia University, where she studied in the Stabile Investigative Journalism Program. During her time at Columbia, Peace covered New York State and New York City politics for Uptown Radio, and Pelham Parkway for The Bronx Ink. She is originally from Morgantown, West Virginia, and is excited to get back to the state.

Lucas Manfield

Lucas Manfield is a data reporter for the Mountain State Spotlight, where he’s helping to create a data hub that will be a valuable and lasting resource for journalists in the Mountaineer State. Previously, Manfield covered housing and government accountability as a fellow at the Dallas Observer and interned at inewsource in San Diego. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2019, where his investigation into malpractice at a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital earned an award for excellence from the Association of Health Care Journalists. He holds a B.S. from Stanford University. He was the Chief Technology Officer at one startup and vice president of engineering at another. He’s created software for electric cars and holds two patents.

Anthony Vazquez

Anthony Vazquez is a Marine Corps veteran and photojournalist for the Chicago Sun-Times where he concentrates on city’s south and west sides. Previously Vazquez was based out of Iowa and Mexico where he focused on the effects of Medicaid privatization in Iowa and rural life in the United States and Mexico. In the Marine Corps, Vazquez supervised flight line operations of multiple airfield control groups as well as aided in medical evacuations of injured personnel by securing and designating landing zones for helicopters. His experience in the Marine Corps confirmed the importance of documenting and sharing stories. After the military, Anthony pursued journalism at the University of Iowa where he served as photo editor of The Daily Iowan. Post-graduation, he moved to Mexico to continue documenting illegal immigration. While in Mexico he was a stringer for The Associated Press and AP Images.

Nicole Javorsky

Nicole Javorsky covers climate change and its implications for City Limits, which uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions and equip communities to take action. Before that, she covered environmental issues as a staff writer for The Hill’s online section, “Changing America.” She has also written about climate change and public health as a ClimateDesk fellow at Mother Jones magazine. Javorsky reported for the environment section of CityLab through The Atlantic’s editorial fellowship program. After growing up in Queens, she attended Barnard College.

Teddy Rosenbluth

Teddy Rosenbluth covers health care and related issues for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire. Rosenbluth has covered science and healthcare for Los Angeles Magazine, the Santa Monica Daily Press and the Daily Bruin. Her investigative reporting has brought her everywhere from the streets of L.A to the hospitals of New Delhi. Her work garnered First Place for Best Enterprise News Story from the California Journalism Awards, and National Finalist for the Society of Professional Journalists' Best Magazine Article. She graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in psychobiology.  

Andrew Tsubasa Field

Andy Tsubasa Field covers the Kansas Legislature for The Associated Press, concentrating on the fallout from the state’s revenue shortfall. Most recently, Field wrote about local government for The Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota’s capital city, where his coverage of the community’s response to a refugee resettlement proposal drew national attention. Prior to joining the Tribune, he had internships at The Tennessean, The Chronicle of Higher Education, St. Louis Public Radio, Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Eugene Weekly. A graduate of the University of Oregon, Field was born in Tokyo and grew up in Singapore, before moving to the Houston area when he was 17. He is a Chips Quinn Scholar and was awarded ProPublica’s Diversity Scholarship. In 2016, He was also awarded a Certificate of Merit for Personality Profile from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.  

Eileen O’Grady

Eileen O’Grady reports for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire, where she covers education for the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper. O’Grady is the former managing editor of the Scope magazine at Northeastern University in Boston, where she reported on social justice issues, community activism, local politics and the Covid-19 pandemic. She is a native Vermonter and worked as a reporter covering local politics for the Shelburne News and the Citizen, and has had bylines in The Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report, The Bay State Banner, and VTDigger. She has a Masters in journalism from Northeastern University and a B.A .in politics and French from Mount Holyoke College, where she served as news editor for the Mount Holyoke News from 2017-2018. She is also a traditional Irish fiddle player.

Morgan Mullings

Morgan C. Mullings covers the Massachusetts Legislature and Boston’s city government for The Bay State Banner with a focus on how local and state governments affect minorities. Mullings has interned with Rolling Stone and Metropolis magazine, which covers the architecture and design industries, and NYLON, focusing on copyediting, reporting and research. At St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., she served as Editor-in-Chief of the independent, award-winning student newspaper, The Torch. In the three positions Mullings held there, she covered university and local news including breaking Covid-19 developments and held journalism ethics workshops for undergraduates. She also volunteered for Sinai’s Radiant Liturgical Dance Ministry which ministers through dance on campus and in the tri-state area. Mullings grew up in Miramar, Florida, and went to New York to pursue her passion for writing that she developed at her high school newspaper. She will receive her bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2020.  

Brenda León

Brenda Millicent León reports on undercovered Latino communities for Connecticut Public Radio. She covered the recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico during her internship at The Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico. A graduate from Lehman College at the City University of New York, she focused on broadcast journalism with a concentration in political science. During her time there she was a host at WWRL La Invasora 1600 AM. Her work has been published in The Gothamist, Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), El Deadline and The Mott Haven Herald. A Bronx native, León is a recent graduate from The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, where she obtained her master’s in Spanish-language journalism.  

Megan Valley

Megan Valley covers education for the Belleville News-Democrat in Belleville, Ill. She covered K-12 and higher education for the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa for a year and a half. A 2018 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she double-majored in English and the Program of Liberal Studies, and worked for The Observer, the student paper, first as a news writer and eventually as assistant managing editor. She was an intern at Ave Maria Press, a Catholic publisher, in Notre Dame and wrote on music for Exclaim!, a monthly Canadian music magazine. The summer after graduating, Valley attended New York University’s Summer Publishing Institute. She grew up in Flushing, Michigan, a suburb of Flint.