2022-2023

Hannah Norton

Hannah Norton covers the Texas Legislature and state politics for Community Impact Newspaper, a hyperlocal news organization based in Austin, Texas. She is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor's degree in journalism and an emphasis on print and digital news. While there, Norton reported for the Columbia Missourian, the university’s community paper, focusing on state government, social justice issues and homelessness. She has interned with Euractiv, a Brussels-based media network that specializes in political coverage of the European Union. A native of Seattle, Norton loves spending time outdoors and traveling.

Jasper Sundeen

Jasper Kenzo Sundeen covers education and economics in the Latino community for the Yakima Herald-Republic in Yakima, Washington. Before moving to central Washington, Sundeen was an editor, writer and eventually, editor-in-chief of The Daily Californian, the student-run paper at the University of California, Berkeley and the paper of record for the Berkeley community. He has also worked as a student journalist at Dash Sports TV. Sundeen holds a bachelor’s degree in political economy and geography, and hails from Los Angeles, where he grew up playing soccer.

Kavish Harjai

Kavish Harjai is a data reporter based in Los Angeles and covering state government for The Associated Press. Prior to joining the AP, Harjai freelanced for Bay Area publications while earning his master’s degree in journalism from Stanford University. Before heading west, Harjai lived in New York City, where he worked as a news video producer and writer for NowThis. He holds bachelor’s degrees in psychology and French from New York University. In his free time, Harjai enjoys reading (his favorite author is Don DeLillo), playing beach volleyball, listening to house music and making playlist covers.

Luis Joel Mendez Gonzalez

Luis Joel Méndez González covers government preparedness around climate change for the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, a nonprofit investigative news organization. Born and raised in Moca, Puerto Rico, he was a ProPublica Emerging Reporter in 2019, and a Google News Initiative Fellow in 2020. Méndez González, an LGBTQIA+ first-generation college graduate, has interned with The Miami Herald I-Team, El Nuevo Día Investigative and Data Unit, and Metro Puerto Rico. As a freelancer he has reported for international media outlets. Méndez González holds a master's degree in information design and data visualization from Northeastern University. In his free time, he enjoys reading and writing, and he also loves beauty pageants and coffee.

Nikolai Mather

Nikolai Mather reports on social justice for the Athens Banner-Herald in Athens, Georgia. Previously, he was a staff writer at Queen City Nerve, covering local government, social justice and workers’ rights in Charlotte, North Carolina. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 2021 as a Levine Scholar at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, where he studied Southern history and political science and was the opinion editor of the student paper. In 2019, Mather was awarded a fellowship through Humanity in Action, an international nonprofit, to study genocide in Berlin, Germany. He has worked in Norway, France and the United Kingdom, but calls Pittsboro, North Carolina home.

Sandra Sadek

Sandra Sadek reports on growth in Fort Worth, Texas and the communities impacted by it for the Fort Worth Report, a nonprofit news organization. Previously, Sadek reported local news for the Community Impact Newspaper in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and was the interim news editor of The Fort Stockton Pioneer newspaper in West Texas. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a minor in international studies from Texas State University, where she reported for the student paper. When she’s not reporting, Sadek enjoys learning languages and training in Taekwondo.

Trisha Ahmed

Trisha Ahmed is a Statehouse reporter in Minnesota for The Associated Press. Ahmed recently completed her master’s degree in journalism at the University of Maryland, where she also worked as an investigative and data reporter at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. She was part of a team that won an award from Investigative Reporters & Editors, along with the Innovator of the Year Award from the News Leaders Association, for uncovering how newspapers contributed to racial terror lynchings in the United States. Ahmed has worked at CNN as a digital production assistant, and before that, she was a field interviewer for poverty and inequality research labs in Maryland and California. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and social policy from Johns Hopkins University.

Abigail Nehring

Abigail Nehring covers commercial and residential real estate for The Riverdale Press, a news site and weekly paper in the northwest section of the Bronx, a borough of New York City. Previously, she reported on health and education for The New Bedford Light in her home state of Massachusetts. Nehring won a New York Press Club Award for her reporting in City Limits on an East Village landlord caught on tape illegally harassing tenants and, along with Julia Angwin, was a finalist for the John Jay/H.F. Guggenheim Prize for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting for their story on police use of stun grenades, known as flash-bangs, published by Propublica and The Atlantic. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in nonfiction writing from Columbia University and has also worked as a writing teacher, fact-checked magazine stories, and tended numerous varieties of thyme in a greenhouse.

Brittney Miller

Brittney J. Miller covers energy and the environment for The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Prior to this, Miller earned a master’s degree in science writing and communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. There, she wrote about anything science-related —international research, local environmental issues and more—through internships with Nature, Knowable Magazine and the Monterey Herald, and she was named a fellow at The Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and an ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation Scholar. Miller holds bachelor’s degrees in biology and journalism from the University of Florida, where her journalism career began at the college’s digital and radio news outlet, WUFT News. When she’s not typing or taking pictures, Miller loves hiking, gardening and cooking.

Crystal Niebla

Crystal Niebla is an investigative reporter focused on infrastructure and government accountability for inewsource, a nonprofit newsroom in San Diego. A second-year Report for America corps member, Niebla was a multimedia journalist at the Long Beach Post in Long Beach, California. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in sociology from The California State University, Long Beach, where she was the news editor of the student paper. Niebla grew up in South Los Angeles and realized early on that despite growing up in poverty, she could use fearless journalism to influence positive change in society.