2025-2026

Lillian Avedian

Lillian Avedian covers education for the Nashville Banner. She is a former assistant editor and staff writer at the Armenian Weekly, where she reported on international politics, women’s rights, and diasporic identity. Her writing and reporting on the Middle East, North Africa, Russia, and the Caucasus has been published in Democracy in Exile, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Hetq, and Girls on Key Press, among other outlets. She has traveled to Morocco to report on the rise of women DJs and LGBTQ rights and to Armenia to cover the regional conflict and displacement crisis. Avedian holds master’s degrees in journalism and Near Eastern studies from New York University and bachelor’s degrees in peace and conflict studies and Slavic studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She is also a published poet with a deep love for Armenian feminist poetry.

Reuben M. Schafir

Reuben M. Schafir covers Indigenous communities in Maine for the Portland Press Herald. He previously covered the county government and the environmental beats for the Durango Herald. There, he reported on environmental threats to water in Southwest Colorado, covered the state’s two federally recognized tribes and ensured accountability and transparency on the part of governments and elected officials. He won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association and the Top of the Rockies Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for his reporting on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s experimenting with water-efficient crops, who is harmed when insurance companies and health systems don’t get along, innovative wildfire management practices, election coverage and more. When he’s not working sources, Reuben is an explorer of all things outdoors and likes pickin’ tunes on string instruments.

Vahini Shori

Before joining WBHM, Vahini Shori was a graduate student at Columbia Journalism School, where she reported on arts, culture, ethics, and criminal justice. Her love for audio blossomed while working at Kaleidoscope, a podcast studio based in New York, where she helped produce narrative documentaries on Amazonian chocolate, Afghan musicians, and turbulent space missions. She graduated from Rutgers University with degrees in Political Science and Critical Intelligence. As a proud New Jerseyan, “The Sopranos” is her comfort show. Vahini enjoys reading, creating Spotify playlists, and learning new recipes.

Áine Pennello

Prior to joining Connecticut Public, Áine Pennello was a reporter and Morning Edition newscaster at WUFT in North Central Florida. She has a background in video journalism and documentary filmmaking, producing films and series for Soledad O’Brien Productions, Netflix, HBO Films and more. She is a graduate of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Debadrita Sur

Before joining Report for America, Debaditra Sur graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, where she reported on housing and homelessness, and co-produced a short documentary on food insecurity in the South Bronx. After graduating, she joined The Buffalo News as a general assignment reporter, covering daily breaking news and long-term enterprise stories on pedestrian safety, homelessness in Erie County, and Jewish and Arab families in Western New York reacting to the Middle East conflict. She later joined Reach PLC in New York City, where she worked on tight deadlines to cover the Trump administration. She grew up in Kolkata, India, and completed her undergraduate degree in English literature from Presidency University, while also working for a London-based cultural magazine, Far Out, on the side. When she's not reporting, Sur makes adventure bucket lists or plays with her cat, Mountain Dew.

Lyric Aquino

Aquino is an award-winning multimedia journalist with a passion for writing about all things relating to science, the environment and Indian Country. Originally from Ohio, she is a proud member of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo with ancestry from Isleta Pueblo and the Jicarilla Apache Nation. She earned two bachelor’s degrees, in anthropology and journalism, from Kent State University. Aquino holds a master’s degree in science, health and environmental journalism from New York University, where she worked as editor-in-chief for Scienceline and as a science writing intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Prior to joining Underscore Native News, Aquino held a fellowship at Grist, where she reported on climate change and global Indigenous affairs. One of Aquino’s passions is reporting on the intersection of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science, as well as Indigenous litigation and issues. In her spare time, she can be found fawning over reptiles, geeking out over Lord of the Rings and exploring her surroundings.

Sarah Dolgin

Before joining the Fauquier Times, Sarah Dolgin covered local and statewide politics for the Chattanooga Times Free Press and launched a weekly politics newsletter. She started at the Times Free Press as a digital producer and journalist on the newspaper's web team. As a college newsroom intern for Central Current, Dolgin reported on the stories of Ukrainian refugees who left their homes at the start of the war and stayed with families in Central New York. She holds a dual bachelor's degree in newspaper and online journalism and information management and technology from Syracuse University.

Amélie Horace

Prior to joining WUSF as an Audience Engagement producer, Amélie Horace reported on local news in Macon, Georgia. As a journalism student at Mercer University, she worked for the Macon Newsroom, Georgia Public Broadcasting, Macon Magazine, Macon Arts Alliance, and interned with local TV station 13WMAZ. She has covered local businesses, breaking news, community events, student programs, local and federal government proceedings, court cases, and profiles. In her senior year of college, she started a podcast on Waffle House stories, set to launch in 2025. She earned her bachelor's in journalism from Mercer University and was the campus news editor of The Cluster, the student newspaper.

Alex Cox

Alex Cox is a graduate from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. They worked at a variety of newsrooms in the Missouri News Network, with their primary newsroom being KBIA, the NPR affiliate for Mid-Missouri. In their many jobs, they've wore many hats, but their favorite type of reporting is working with audio and data. They believe in trying to take themselves out of the story as much as possible to let their sources tell the story.

Dilpreet Raju

Before joining Illinois Times, Dilpreet Raju reported on disparity in Illinois through a variety of topics including public health, criminal justice policy, and a burgeoning marijuana industry for Capitol News Illinois as a reporting fellow. His stories and photos were picked up by dozens of outlets, including some neighboring state media. Raju's passion for journalism began in high school while focusing on arts writing. He went on to graduate from American University in Washington, D.C. with a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry. While studying for his bachelor's, he worked all four years on The Eagle, a student newspaper. Raju then pursued more journalism education, earning a master's degree in journalism with a special focus on health, environment, and science from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He held editing positions in both undergraduate and graduate publications.