Category: Youth Advisory Board

Emma Hackler is from Saint Francis, Kansas and is a senior at Saint Francis High School. She was a 2019 session 1 Pink Group member. Emma loves getting involved in her class and community through the student council and being co-captain of the dance team. She plans to attend Colorado Mesa University in the Fall of 2020 to major in Criminal Justice with a focus on Pre-Law.

Rebekah is a senior in high school. She attended WJMC 2019 as a National Youth Correspondent from Charlotte, North Carolina. Her main hobbies include photography and public speaking. In her free time she loves hanging out with people and drinking coffee. She is excited to serve on the Y.A.B. and hopes to help make WJMC 2020 as amazing as WJMC 2019!

Riley Dominianni is a high school senior at Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan where she is the feature editor of Knight Life News. Some of her other extracurriculars include soccer, volleyball, forensics, theatre, and National Honor Society. She is passionate about writing and hope to study journalism and humanities in the future. She loved her time at WJMC 2019 and want every future corespondent to experience the same feeling of fulfillment and self-discovery that she did.

Maddie Buffington is a current junior at Woodridge High School in Peninsula, Ohio. She is currently the editor of her school newspaper, The Bulldog Beat and occasionally writes for it as well. She attended the Washington Journalism and Media Conference in the summer of 2019, and is excited to help plan for 2020! In her free time, Maddie likes to do fun crafts, read, and help friends out. After high school, she plans to go to college for communications or nursing.

Kayla Ary lives in Newnan, Georgia and is a high school junior taking dual-enrollment classes. She enjoys tennis, travel and photography. Kayla was a National Youth Correspondent for WJMC 2019 where she explored her career interest in journalism. By attending the conference, she learned about the vast opportunities that the field offers and which direction to take to get there. She is so excited to be a Youth Advisor for the planning of WJMC 2020 so that next year’s correspondents experience all that they expect and more.

Lauren Womack is a senior at Nederland High School in Nederland, Texas. She is the current Editor-in-Chief of her school’s newspaper and hopes to study Journalism and Communications at the University of Texas at Austin. Lauren hopes to one day write for a professional newspaper. In her free time, Lauren enjoys spending time with her friends, singing, and making TikToks. She attended WJMC in 2019 and cannot wait to aide others in experiencing the amazing trip.

Brooklyn Velazco is a senior at Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach, Florida. She is the captain of her high school’s Color Guard team as well as actively involved in numerous clubs and organizations at her school. WJMC enhanced her passion for community service and charitable work while setting her sights on the road to her future goals Brooklyn’s life plan is to travel and fight for civil rights while experiencing the adventures the world has to offer.

Nevaeh is a junior at Franklin Academy High School in Malone, NY. She is the president of the French Club, and is part of the National Honor Society. Nevaeh plans to go to a very good college and double major in journalism and public relations. In her free time, she likes to read and spend time with her family. Nevaeh promises to bring the absolute best to WJMC 2020.

Viola Quinto is currently a high school junior, living in Amman, Jordan, but is originally from Italy. She attented the WJMC conference in 2019. She was previously involved in her high school newspaper as an editor and writer, and is currently in her school’s booster club which helps organize all school events.
She’s very excited to be a part of the youth advisory board and hopes to make WJMC 2020 as memorable for others as it was for her.

Nicole Moreno is currently a senior at Nogales High School in Nogales, Arizona. She has always had a passion for journalism and hopes to pursue a lengthy career in that field. She’s excited to help plan WJMC 2020, since it really changed her outlook on journalism for the better.