Author: Allison Dodson

Angie is currently a senior at Cupertino High School from Cupertino, California. She serves as the features editor for her high school journalism publication and is looking to pursue journalism and film in the future. Her experience at WJMC was one of the highlights of her summer and she hopes to help others have the same educational and lovable experience. Angie is a part of her school’s marching band and winter percussion, and enjoys dancing, making crafts, watching movies and reading in her free time. 

Alyna K. Almero was a National Youth Correspondent during the WJMC program of 2023. There she learned a variety of different journalism and networking skills that have helped her gain enough confidence that she had not seen in herself before. Although she had attended the program just for the opportunity to go, she had found much more than just journalism experience and even gave her much more confidence and thought about her career and future. As accepted into the WJMC Youth Advisory Board, she hopes to give the very same experience and emotions she herself had felt in her experience to the next youth correspondents of WJMC 2024.

Blaise Bowers is an aspiring Filmmaker, Businessman, and Lawyer with a love for multimedia studies. Blaise lives in Broomfield, Colorado, and plans to attend college in California. Blaise attended WJMC in 2023 and fell in love with the program. Even though he does not plan on pursuing a career in Journalism, he says that WJMC changed his life through the connections he made and experiences he had at George Mason University

Delaney Brooks is a junior at Chantilly High School in Chantilly VA who reports for four publications, two of which she founded. She’s a staff reporter for Chantilly High’s news show The Knightly News, the features section editor of its news magazine The Purple Tide, editor-in-chief of The Cross-Country Connection which she founded with friends from WJMC and host of The Accessibility Angle podcast. If all goes to plan, you’ll see Delaney’s work in The Guardian and when she’s not reporting the news, she’s likely up in the air practicing aerial arts on the silks, dance trapeze or lyra. She absolutely loves comedy: Who’s Line Is It Anyway is her very favorite TV show, and she’ll reach for Green Day, The Proclaimers or The Struts when she has silence to fill.

Little is a dedicated student leader known for their passion and commitment to journalism and communication. They currently hold the esteemed position of Editor-in-Chief in the school yearbook, where they have excelled in storytelling and design, creating memorable keepsakes for their peers.

Additionally, Reilly serves as the Chapter President of the International Quill and Scroll Honor Society, where they have fostered a thriving community of aspiring journalists and consistently recognized excellence in the field. In 2023, they had the privilege of attending the Washington Journalism and Media Conference (WJMC), a transformative experience that further ignited their enthusiasm for the world of journalism.

With a strong dedication to excellence and innovation, Reilly is poised to continue their remarkable journey in media and communication, making a lasting impact in these fields.

Allen Connor Forbus is a rising junior at Sandalwood Senior Highschool in Jacksonville, Florid, and as a member of the Early College program, he is currently taking full-time at Florida State College at Jacksonville. Allen aspires to become an advocate for the deaf community, by being an American Sign Language interpreter and reporting on deaf issues; his experience at WJMC 2023 taught him the value of the written word and substantive reporting, and he hopes to help the students of WJMC 2024 have an experience as life changing as WJMC experience!

Natalie Bookout is a junior in high school from Charlotte, North Carolina. She is a local activist in the Charlotte community and is the hub coordinator for her local Sunrise Movement chapter. Along with that, she is an intern at the Borgen Project and a fellow at Civics Unplugged. In her day-to-day life, she enjoys reading, hanging out with friends, and going to metal concerts