2022-2023

Xcaret Nuñez

Xcaret Nuñez covers agriculture and rural communities for KOSU, an NPR affiliate in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Nuñez was a Missouri Statehouse reporter for the Missouri News Network, and has worked at KBIA, the NPR affiliate in Columbia, Missouri, as a reporter, producer and anchor where she covered the community and education beats. A first-generation college graduate, she holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in religious studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Nuñez is originally from Yuma, Arizona, the Southwest city known as the “Lettuce Capital of the World” and “Sunniest City on Earth.”

Andrea Briseño

Andrea Briseño is an investigative reporter at inewsource, a nonprofit news outlet in San Diego, California. She is fluent in Spanish and covers K-12 education with a focus on Latino families. Previously, Briseño was the equity/underserved communities reporter at The Modesto Bee, where she shed light on communities and issues that had gone underreported in Stanislaus County, California. She also partnered with McClatchy Company staffers from across California to produce Spanish written articles and La Abeja, The Bee’s weekly newsletter centered on topics important to Latinos. A Fresno native, Briseño began her journalism career at The Rampage and The Fresno Bee. She is a graduate of Palomar College community college and San Jose State University.

Casey Murray

Casey Murray is a data reporter covering health and criminal justice at The Sacramento Observer, which serves the Black community in Sacramento, California and beyond. Previously, she covered breaking news and helped to develop podcasts at KSHB, an NBC affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri. As a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Murray covered health and did newscasts for KBIA, an NPR affiliate, reported for the Missouri Broadcasters Association, and hosted an entrepreneurship podcast for Missouri Business Alert. She has interned at Politico Europe, where she managed social media platforms and assisted with data projects.

Ellis Juhlin

Ellis Juhlin covers Montana government and the legislative session as the Statehouse reporter for Yellowstone Public Radio. Previously, Juhlin was a science reporter for Utah Public Radio. With a background in natural resources and wildlife management, Juhlin began her journalism career as a graduate student at Utah State University where she realized her passion for science communication and started working with Utah Public Radio to translate complex environmental issues for listeners across the state. She holds a master’s degree in ecology from Utah State University and a bachelor’s from the University of California, San Diego. An avid birder, Juhlin also loves to go hiking with her two rescue dogs.

Iris Kwok

Iris Kwok reports on climate and transportation for Berkeleyside, a nonprofit digital news site that covers Berkeley and the East Bay in California. As a freelance journalist, she has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, Sfgate, a news site, and KQED public media, covering stories about race and diversity, music, and their intersection. Kwok was a 2021 Asian American Journalists Association Voices fellow, where she reported on the exodus of journalists of color from the news industry. A recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Kwok studied political science, music and journalism. Outside of journalism, she is a cellist with an affinity for cats and foggy weather.

Joni Hess

Joni Hess covers the quickly developing communities of St. Tammany Parish for The Times- Picayune and The Advocate, a news organization in New Orleans. Hess is a native of New Orleans, which sits on the south shore of St. Tammany. Previously, she was a U.S. reporting fellow for a global media organization, openDemocracy, where she covered the imprisonment of Cameroon asylum seekers, discrepancies in Black maternal health care, and infringements on women and LGBTQI rights. As a freelancer, Hess received a reporting grant from New America to cover the lack of access to paid leave policies for families. Her feature appeared in The Lily, a publication of The Washington Post. Hess graduated from Xavier University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and went on to earn a master’s in social work.

Lara Nicholson

Lara Nicholson covers the Florida Parishes in southeast Louisiana for The Advocate, one of Louisiana’s largest publications. A recent graduate of Louisiana State University, Nicholson holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science, and was editor-in-chief of The Reveille, the student-run paper. She is a native of Baton Rouge, and has interned twice at The Advocate. Her reporting has taken her to the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, where she spent three days covering the escape of Cara, a 12-foot, 100-pound albino Burmese python, who snuck out of her aquarium in the middle of the night.

Maria Gardner Lara

Maria Gardner Lara reports on the issues affecting the growing Latino community in DeKalb, Illinois for Northern Public Radio, a member station of NPR that’s based in DeKalb. Previously, Gardner Lara reported on state politics and policy for the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. As an intern for the Laredo Morning Times, she reported on issues at the U.S.-Mexico border, international trade and immigrant rights’ protests. She holds a master’s degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield, and a bachelor’s in sociology from the University of Illinois Chicago.

Rachel Hellman

Rachel Hellman reports on the challenges and opportunities in Vermont’s small towns for Seven Days, a weekly paper and news site based in Burlington, Vermont. Previously, Hellman was a freelance journalist and her writing, which focused on the societal and environmental impact of climate change, appeared in The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Fortune, and U.S. News & World Report. As an intern for CBS News, Hellman assisted in producing a groundbreaking nationwide investigation into the changes that police departments in the U.S. have made over the past five years regarding race and policing. Since graduating magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 2020, she has worked on a carpentry team for the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, on an all-women farm crew in central Vermont, and as a commercial pie baker in Brooklyn, New York.

Sarah Lapidus

Sarah Lapidus covers rural communities in southern Arizona for The Arizona Republic, the largest news outlet in the Southwest. Previously, she was a general reporter in rural Alaska for the Kodiak Daily Mirror. Lapidus has traveled around the world, and speaks French and Spanish fluently, and basic Mandarin. She is a graduate of Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in French, and studied journalism at City College of San Francisco. Her reporting on local politics, policing and housing issues has appeared in a number of San Francisco publications. As an intern at The Bogotá Post in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, Lapidus reported on general news, indie music and the Colombian peace process.