Category: Staff

Hillary DeVoss

Faculty Advisor

Hillary DeVoss is excited to be spending her fourth summer at WJMC. For the past year, she’s been building a journalism program from the ground up at University Prep Science & Math High School in Detroit. Before moving to Michigan, she spent 14 years as the newspaper, yearbook and online media adviser at Omaha North High Magnet School, where her students earned honors at the local, state and national levels. She’s achieved Master Journalism Educator status from the Journalism Education Association and currently serves on its Scholastic Press Rights Commission. In her spare time, she loves to blog about free-speech legislation and the general awesomeness of student journalists. When she’s not thinking about journalism, she’s likely hanging out with her husband and cat-children, kayaking down a really slow river, or following her favorite sports teams. She can’t wait to meet the new correspondents and see them take advantage of all that WJMC has to offer!

Hannah Williams

Advance Team Member

Hannah attended the Washington Journalism and Media Conference as a student in 2013. She returned as a Junior Faculty Advisor for 2015, 2016 and 2017. This will be her first summer on Advanced Team and she is very excited to return and help both WJMC and WYSE in order to give students the same amazing experience she had. Hannah graduated with a degree in Economics and a minor in communication from the University of Toledo.

Chelsey Shirley

Junior Faculty Advisor

Chelsey is elated to be returning for a fourth year at WJMC. She is a senior (hallelujah) at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, where she will be graduating with her Bachelors in Journalism from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in December 2017. When Chelsey isn’t calling her beloved Dawgs in Sanford Stadium, she can be found on pretty much every corner of campus. Currently, she is a reporter and anchor for Grady NewSource, the live, student-run newscast for Northeast Georgia. After graduation later this year, she hopes to find a job as a Multimedia Journalist/Reporter at a small market television station where she will be able to put her current emphasis of study to use. WJMC captured her heart when she attended as a high school senior in 2013 and loves the magic of seeing kids excel at WJMC every summer.

Kailey Beth Smith

Junior Faculty Advisor

Kailey Beth Smith is a sophomore at Auburn University studying Journalism and Political Science, and pursuing a minor in Philosophy and Religion. Smith is the Community Reporter for the Auburn Plainsman, the most highly decorated student newspaper in the United States. Smith attended the 2015 Washington Journalism and Media Conference as a National Youth Correspondent from Mobile, Alabama. Her time at the conference changed her perspective on news and modern culture, and ignited a passion within her to pursue storytelling as a career. Smith covers weekly local events, and regularly covers city council meetings. She covered the controversial Richard Spencer visit to Auburn University last spring, and she produced pieces on racism in the south and within the school system.
She was featured by Alabama Media Group for an opinion piece on the Mobile Azalea Trail Maids in December of 2015. She is an active member of the Auburn Wesley Foundation, a United Methodist student ministry, where she leads bible study and serves on the Prayer and Devotional Life committee. She enjoys reading, writing, hand-lettering, and photography. She is a firm defender of the Oxford comma, and maintains a special talent for consuming a magnificent amount of espresso throughout her day.

Teresa Scribner

Faculty Advisor

Teresa Scribner is an award-winning media teacher at Cleveland STEM High School in Seattle, Wash. Scribner teaches multimedia, graphic arts and is the adviser for Cleveland Publications, which oversees the production of the school’s yearbook, newspaper, news broadcast and website. Under her leadership, the program has won numerous awards for photography and design.

In 2016, Scribner was named Washington state’s Journalism Adviser of the Year and was a Dow Jones News Fund Special Recognition Adviser. She was one of 13 journalism teachers from around the country to receive the Journalism Education Association’s Rising Star Award. For the past year, she has been a voice in the community, speaking about the importance of diversity in journalism. She spends countless hours mentoring students of color in her school.

Before becoming a teacher, Scribner spent 12 years as a Visual Journalist for The Seattle Times and 6 years at newspapers in Texas and Arkansas.

Madison Gaines

Junior Faculty Advisor

Madison Gaines is a Creative Writing major and a Math minor in George Mason University’s Class of 2021. She attended WJMC as a correspondent in 2016, returned to WJMC in 2017 as an Intern, and is looking forward to attending WJMC as a JFA this year! Currently, Madi is a Mason Ambassador, a member of Mason’s Honors College Recruitment Team and the GMU Green Machine, and plays intramural soccer. As an Ambassador and an HCRT member, Madison spends a lot of time interacting with prospective students and giving tours of campus. After college, her goal is to become an author and an editor in a book publishing company, and then use her vast riches to turn an old hotel into a public library. Madi loves puns, mozzarella sticks, and spreadsheets, in that order.

Samantha Shaw

SAMANTHA SHAW

Faculty Advisor

Samantha earned her B.A. in English and comparative literature and M.A. in teaching from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was named Student Teacher of the Year in 2022. Now, she teaches English and has started a journalism program at Carrboro High School. In 2023-24 she was recognized as the runner up Beginning Teacher of the Year for the state of North Carolina. Sam loves inviting students’ passions into a project based and equity focused classroom. It’s true: words have the power to change us — whether that’s a potent literary work or the unique power of the press. Her teaching has been inspired by her experiences at WJMC. She is a WJMC 2016 alumna, worked as an intern and a JFA; she’s ecstatic to be back for her third year as an FA! When she’s not in the classroom, Sam is managing social media or editing books for the author Katie Cross, listening to audiobooks, or going on hikes with her fiancé.

SAMANTHA SHAW

Faculty Advisor

Camden Layton

Advance Team Member

Camden Layton is a rising senior at George Mason University studying Public Administration. After first attending the conference in 2016, he then returned as a Conference Intern in 2017, and then again as a Junior Faculty Advisor in 2018. His favorite part about the conference is the friendships he has made and those he has been able to watch form. He is involved in many different things on campus, but when he is free you can normally find him in a Dunkin Donuts with his friends. Camden is super excited to be returning to the program again this summer!

Olivia Vermane

Junior Faculty Advisor

Olivia is beyond excited to return to her third year of WJMC, this time as a JFA! Coming from Long Island, New York, Liv is a Communication major with a concentration in journalism and a minor in religious studies right here at GMU. Aside from her work with the conference, Olivia is also part of the IV Estate student newspaper at GMU, as well as Cru Christian Fellowship on campus. She also works in the Office of Admissions as a Telecounselor and a member of the Welcome Team. Liv was one of five selected interns at last years conference, and her involvement with the program is one of the main reasons she chose to attend Mason. Liv cannot wait to share all that WJMC has to offer with her correspondents!

Ali Dodson, MS, MPP

ALI DODSON

Associate Director, Washington Scholars Program

Ali is the Associate Director of the Washington Scholars Program. She has a B.S in conservation biology from George Mason University, and an M.S. in sustainable development and conservation biology and M.P.P. in environmental policy from University of Maryland. Her master’s research focused on student perception of environmental issues. Before coming to Mason, Ali worked with the Environmental Protection Agency, where she was an ORISE fellow researching coastal wetlands. In her free time, she attempts to grow her own vegetables, hangs out in her back yard with her family, and sings karaoke as often as possible.