Julie Luchetta

Julie Luchetta is a reporter for Boise State Public Radio, covering Idaho's growing Latino population. She has interned as a breaking news reporter for The Arizona Republic, and is a recent graduate of the University of Arizona School of Journalism, where she focused her work on environmental journalism and audio reporting. Born and raised in France, Luchetta moved to the U.S. to study the borderlands of Arizona. Before becoming a reporter, she worked in research and social services, most recently supporting LGBTQ+ folks experiencing homelessness. Luchetta spends her free time recommending podcasts to people who did not ask for podcast recommendations.

Kayla Young

Kayla Young is a bilingual reporter covering immigration, race and equity for WFAE, an NPR member station in Charlotte, North Carolina, and La Noticia, the state’s biggest Spanish-language paper. Young grew up in Greeley, Colorado and for the past five years she has lived in Grand Cayman, reported for the Cayman Compass newspaper, and worked as a freelancer for the Center for Investigative Journalism, The Economist Intelligence Unit and ABC News. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin, Young moved to Santiago, Chile, where she covered student protests and breaking news. Since then, she has reported on South Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S.

Lucy Grindon

Lucy Grindon reports on low-income rural communities for North Country Public Radio in northern New York state. A recent graduate of Columbia University, she holds a master’s degree from the School of Journalism, where she covered education for Uptown Radio, documented responses to the war in Ukraine at Ukrainian Orthodox churches, and produced written and audio stories on local news, music and food. Grindon has worked for Commonweal magazine and her reporting for the National Catholic Reporter won a Catholic Press Award for best reporting of social justice issues. At Middlebury College, she studied history and Arabic, reported for The Middlebury Campus and was an opinion editor, and hosted two radio shows.

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.

Michael Livingston

Michael Livingston covers four rural counties in northern Michigan for Michigan’s Interlochen Public Radio and the Traverse City Record-Eagle. A recent graduate of Central Michigan University with bachelor’s degrees in journalism and international relations, Livingston was editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, Central Michigan Life, and won multiple awards with the rest of his staff. He has interned at WCMU Public Radio/Michigan newspaper collaborations.

Aaron Bonderson

Aaron Bonderson is a multimedia journalist covering the news in underserved communities for Nebraska Public Media, the state’s NPR and PBS stations. A recent graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism. While there, Bonderson interned as a general assignment reporter at Nebraska Public Media, covering agriculture, business, COVID-19, the environment and more. He has also worked as a sportscaster for KRNU, the university’s radio station, and as a reporter, producer, and sportscaster at KTCH radio in Wayne, Nebraska.

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.

Amy Diaz

Amy Diaz covers education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD, the state’s charter NPR affiliate, which covers 32 counties. Previously, Diaz wrote about local government and the police for Flint Beat, a hyperlocal news site in Flint, Michigan, and her work won awards from the Michigan Press Association. Diaz got her start in journalism in elementary school, writing the scripts for the morning news. Holding a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, where she was a staff writer for the college paper, Diaz has interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times.

Sofia Gratas

Sofia Gratas is the rural health care reporter at Georgia Public Broadcasting in Macon, Georgia. She started working in public radio as an intern with NPR-affiliate station WUGA in Athens, Georgia, and later interned with Georgia Public Broadcasting. A graduate of the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in ecology, Gratas worked at the student-run paper, The Red & Black, in multiple roles covering local government, crime, economics and food and drink.

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.