Author: Allison Dodson

Joy Richardson is a 17 year old senior at The City School.  She is from Philadelphia, PA. As of right now, she is teaching herself how to play the ukulele and the guitar. At her school, Joy co-leads the Lux Urbi (service) council and is President of her school’s NHS chapter. She is really excited to be a part of the YAB and make sure that next year’s youth correspondents have a great time with WJMC.

Madeleine Ashe is a high school junior at High Tech High School and alumna of WJMC 2021.  At school, she has taken vocational classes such as journalism, broadcasting, film, graphic design, and interactive media. Madeleine is involved in a mutual aid-based club assisting her community, the French Honor Society, and Girl Up Club. She is considering pursuing visual art in college, but regardless of her career choice, WJMC has helped her improve on writing, communication, and social skills she is grateful for. With her involvement in the Youth Advisory Board, she hopes to learn new skills and is looking forward to helping create a WJMC 2022 that is just as amazing as the conference she attended.

Mia Wasserman is currently a junior at Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, New Jersey.  In her free time, she enjoys doing gymnastics, baking, and hiking. Her experience at the 2021 Washington Journalism and Media Conference was amazing; she learned a great deal both about journalism and about herself and made some lifelong friends. She is so excited to continue her involvement with the program as a part of the Youth Advisory Board this year!

Tyler Iglesias is a resident of Wood-Ridge, New Jersey and attends Bergen County Technical High School in Teterboro, New Jersey, where he is a Digital Media and Arts major.  Tyler is a member of the school newspaper, student council, as well as, a political discussion club and the No Matter What, We Stand United club which helps local communities and charities. Tyler has also attended a Sports Broadcasting Camp at Montclair State University, as well as, a Filmmaking Camp at New York University. In his spare time, he loves watching sports, movies, live theater and considers himself an avid history buff. Having attended WJMC in the Summer of 2021 not only gave Tyler an amazing opportunity to experience hands on learning and the ability to witness the stories of amazing journalists, but also allotted him this experience in one of his favorite cities, Washington, D.C. Tyler hopes to utilize his experience at WJMC to boost his passion of journalism and communications. Tyler looks forward to helping ensure that WJMC is as great an experience for others as it was for him.

Brian Richardson is a high school senior from Denison, Texas.  He attended WJMC 2021 where he grew in his passion for journalism and media. Brian is a part of Denison ISD’s video production, “Jacket Update,” as well as photography and creative writing. Outside of the journalism world, Brian enjoys listening to music, spending time in his local church, and pursuing to know the meaning of the universe.

Alyssia Nicholson is a WJMC 2021 alumna from Chesterfield, Virginia.  She attends James River High School where she competes on the Speech and Debate team as a varsity competitor in Impromptu speaking as a senior. When she graduates from high school, Alyssia hopes to study child development and psychology, as well as business in college. Her dream career would be one as a child psychologist and social entrepreneur making mental health help accessible and affordable.

Tina Li is a high school junior in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at Granby High School and is currently involved in the process of starting up her school’s student-led daily news broadcast after decades of inactivity.  She is the editor for her school’s Key Club chapter and competes in Future Problem Solving, which she has been involved in for 7 years and has won the states championships four times. In her free time, Tina listens to music and curates playlists on Spotify, hangs out with her friends and their cats, and edits videos to post on her Youtube channel. Tina plans to major in English with a minor in Computer Science at college, and her dream is to be a journalist for the New York Times. She had the most incredible and eye-opening experience at WJMC 2021, and hopes to help make it a wonderful experience for future youth correspondents!

Kate Cassady graduated from Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California in June 2021, and attended WJMC that summer.  Currently, she is a freshman at the University of Missouri studying photojournalism. At Mizzou, she is a photojournalist for the Maneater, the university’s newspaper, and a contributor to the Columbia Missourian, the county newspaper. Kate is also a member of Kappa Alpha Mu (KAM for short), the photojournalism/documentary organization on campus. She is excited to bring her love of photojournalism and her experience with WJMC to future correspondents!

Madilyn Moore attends the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha.  Originally from Yukon, Oklahoma, Moore represented her state at the Washington Journalism Media Conference during the summer of 2021. Majoring in English Interdisciplinary Writing and minoring in Political Science, she aspires to be a freelance journalist, novelist, and photographer one day. In her free time she enjoys creative writing, reading, and delving into various forms of music and culture. After graduating from USAO, Moore plans on traveling then moving to the East Coast to start her professional career.