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ProPublica’s Rising Reporters Program gives assist and mentorships to varsity college students who’re pursuing careers in investigative journalism and wish extra coaching and monetary assist to assist advance their objectives.
Individuals obtain a $9,000 stipend, a visit to the annual NICAR investigative journalism convention, occasional coaching and shows by audio system. They’ll even be paired one-on-one with ProPublica journalists who can assist counsel them on tales, construct their connections within the trade and expose them to the various paths for careers in investigative journalism. Previous Rising Reporters have gone on to work at The New York Instances, The Related Press, Fresnoland, Capital B, The Tributary and different shops.
Our aim is to encourage the following era of journalists who search to shine a lightweight on abuses of energy and produce tales of ethical power that provoke change. In selecting the category, we search for college students who exhibit an early dedication to journalism as a profession, via internships, work at native information shops or work at campus publications. And the place these alternatives — which are sometimes unpaid — aren’t accessible, we search for different methods the coed has proven an eagerness and a drive to be taught the craft.
The 2025-26 educational 12 months’s class of remarkable pupil journalists are from colleges in California, Pennsylvania, Florida and Georgia. All through the appliance course of, we have been impressed by their dedication to native information, their want to pursue immersive coaching alternatives in newsrooms throughout the nation and their dedication to careers in investigative journalism.
Meet our 2025 class:
Annabelle Ink
Initially from Oahu, Hawaii, Annabelle Ink research English at Pomona Faculty in Claremont, Calif. Now in her senior 12 months, she works because the inventive director at The Scholar Life, the campus newspaper, and because the editor-in-chief of Agave Overview, the campus literary and artwork journal. She has completed intensive reporting on political activism on the Claremont Schools, overlaying pupil protests, arrests and administrative actions. Annabelle has additionally interned at Honolulu Journal, Honolulu Civil Beat and the Claremont Courier. She is enthusiastic about exploring the intersection of inventive and journalistic writing and in telling tales that problem energy constructions and encourage human connection. After faculty, she hopes to pursue investigative journalism full time, utilizing gender as a lens via which to report on legal justice, local weather change and resistance actions.
Gabriel Velasquez Neira
Gabriel Velasquez Neira is a senior learning journalism on the College of Florida. He’s keen about audio and knowledge journalism. Along with his research, Gabriel works as an intern at WUSF-FM in Tampa and as a deputy editor at WUFT-FM in Gainesville. He has reported on matters just like the 2024 Democratic Nationwide Conference, Hurricane Milton and state politics for WUFT. Gabriel was beforehand a basic task reporting intern at The Daytona Seaside Information-Journal and as a information intern at NBC 6 in Miami.
Kahlie Wray
Kahlie Wray is a junior at Pennsylvania State College learning digital and print journalism and English. She is the managing editor of The Every day Collegian, Penn State’s student-run information outlet, the place she assists in main a workforce of reporters and editors in overlaying campus information. She can also be an intern with Centre Every day Instances, the place she focuses on overlaying tales throughout the Centre County townships. Kahlie is engaged on a yearlong collaborative challenge investigating rural public well being with a cohort of pupil journalists. Earlier this 12 months, she participated in a six-month internship in Brno, Czech Republic, the place she reported on faith and the expat expertise for a neighborhood newsroom. She’s keen about native journalism and its function in uplifting and informing communities.
Lee Ann Anderson
Lee Ann Anderson is a senior journalism main with a specialization in knowledge and investigative journalism on the College of Florida. She’s pushed to inform narrative, in-depth investigative tales on matters starting from expertise to enterprise whereas incorporating the voices of marginalized teams. Anderson participated in the summertime 2025 Carnegie-Knight News21 fellowship at Arizona State College, the place her protection of federal immigration coverage was printed within the Related Press and picked up by 60 publications throughout the nation. Anderson is an intern at The Hill in Washington, D.C., overlaying breaking information and pursuing enterprise tales. At UF, she was an officer of the coed chapters of the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists, the Nationwide Press Photographer Affiliation and the Florida Journal Scholar Affiliation. Anderson is an envoy of UF’s Faculty of Journalism and Communications and is part of the Dean’s Scholar Advisory Council. She has additionally participated in UF’s Contemporary Take Florida program, a political and investigative information service housed on the college that publishes college students’ work throughout the state, and as a freelancer for Mainstreet Every day Information in Gainesville.
Safa Wahidi
Safa Wahidi is a senior at Emory College learning political science and inventive writing. She was an opinion editor and a columnist at The Emory Wheel, the place her writing gained nationwide recognition from the Society of Skilled Journalists. Off campus, Safa has labored at Forsyth County Information, CNN Worldwide and her hometown newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Structure. Her reporting pursuits embody native authorities, political accountability and meals entry. Safa is particularly keen about investigative journalism on the metropolis stage and hopes her reporting can encourage readers to remain concerned with their communities.
Cedeem Gumbs contributed analysis.
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