WRITING

Mariah Thomas

Mariah Thomas covers education and workforce development in Ashland, Ohio, for the Ashland Source. Thomas recently completed her bachelor's in journalism and political science at the University of Montana, where she served on the editorial board of the student newspaper, the Montana Kaimin. At the Kaimin, Thomas focused on gender discrimination lawsuits, sports, budget cuts and the state Legislature's impact on college students. She was part of a team that produced "In the Crosshairs," a project funded by the Poynter Institute to examine a bill in Montana that would have put guns on college campuses. While at the University of Montana, Thomas traveled to Northern Ireland with the school's Journalism Abroad program and reported on domestic violence rates there. She served on her school's Accessibility, Equity and Inclusion Student Council. Thomas completed an internship with her hometown newspaper, the Helena Independent Record, where she covered everything from education to music festivals. That internship also gave Thomas a chance to work with the Montana State News Bureau, one of the leading newsrooms covering Montana politics, where she produced a series looking at the Democratic party's future in the state following its down-ballot losses in the 2020 election. Thomas values community service, and worked as the president of her university's Honors Student Association to coordinate volunteer opportunities for her peers in Missoula.

Daniel Walters

Daniel Walters covers the far right, the radical left and the beleaguered democratic institutions caught in the middle for InvestigateWest, an investigative nonprofit in the Pacific Northwest. He previously spent 15 years as a reporter for the Inlander, the alt-weekly in Spokane, Washington, where he’s covered a slew of different beats, including city hall, politics, religion, business, and education. In that role, he won first-place national alt-weekly awards for extremism reporting with his 2020 cover story about the rise of vigilantism; for immigration reporting with his harrowing account of an Afghan's failed attempt to escape his country after it fell to the Taliban; for education reporting with his exposé of Idaho's failure to send its high school graduates to college; and for food writing for his deeply reported explanation of exactly why amateur chefs shouldn’t set their laptop on a hot stove burner. Before that, he was a student at Whitworth University, where, as opinions editor for his college paper, he banned his writers from using semicolons.

Marissa Greene

Marissa Greene covers faith and religion in Tarrant County, Texas, for the Fort Worth Report. Previously, Greene was an audience fellow for The Texas Tribune, where she wrote an explanatory article about the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and produced Instagram and Twitter posts ahead of the state’s midterm elections. Greene got her start in journalism at Austin Community College, where she spearheaded the college’s student media organization. She reported how Winter Storm Uri underscored power concerns for an Asian American community as an Austin PBS intern. Her love for local reporting led her to internships with Austin and Dallas NPR member stations. She's a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, and has been the co-host and a producer of “Hi, How Are You?” a music and mental health podcast.

Daniel Zawodny

Daniel Zawodny covers transportation in Baltimore and its surrounding communities for The Baltimore Banner. Before joining The Banner, Daniel covered immigration and immigrant issues at the local, national and international levels as an independent journalist while working in the field of immigration law. He is fluent in Spanish and bachata and would really like to pet your dog.

Meredith Melland

Meredith Melland is the community engagement and neighborhoods reporter for Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Before returning to her home state and joining the newsroom, she covered COVID-19 and other topics, edited stories and managed the website and social media of the Daily Journal in Kankakee, Illinois as the newspaper’s digital content editor. During her college years interning in Chicago, Melland fact-checked articles in Chicago magazine, wrote digital stories at WGN and did a bit of everything as an editorial intern at StreetWise. Melland holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from DePaul University, where she developed a keen interest in local community journalism. While on staff as a web developer and editor at 14 East, DePaul's online student magazine, she reported multimedia stories and earned an SPJ Region 5 Mark of Excellence Award with reporter Marin Scott for in-depth reporting on a professor of color’s termination and attempt to gain tenure at DePaul. Melland got her first taste of reporting and newsroom bonding at her high school’s publication, The Norse Star.

Elijah de Castro

Elijah de Castro is a reporter covering rural communities for The People-Sentinel, a locally owned paper in Barnwell, South Carolina. Born and raised in semi-rural Upstate New York, he has reported on issues like climate change, poverty and infrastructure that affect families in his hometown of Trumansburg. While earning a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ithaca College, he broke major stories about the college's presidential compensation, and the college's decision to install artificial turf in its stadium despite health and environmental concerns. He also interned for The Progressive magazine, where he reported on Azerbaijan's genocidal blockade of the Armenian region of Artsakh, and how utility companies are fighting the transition to renewable energy.

Michael J. Collins

Michael J. Collins covers K-12 and higher education in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for Bowling Green Daily News' daily print publication. Collins sees public education as essential to a healthy democracy and believes it often goes under appreciated. Prior to working at BGDN, he attended Western Kentucky University and worked at its school newspaper, the College Heights Herald. Starting his first year with no prior experience, Collins went from general reporting to Editor-in-Chief by junior year, earning the paper two Pacemaker awards in 2022. His first print publication as Editor-in-Chief covered the devastation brought on by Bowling Green's December 2021 tornadoes. He spent his summers working at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, covering general multimedia stories, at Louisville Public Media's WFPL radio station, writing and producing radio news segments, and at the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, exploring rising costs in Kentucky prison commissaries and judicial oversight laws. He graduated with a B.A. in journalism in 2023.

Hannah Bassett

Hannah Bassett covers health disparities in Arizona for the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. Prior to her career in journalism, Bassett worked for the federal government and nonprofits writing about public health, immigration and press freedom in the United States and abroad. Bassett holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Tufts University and a master's degree in journalism from Stanford University.

Michaela Rush

Michaela Rush covers the south and west neighborhoods of Dallas for the Dallas Free Press, a nonprofit news organization. Prior to joining RFA and DFP, Rush worked at The Battalion student newspaper at Texas A&M, most recently as the editor-in-chief, covering campus news, local businesses, student organizations and LGBTQ+ topics. Rush will graduate in May 2023 with a degree in English and minor in Spanish. Outside of journalism, she plays several instruments, and is a self-proclaimed "band nerd."

Hiram Alejandro Durán

Hiram Alejandro Durán covers Latino and Mayan communities as a photojournalist for El Tímpano. He's from the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez border region. Although he is fourth-generation Mexican-American, Durán is the first person in his family to be raised and educated in the U.S. Before moving to New York City in 2018, he worked as a shoe salesman while studying Media Advertising and Marketing at the University of Texas at El Paso. He joined the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism with the intention of becoming a print reporter. But after auditing an intro to photojournalism course, he discovered the power of photography as a storytelling tool. His photography has won awards, and his work has been featured in the New York Times, the Marshall Project, the Pulitzer Center, Imprint News, Riverdale Press, The City, Bklyner and the Mail & Guardian in Johannesburg, South Africa.