2023-2024

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.

Riley Rogerson

Riley Rogerson is based in Washington, D.C. and covers Alaska's congressional delegation for the Anchorage Daily News. Prior to joining the ADN, Rogerson was earning her bachelor’s degree at Georgetown University with majors in history and government. Her love of journalism started as a reporter for Georgetown’s student newspaper, The Hoya, where she worked her way up to editor-in-chief. Rogerson has interned for her hometown paper, the Bucks County Courier Times in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, covering police, politics, preschools and more. She has also reported for Philadelphia magazine, the Investigative Reporting Workshop and Public Health Watch.

Teresa Homsi

Teresa Homsi is an environmental reporter in northern Michigan for WCMU public radio, which is based in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Homsi covers rural environmental issues, and their intersection with public health and Michigan commerce. Holding a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University in environmental studies, journalism and anthropology, she was a beat reporter for Central Michigan Life, the student paper, and interned for the Huron Daily Tribune and for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s superfund program. Homsi helped start her university’s sustainability office, and implemented projects, policy and programming. Her work has gained national and international recognition from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Caroline Love

Caroline Love is the Collin County reporter at KERA in North Texas, an NPR affiliate station and the leader of The Texas Newsroom, a public radio journalism collaboration across the state. Previously, Love covered daily news at Houston's NPR station, Houston Public Media. She holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University—with an emphasis on investigative social justice journalism—where she reported feature stories that aired on KERA and the Texas Standard. In her free time, she enjoys bullet journaling and attempting to recreate the recipes she finds on TikTok.

Gabe Stern

Gabe Stern covers state legislature and midterm elections in Nevada for The Associated Press. Before joining the AP, he reported for the Tampa Bay Times and ABC News as an intern. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University, where he spent much of 2020 and 2021 covering COVID-19 in New York prisons for The Daily Orange, the student-run newspaper. His investigative reporting won first place in the Hearst Journalism Awards. Stern has also interned at Florida’s Naples Daily News and the News-Press in Fort Myers. In his free time he loves exploring new cities and trails.

Jake Shore

Jake Shore covers criminal justice in Savannah and coastal Georgia for The Current, a nonprofit news outlet based in Savannah. Prior to joining The Current, Shore worked as a senior writer for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette papers near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, covering breaking news, crime, courts and police. He reported on the Murdaugh saga, police misconduct and crime trends, and did a series on the rise of drivers suspended for being unable to pay their back traffic tickets. The series won several South Carolina Press Association awards in 2021. Shore graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx, where he got his start in journalism working as a radio reporter for the NPR-affiliate station WFUV. He hails from sunny California and misses In-N-Out Burger. In his free time, Shore runs and likes to read fiction. He’s currently seeking recommendations for fantasy and sci-fi novels.

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.

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.

Riley Board

Riley Board covers rural communities on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula for KDLL public radio, an NPR affiliate serving the central Kenai Peninsula. A recent graduate of Middlebury College, where she studied linguistics, English literature and German, Board was editor-in-chief of The Middlebury Campus, the student newspaper, and completed work as a Kellogg Fellow, doing independent linguistics research. She has interned at the Burlington Free Press, covering the early days of the pandemic’s effects on Vermont communities, and at Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife, where she wrote about culture and folklife in Washington D.C. and beyond. Board hails from Sarasota, Florida.

Theo Peck-Suzuki

Theo Peck-Suzuki covers childhood poverty in southeast Ohio for WOUB Public Media, a PBS and NPR affiliate based in Athens, Ohio. A recent graduate with a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio University, Peck-Suzuki interned with WOUB as a multimedia reporter. Previously, he worked to advance sustainable community development in Appalachian Ohio with the nonprofit Rural Action, and studied cultural anthropology at Brown University and The University of Chicago. His desire to write about people in a way that would be meaningful to those outside the academic world is what led him to become a journalist. In his free time, he writes creatively and plays guitar.