Each year, the Society of Professional Journalists sponsors internships for bright, motivated and hard-working student/recent graduate journalists to cover SPJ’s national convention as the staff of The SPJ News.
Student Staff
Kallie Bourgeois
Kallie Bourgeois is a senior at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, majoring in communication with a concentration in journalism, broadcast and digital media production and minoring in social science, gender and sexuality studies and political science.
She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Current Sauce and President of the NSU’s Society of Professional Journalists chapter.
This fall, Kallie is completing an Inclusive Excellence in Journalism Fellowship through Arizona State University. After graduating in May 2027, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in investigative journalism, and her reporting interests include education, LGBTQ+ communities and accountability journalism.
Josie Dent
Josie Dent is a recent graduate from Simmons University, where she served as the Arts and Entertainment editor on the school newspaper. She also covered general assignments from, live concerts to meetings and campus protests.
She has a passion for storytelling is driven by a desire to connect and understand others.
When she isn’t writing or in a radio booth, you can find her hanging out with her dogs.
Colae Eason
Colae Eason is a recent M.S. in Journalism graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She earned her B.S. in Journalism from Eastern Michigan University, Summa Cum Laude, with minors in Dance and Africology and African-American Studies.
Her journalism experience includes reporting for The Eastern Echo, where she covered campus and community news, and interning with SheVentures Podcast, where she developed editorial and audio storytelling skills.
Paisley Huang
Paisley Huang is a recent graduate from Boston University with a master’s degree in journalism. She is a freelance writer for Sampan, a Chinese-English newspaper covering Asian American communities in New England. During her time at BU, she wrote about politics, environment, business for The Worcester Guardian, Daily Free Press, BU News Services. She also has experience in video and podcast production.
Javon Huynh
Javon Huynh is an early-career documentary filmmaker and journalist dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices and uncovering overlooked histories.
His work explores the intersections of identity, community, and social justice, often highlighting stories that challenge dominant narratives and reclaim cultural memory.
Through a blend of intimate storytelling and rigorous reporting, Huynh’s films and written work seek to illuminate resilience, dignity, and truth in communities too often left unheard.
He began his career in CNN’s prestigious News Associate Program, where he developed a foundation in multimedia reporting that continues to inform his approach to storytelling. He is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a master’s degree in Video Journalism.
McKenna Manzo
McKenna Loren Manzo is a graduate journalism student at the University of Arizona and a reporter with experience in science, environmental and community journalism. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and anthropology, graduating summa cum laude, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in journalism.
Manzo works as a science reporter for the University of Arizona’s College of Science, where she reports on faculty research, student achievements and scientific programs. She also recently began an internship with Arizona Public Media, where she reports and produces stories for radio and digital platforms.
In 2025, she was selected as one of 16 student reporters from across the country to participate in The Arizona Republic’s newsroom fellowship during the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference, where she covered environmental issues including water, energy, borderlands and tribal lands.
Her work focuses on making complex issues accessible to audiences through reporting, audio, video and multimedia storytelling.
Skylar Paxton
Skylar Paxton is a recent graduate from the University of California, Irvine with a bachelor’s degree in literary journalism.
During her time at UC Irvine, Skylar was editor-in-chief of the school’s student-run newspaper New University and vice president of the Asian American Journalism Association UCI chapter. T
his summer, she worked in Washington DC for Zeteo as a production intern.
Shelby Radford
Shelby Radford is a senior journalism student at Texas Tech University, graduating in December with a concentration in political journalism.
She is currently works as a digital content producer at KCBD NewsChannel 11 in Lubbock and serves as president of Texas Tech’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She is also a features writer for The Daily Toreador, Texas Tech’s student newspaper.
With experience across broadcast, digital and print journalism, Radford enjoys telling stories that connect with audiences across multiple platforms. As she prepares to begin her career, she is especially interested in feature and lifestyle reporting, including stories centered on culture, trends and the people behind them.
Juan Carlos Ramirez
Juan Carlos Ramirez is a graduate journalism student at the University of North Texas and a news intern with the Denton Record-Chronicle. He earned a bachelor’s degree in digital and print journalism with a minor in Spanish from UNT in December 2025.
He previously served as vice president of the university’s SPJ student chapter and is passionate about local news, food journalism and inclusive storytelling.
Ramirez also serves as president of the university’s National Association of Hispanic Journalists student chapter and as the student representative for DFW Hispanic Communicators, the North Texas affiliate of NAHJ.
Adithi Vimalanathan
Adithi Vimalanathan is an early-career investigative journalist interested in understanding how climate developments affects rural communities. She’s a recent graduate of Fordham University where she was managing editor of The Fordham Ram and pursued grant-funded freelance tribal reporting in Arizona.
Vimalanathan has worked at WFUV Public Radio as a general assignment reporter and video producer and at NBC News as an investigative intern. In her free time, she enjoys concert photography and long walks with good conversation.
Professional Mentors
Bob Butler
Bob Butler spent more than four decades covering news around the world for KCBS Radio in San Francisco.
Now retired, he stays connected to the industry through his passion for training the next generation of journalists. He has taught at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University and has participated in journalism training projects around the world.
He was an independent journalist on the award-winning Chauncey Bailey Project and spent eight years on the board of the National Association of Black Journalists, serving as President from 2013-2015.
He is the Broadcast Vice President on the SAG-AFTRA national board and has a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from San Francisco State University.
Butler won numerous awards for his work at KCBS Radio and received an individual national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2012 for his story on homeowners in New Orleans who were forced to pay off their mortgages following Hurricane Katrina.
Jordan Gass-Pooré
Jordan Gass-Pooré (she/her) is an award-winning independent podcast producer and investigative journalist with more than a decade of journalism experience.
She is the creator of the “Hazard” series of podcasts: “Hazard NJ” examined serious pollution issues for two seasons as a production of NJ Spotlight News, the news division of NJ PBS, and was the outlet’s first podcast.
“Hazard NYC” was a limited-run series with THE CITY about the impacts of climate change on Superfund sites in New York City.
Donna Marbury
Donna Marbury is a communications strategist with 15+ years of experience spanning journalism, marketing and digital strategy.
She is a lead writer in Advancement at The Ohio State University and has held roles at Aetna, Smart Columbus and Warhol & WALL ST.
A Medill graduate, her work appears in Columbus Monthly, HealthTech and Columbus CEO.
Helina Selemon
Helina Selemon is a science investigative journalist and The Trace’s 2026-27 editing fellow. Prior to The Trace, Selemon reported for The Blacklight, the investigative unit for the New York Amsterdam News, where she covered COVID-19, climate change, and gun violence.
She’s spent nearly a decade teaching investigative research to journalists at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and the Ida B. Wells Society.
A 2023 Maynard Institute Investigative Fellow and a 2024 Wake Forest Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative (EEJI) Reporting Fellow, her writing has received several awards, including the New York Press Association’s 2024 Writer of the Year.
Benét J. Wilson
Benét J. Wilson is a training director for Investigative Reporters and Editors.
She was previously the lead credit cards writer for Bankrate and director of the Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship for early-career journalists. Before that, she was a senior editor and writer for The Points Guy.
She serves on the boards of Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism and the Institute for Independent Journalism. She has served on the boards of the Online News Association and the National Association of Black Journalists.
She graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism.