Tag: 2018

Dawn Aponte

DAWN APONTE

Administrative Assistant, Washington Scholars Program

Dawn Aponte is an Administrative Assistant for the Washington Scholars Program (WSP) and K-12 Partnerships Program Office, within the Office of Admissions at George Mason University. Dawn joined the team in 2012, following a career with the U.S. Dept. of Justice. She loves supporting the WSP summer programs, the students and their families, and her teammates. In her opinion, Mason is an inspirational and progressive place to learn and serve. Dawn spends her free time outdoors as much as possible and loves to read and be with her young-adult children.

Lauryn Cantrell

John Hollis

JOHN HOLLIS

Media Relations Manager, George Mason University

John D. Hollis lists 17 years of daily newspaper experience, including nearly 10 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a lengthy stint as a correspondent for Time Magazine. He has authored three books, including “Sgt. Rodney M. Davis: The Making of a Hero,” the 2018 hit that chronicles the inspirational life and death of the U.S. Marine who became Macon, Georgia’s lone Medal of Honor recipient following his death in Vietnam in 1967. In 2013, Hollis teamed with former professional wrestler Lex Luger to pen “Wrestling with the Devil: The True Story of a World Champion Professional Wrestler – His Reign, Ruin, and Redemption.” Over his career, Hollis has covered the Super Bowl, the Olympics, five college basketball Final Fours, the College World Series, the NBA and the NFL and major college football and basketball within both the ACC and SEC. The University of Virginia and Woodberry Forest School alum is currently working as the Media Relations Manager at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Maria Peña

Nicaraguan-born María Peña has lived in the United States since 1978, and she has worked as a bilingual journalist in Washington for close to 30 years. Throughout her career, she has interviewed celebrities as well as local, state, and national leaders, including President Barack Obama, both as a candidate in 2008 and just prior to his reelection in 2012.

Maria has also interviewed foreign dignitaries, and she has covered international summits and various NGO events. Recently, she covered the move of the US and Guatemalan embassies in Israel, and in the Spring of 2016, she covered President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba. Later that year, she covered a world summit of mayors and regional leaders in Bogotá, Colombia.

She’s currently the Washington Senior Political Correspondent for La Opinion/Impremedia, covering all issues impacting the thriving Latino community in the US, including immigration, trade, foreign policy, education, housing, and electoral politics.

As part of her immigration coverage, she has traveled extensively throughout the southern border, visiting communities on both sides, and interviewing politicians and regular folks.

She has chronicled the deployment of the “Minutemen”, the congressional gridlock on immigration reform, the plight of undocumented workers at risk for deportation and, currently, the unprecedented activism in the immigrant community against president Donald Trump’s policies.

In the past, she has also worked for EFE, UPI, NBC Canal de Noticias, Univision, and Telemundo.
Maria is a regular panelist at prestigious TV talk shows, including Voice of America, Univisión’s “Al Punto”, CGTN America, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), CNN’s “Choque de Opiniones”, and Colombian NTN24’s “Club de Prensa”.

She also frequently participates in workshops, panels, media roundtables, and briefings organized by congressional committees, universities, NGOs, think tanks, and the State Department.

Maria is an active member of the White House Correspondents Association, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Her work got national recognition from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 2016.
She holds a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in French from the American University (CAS ’90), where she has occasionally done graduate courses in human rights and conflict resolution.

She lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Her hobbies include reading, music, art, cooking, gardening, and other outdoor activities.

Mikayla Bouchard

MIKAYLA BOUCHARD

Senior Staff Editor, The New York Times

Mikayla Bouchard is a senior staff editor at The New York Times, based in Washington, D.C., where she helps direct and execute multimedia coverage of major news events, including the presidential inauguration and the annual State of the Union address.

She works closely with The Times’s audio team on both “The Daily” podcast and “The New Washington” podcast, which featured interviews with some of the biggest names in American politics.

She also oversees The New York Times Politics Facebook and Twitter accounts and produced a daily show on Facebook Live during the 2016 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

Originally from Michigan, she earned degrees in international relations and theatre from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in journalism from Georgetown University. She’s a captain of the press team that competes in the annual Women’s Congressional Softball Game.

Savannah Behrmann

SAVANNAH BEHRMANN

Senate Correspondent, National Journal

Savannah Rose Behrmann is the Senate Correspondent for National Journal, where she roams the halls of Capitol Hill focusing on the legislative and bipartisan gridlock of Congress’ upper chamber. Prior, she served as a Congressional Reporter at USA TODAY, where she led the newspaper’s coverage of both chambers of Congress. Previously, she worked as a Politics NOW Reporter at USA TODAY, covering breaking political news that ranged from the 2020 election, Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. Beforehand, she was a News Associate at CNN. Savannah hails from Utah, and attended George Mason University, where she graduated in 2018. She is a proud alumna of the Washington Journalism and Media Conference, which she attended as a National Youth Correspondent in 2013, and then worked as a staff member for several years.

Michael Sandler

Director of Strategic Communications, George Mason University

Michael Sandler is the Director of Strategic Communications. He oversees external and internal communication for the university and leads a team that handles news, media relations, internal communications and crisis communications. Prior to joining Mason in 2014, Sandler spent nearly two decades as a reporter and editor in Washington, D.C., and Florida, covering government, politics, and policy. He has been a reporter or editor at the Associated Press, Congressional Quarterly, The Hill, the Tampa Bay Times (formerly St. Petersburg Times) and The Washington Post.

Michelle Jaconi

MICHELLE JACONI

Executive Producer, Washington Post Video Team

Michelle Jaconi is the Executive Producer of The Washington Post video team, where she oversees on-camera journalists and topical, satirical videos on politics and culture.

Michelle previously worked at Independent Journal Review (IJR), where she was a driving force behind some of their viral video journalism during the 2016 election campaign. Before joining IJR, Michelle spent six years at CNN as the executive producer on “State of the Union” and “Inside Politics,” before becoming the founding executive producer of CNN Politics’ Cross Platform Programming Unit. Before CNN, Michelle was a programming executive and political analyst at NBC’s “Meet the Press with Tim Russert.”

Michelle has won multiple Emmy Awards for her election coverage at NBC and CNN. She won a Peabody for CNN’s coverage of the Arab spring and a Cronkite Award for “Meet the Press.” She has a bachelor’s degree in international politics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a master’s degree from Georgetown’s Communications, Culture and Technology program.

Nadgeena Jerome

NADGEENA JEROME

Senior Lifestyle Reporter, The U.S. Sun

A first-generation Haitian-American, Nadgeena Jerome is a Senior Lifestyle Reporter at The U.S. Sun, where she covers fashion, beauty, and all aspects of the entertainment industry.

Previously, Nadgeena was a Digital Content Producer at News 12 on Long Island, as well as a host and contributor for Talent Recap, and a host and producer at 2M Media Group (2M) in Washington, DC.

Her ultimate career goal is to be the television daughter of Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey with her own syndicated daytime talk show.

Nadgeena Jerome is a featured alumni guest speaker with the Washington Journalism and Media Conference program. She graduated from George Mason University in 2017, where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication.

Nadgeena is also a professional model signed with several agencies around the country. When she’s not speaking in person or on camera, she enjoys competing in pageants and sharing her initiative #ReverseTheStigma in conjunction with her lifestyle brand, The JooJoo Journey.

While she puts the finishing touches on her first children’s book, she volunteers as a National Alliance on Mental Illness Advocacy Ambassador and as a GirlsWriteNow mentor.

Recently, she placed 1st runner up at the 2024 Miss Virginia USA pageant.

Jack Curry

Adjunct Professor, George Mason University

Jack Curry has held leadership positions in the newsrooms of many of the nation’s largest circulation publications: USA Today, The New York Daily News, and TV Guide. He has written for many media outlets ranging from The Washington Post and Washingtonian Magazine to Cosmopolitan and Playbill. Curry also serves as a Writing Coach at the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and teaches English as a Second Language at Northern Virginia Community College. Curry received his MA in Journalism from the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University. He received his BA at the Jesuit institution, LeMoyne College. Curry lives in Arlington now but has also called Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Norway, Switzerland and Long Island home.