2022-2023

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.

Maysoon Khan

Maysoon Khan covers the state government in Albany, New York for The Associated Press. Prior to joining the AP, she reported breaking news for The Boston Globe. She has also worked as a research assistant for the Globe’s Spotlight investigative team. Khan enjoys writing about a variety of subjects, and she is keen on uncovering stories that spark conversation and change. Khan hopes to pursue journalism internationally one day.

Raegan Miller

Raegan Miller covers communities—Alaska Native, Asian American and rural—in southeast Alaska for KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska. Previously, she was a reporter for the Ketchikan Daily News, covering the pandemic, the arts, education issues and business. Her stories on a tourism-driven road improvement project, a homegrown filmmaker's festival debut, and a hydroponic farm startup have appeared in publications around the U.S. and in Canada. Born and raised in Alaska, Miller studied at the University of Alaska Southeast. Her work has been featured in Tidal Echoes, the university’s literary and arts journal, and in "A Tether to This World,” a collection of essays, stories and poems.

Scott Carroll

Scott Carroll covers reparations, social justice, homelessness and related issues for the Asheville Watchdog, a nonprofit news organization based in Asheville, North Carolina. Prior to this, he worked at The News-Review in Roseburg, Oregon, where he was projects editor and reported on business and local government. He won nine awards from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association in 2021, including being named the best writer in the state. Carroll spent 17 years at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida, as a reporter and then an editor. He has a bachelor’s degree in American studies from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Florida.

Yujie Zhou

Yujie Zhou covers Bay Area tech companies and gig workers for Mission Local, an investigative news outlet based in San Francisco. Before falling in love with the city, she covered New York City’s Chinese community and studied politics in the midst of Hong Kong’s street clashes. Zhou holds a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and a bachelor’s degree in public policy and politics from City University of Hong Kong. She’s proud to be a bilingual journalist.

Ari Fife

Ari Fife covers issues of race and equity across the state for Oklahoma Watch, a nonprofit investigative newsroom based in Oklahoma City. A recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma, she holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism with minors in political science and international studies. While there, Fife worked for the OU Daily, the student publication, as a senior reporter, managing editor and summer editor-in-chief, and she interned at The Frontier, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in Oklahoma. Fife has studied Spanish for about seven years and is eager to improve her skills.

Chase Cofield

Chase Cofield covers the rural communities surrounding Victoria, Texas as staff photographer for the Victoria Advocate. Before joining Report for America, Cofield worked on the photo desk at The Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s independent student newspaper, covering a variety of stories ranging from sports to local communities. Cofield also was a staff photographer for Coulture Magazine, a student-run fashion magazine. He shadowed photographers on assignments for Indy Week and was a 2021 summer fellow for Education NC, where he documented and photographed summer school programs in North Carolina. Cofield enjoys DJing and music production. He was a DJ for his campus radio station, WXYC 89.3, and co-coordinated one of their specialty shows, New Science Experience.

Emily Capetillo

Emily Capetillo covers housing challenges in Denver, Colorado for KOA radio, a news, talk and sports station. A first-generation college graduate, she recently earned her degree at the University of North Texas. As a podcast intern at KERA, the NPR affiliate based in Dallas and serving North Texas, Capetillo wrote and narrated for “Consider This.” She is a native of South Texas, and got her start in journalism in college when she covered local news in Denton, Texas, including stories about affordable housing, decriminalization of marijuana, nonprofits and COVID-19. In her spare time, Capetillo enjoys cooking, taking care of her plants and journaling.

Isabel Hicks

Isabel Hicks reports on the future of agriculture for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. A graduate of Colorado College with a degree in environmental studies and journalism, Hicks was the editor-in-chief of her college paper. Throughout her journalism career, she has strived to tell stories about human relationships with the environment. Born and raised in Denver, Hicks worked on an organic farm in Carbondale, Colorado, where she became well-versed in challenges facing food systems in the Rocky Mountain West. While working on the farm Hicks also freelanced for Carbondale’s local paper, earning front-page coverage for her environmental reporting. Hicks also wrote a weekly newsletter about COVID-19 impacts to higher education, producing work that was featured in the New York Times, USA Today, and the Colorado Sun. In her free time, Hicks enjoys fostering kittens, hiking and tending to her many houseplants.

Jorge Garcia

Jorge Garcia is a bilingual multimedia journalist for the Visalia Times-Delta in Visalia, California. He hails from Los Angeles, and his passion for storytelling and amplifying the voices of disenfranchised communities are several reasons why he pursued a journalism career. A graduate of California State University, Los Angeles, with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, Garcia has produced video, audio, text, and photojournalism work for various news outlets, including the University Times, Cal State’s student paper, and KQBH radio, and as an intern for EdSource and the Los Angeles Times. He enjoys playing soccer and collecting vintage vinyl records.