Our Fellows
Class of 2023-2025 | Class of 2024-2026
Class of 2023-2025
Tinashe Chingarande
Tinashe hails from Harare, Zimbabwe. She grew up in Botswana, Zimbabwe and the United States, and now lives in Maryland. She has written for the Washington Blade, AFRO American Newspapers, and the Capital News Service. She has a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Columbia College in Missouri and a master’s degree from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. She has also worked as an account manager at a marketing firm, managing a team of designers, copywriters, videographers and photographers.
Nuha Dolby
Nuha grew up in New York City, spending childhood summers in Bangladesh. Her reporting has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Politico and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and she has received scholarships from the Overseas Press Club and the American Copy Editors Society. She received her bachelor’s degree in English literature and mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she held roles at one of the student newspapers, the literary criticism magazine, and the magazine of the APIDA Heritage Month Planning Committee.
Claire Heddles
Claire was born in France and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. She got her start in news at The Advocate magazine and earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California with a scholarship from NLGJA: The National Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists. She also has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and minor in economics from Azusa Pacific University. Claire has interned for NPR’s national desk, and her reporting has appeared on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” In recent years, Claire has covered local government and education at NPR member stations in East Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida.
Ben T.N. Mause
Ben was born in Baltimore and moved to Danville, Alabama, before his first birthday. He received a bachelor’s degree from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, where he majored in communications and was a resident assistant. He recently served as the staff writer at The Moulton Advertiser, covering the arrival of a $1.1 billion solar facility, a decades-old murder case, the 2022 elections, and much more. He has also been a contributor to The Decatur Daily, The Sand Mountain Reporter and Fansided’s Tomahawk Take.
Casey Murray
Casey was born and raised in Dallas. She has worked as a data reporter for The Sacramento Observer via Report for America and as a digital producer at KSHB 41 in Kansas City. At the University of Missouri, she studied journalism and English with a minor in economics, and did everything from radio journalism for KBIA, the local NPR affiliate, to sketch comedy. She has also taught creative writing and worked for a literary magazine, and currently runs a podcast about books with friends from Kansas City.
Calen Razor
Calen was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public policy. He has worked as a production assistant at News 12 Connecticut — where he assisted in writing the daily newscasts, including coverage of the state’s 2022 gubernatorial election and breaking news events such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade — and as an editorial intern at Men’s Health. He also produced multimedia stories for the 2021 National Association of Black Journalists Convention.
John T. Seward
John was born in Florida, grew up in Texas, and now lives in Reston, Virginia. After graduating from West Point with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, he served as an artillery officer in the U.S. Army for seven years, which took him all over the United States. He then earned his master’s degree in journalism at American University and worked at The National Desk as an investigative journalist.
Katherine Swartz
Katherine was born and raised in Ripon, California. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a double major in global studies and film and media studies. At UCSB, she served as editor in chief of the Daily Nexus student newspaper. Since moving to Washington in 2022, she has worked as an intern covering politics for both USA Today and National Public Radio. She has also interned for Here & Now, NPR’s national afternoon program, and most recently was the energy and environment reporter at National Journal.
Class of 2024-2026
Mark Alfred
Mark was born and raised in San Diego. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he majored in political science and minored in labor studies. As the university news editor of the Daily Nexus student newspaper, he covered local unionization efforts, student housing shortages and campus leadership — reporting that was awarded Best News Series statewide by the California College Media Association in 2023 and 2024. Mark also has been a contributing writer for Noozhawk and an intern at the Pacific Coast Business Times and The Daily Beast.
Torrence Banks
Torrence grew up in Nashville. He received his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College, where he majored in English and minored in journalism, and received his graduate degree from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. He has worked with the University of Maryland’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism on multiple projects — including an investigation into historical newspaper coverage of lynchings and racial torture and stories about the risks and rewards of youth tackle football. His reporting has also appeared in the Miami Herald, Afro-American Newspapers and Capital News Service. In the summer of 2024, he interned at U.S. News & World Report.
Amelia Benavides-Colón
Amelia grew up in Detroit. She received her bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University, where she majored in journalism and minored in global studies. At WSU, she was editor in chief of The South End, the student newspaper. She has interned at The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and Crain’s Detroit Business, and she has contributed to the Detroit-based publications Outlier Media and El Central, as well as Eater Detroit and Planet Detroit. At each internship, Amelia contributed stories reflecting the experiences of minority communities, covering topics such as social determinants of health and problems with a municipal ID program. In the summer of 2024, she interned at The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Shifra Dayak
Shifra was born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. She recently graduated from the University of Maryland with a dual bachelor’s degree in journalism and environmental science and policy. She spent almost four years working for The Diamondback, the student newspaper, where she covered an ex-mayor’s arrest, fraud in student government elections, campus protests amid violence in Palestine and Israel, and more. She has also reported for Capital News Service, the University of Maryland’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, The Frederick News-Post and Stars and Stripes. In the summer of 2024, she interned at the Connecticut Mirror.
Helen Huiskes
Helen was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She received her bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College in Illinois, majoring in English writing and minoring in international relations. She spent three years as editor in chief of The Wheaton Record, the student newspaper, where she covered breaking news, faculty cuts and campus debates over race. She also redesigned the paper’s digital format after a pandemic shift to mostly online publishing. Helen has interned at the Portland-based alt-weekly Willamette Week and The Chronicle of Higher Education in D.C., and her work has appeared in Christianity Today.
Violet Jira
Violet was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Cleveland, Mississippi, a small town in the Mississippi Delta. She recently received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi, where she majored in journalism and philosophy and minored in English. She was editor in chief of The Daily Mississippian, where she oversaw reporting on a gubernatorial race, local housing issues and AI’s impact on higher education. She wrote a range of stories for the paper, including in-depth pieces on Mississippi’s Medical Cannabis Program rollout. She has also covered Starkville, Mississippi, as an intern for The Commercial Dispatch.
Emily Kennard
Emily grew up in Arkansas. She recently graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with degrees in political science and journalism. At UCA, she served as editor in chief of The Echo, the weekly student newspaper, where she reported on topics including COVID-19 policies, compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the arrests and trials of students protesting for transgender rights and allegations of discrimination on two athletics teams. She also wrote an undergraduate thesis about national security reporting. In 2023, she was a money-in-politics reporting intern with OpenSecrets.
Samuel Larreal
Samuel was born and raised in Venezuela and immigrated to the United States, fleeing political turmoil during his freshman year of college. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism and multimedia communications, with a concentration in political science, from Florida International University. His reporting on migrant communities for Caplin News, one of FIU’s student newspapers, has been republished by local public media outlets WLRN and WUSF. He has also worked as a bilingual fact-checker at the Miami Herald, a local news intern at NBC4 Washington and Telemundo 44, and a 2024 election correspondent at Teen Vogue.
Em Luetkemeyer
Em grew up in several small towns in rural Missouri. She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism with a bachelor’s degree. During college, she was a writer and editor at a non-profit newspaper, the Columbia Missourian, for nearly two years. There, Em investigated the finances of the University of Missouri’s Board of Curators, covered protests, managed the newsroom and led reporters on the higher education and health beats. Her reporting on voting laws has been featured at news outlets across the South. She’s also a certified drone pilot and dabbles in aerial photography.
Margaret Manto
Margaret is a writer and scientist from Charlottesville, Virginia. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a biologist, researching genomics interventions for sustainable agriculture. She has written about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign for C-VILLE Weekly and local protests for Charlottesville Tomorrow.