Midwest

Grant Ritchey

Prior to joining the Racine County Eye, Grant Ritchey covered K-12 education at Knox Pages in Ohio for three years, writing solutions-journalism-focused stories on Knox County's public schools. He also covered local government and crime at the Ashland Times-Gazette.

Wendy Todd

Wendy Todd is a St. Louis-based writer and reporter.. Prior to joining The St. Louis American, she worked for Community News, a hyperlocal newspaper in St. Louis covering North St. Louis. Her previous experience includes writing for the University of Missouri–St. Louis news site and quarterly magazine, and handling communications for various nonprofits. After freelancing for years writing culture pieces for outlets including Ebony.com, HuffPost and The Washington Post, Todd joined St. Louis Public Radio as a social media coordinator, creating content focused on socioeconomic disparities among African Americans in St. Louis, with additional news reporting. She earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Todd also completed fellowships with the Maynard Institute of Journalism Education and the Google News Initiative.

Theo Wells-Spackman

Theo Wells-Spackman covers economic inequality in Vermont for VTDigger, where he previously reported on education, floods, and general news as an intern. Prior to joining that newsroom, he was production intern for the Trenton Project, a documentary series diving into the local history and culture of Trenton, New Jersey. He has also worked as a research intern for Facing History and Ourselves. His journalistic work began in high school, when he worked on a documentary covering gender bias in Vermont public schools for the program “What’s the Story?” He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Princeton University, where he was a producer and editor for the podcast section at the Daily Princetonian. He is from Weybridge, Vermont.

Dylan Eubank

Dylan Eubank is a 2025 graduate of Brigham Young University, where he currently serves as editor-in-chief of The Daily Universe. He previously worked as a senior reporter, covering a range of campus and community issues. Dylan is passionate about exploring other cultures, learning new languages and traveling all over the world. He spent several years living in Europe, where he learned and studied both Russian and Lithuanian. Dylan aims to pursue a career in journalism that highlights global perspectives, different faiths and brings attention to underrepresented communities both locally and internationally.

Ellen Schmidt

Ellen Schmidt is a visual journalist born and based in Minnesota. She comes from a newspaper background after several internships and five years as a staff photojournalist in Las Vegas, Nevada. A graduate of the University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism, she started her career working as a reporter, photographer and multimedia editor at the Minnesota Daily student newspaper. Her work seeks to visualize home, capture emotion and record moments that help people relate to one another.

Jolan Kruse

Prior to joining Buffalo's Fire, Jolan Kruse interned with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and WISN Channel 12 News, where she covered Milwaukee schools, breaking news and the Republican National Convention. She most recently reported on Second Look Legislation and Juvenile Life Without Parole laws for the O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism. Jolan was part of the Marquette University class of 2025, graduating with honors in journalism and social welfare and justice. She also studied abroad in South Africa where she immersed herself in the local community as a volunteer teaching 4th-grade English while taking classes at the University of Western Cape.

Jonathan Aguilar

Before joining Milwaukee Neighborhood News, Jonathan Aguilar was a photojournalist for The Blade in Toledo, OH. As a bilingual multimedia journalist, he was first inspired by a trip to Mexico in 2017 and he has been telling stories with his camera ever since. He attended DePaul University for his bachelor’s degree in journalism and attended the Medill School of Journalism for a master’s degree in journalism. Aguilar’s passion for visibility through journalism led him to help establish the National Association of Hispanic Journalists at DePaul University and he helped establish the first Spanish-speaking newsroom at DePaul University.

Gabrielle Nelson

Before joining Buffalo's Fire, Gabrielle Nelson worked as an environmental reporting intern at the nonprofit publication Bridge Michigan, covering climate change, renewable energy and the Great Lakes. At Bridge, she broke the story on an International Energy Forum report about a looming copper shortage, which prompted discussion in the mining and EV industries. Nelson loves learning something new with every environmental story she writes, but before she found this love for environmental journalism, she wrote for her college radio station, Impact89FM, covering entertainment news. She also trained as a live DJ for the station where she often played songs by Pearl Jam and Coldplay. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in journalism and minors in global studies and gender studies. Nelson hopes to combine her love of environmental journalism with her narrative writing style from entertainment news to tell the stories of North Dakota's indigenous communities and their deep ties to the land at Buffalo's Fire.

Molly Wetsch

Molly Wetsch covers Indigenous and rural communities in South Dakota for South Dakota News Watch. Before joining News Watch, Wetsch was an editorial intern for Forbes, working on the Contributor Network contributing to breaking news and the Forbes 50 Over 50 list. She began her journalism career in high school, where she wrote a monthly column and covered local business news for Sioux Falls. Business. She holds a bachelor's degree in global business from Trinity College, Dublin and served as deputy editor of the University Times, the student newspaper and deputy editor of the Trinity Business Review. Though Wetsch lived abroad for four years, she's a proud South Dakota native and passionate about Indigenous and rural communities.

Zoe Lewis

Zoe Lewis is a 2025 journalism graduate from Murray State University. She has been passionate about journalism since she was a curious, young girl watching the morning news. Prior to joining Southeast Missourian, she worked at WKMS, an NPR affiliate radio station, during her college career where she has reported on government and politics, criminal justice and education. She recently received 13th place for the Hearst Journalism Awards Program in the audio competition for her work at WKMS. Lewis loves to read, watch movies and play with her dog.