Tag: 2019

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.

Tags 2018, 2019

Speakers

Marisa Kwiatkowski

MARISA KWIATOWSKI

Investigative Reporter, USA TODAY

Marisa Kwiatkowski is an investigative reporter for USA TODAY. She has handled investigations relating to social services and welfare issues, including child abuse and neglect, poverty, elder abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence and access to mental health services. Marisa has earned more than 50 journalism awards, including the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, IRE’s Tom Renner Award, a Sigma Delta Chi Award in public service, the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award and Indiana Journalist of the Year. Prior to USA TODAY, Marisa worked for media outlets in Indiana, South Carolina and Michigan.

In 2016, Marisa and her colleagues launched an investigation into USA Gymnastics that revealed top officials at the sport’s national governing body failed to report many allegations of sexual abuse by coaches. It also showed how predators exploited a lax culture to prey on children. As a result of the series, more than 500 women came forward with allegations of sexual abuse against Larry Nassar, a longtime team physician who worked in four Olympic games. Nassar pleaded guilty and is serving time in prison. The CEO board of directors of USA Gymnastics resigned. Multiple people have faced criminal charges. The series also spurred the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017.

In 2013, Marisa received two national awards, as well as state and regional awards, for her coverage of the difficulties of children with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities to receive appropriate mental health services. She found parents falsely admitting to neglect in order to secure services for their children. After Marisa’s series published, state officials pledged up to $25 million per year to close the funding gap.

Tags 2019

Speakers

Ann Peters

ANN PETERS

Campus Consortium Program, Pulitzer Center

Ann Peters oversees the Pulitzer Center’s Campus Consortium program, which creates opportunities for journalists, students and faculty to examine global issues across disciplines at a growing network of university and college partners and offers international reporting fellowships. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Georgetown University Law Center, Ann began her career as a correspondent for United Press International. She reported from North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Egypt and South Africa between 1983 and 1991. Her domestic reporting ranged from covering the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster to North Carolina politics. Her assignments abroad gave her ample opportunities to cover international affairs, whether interviewing Palestinians and Israelis during what would become known as the first Palestinian intifada or South Africans on the days and weeks following Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. After her days at UPI and then at law school, Ann worked in London as a research associate and consultant for Human Rights Watch, focusing on blinding laser weapons, laws of war and arms embargoes, and then in Washington, D.C. for the Open Society Institute as program director of its Landmines Project. She also practiced law at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP, a firm specializing in providing legal advice to nonprofit organizations and individuals in the areas of nonprofit organization tax law, election law, employment law and environmental law.

Tags 2019

Photographer

Anna Layden

Assistant Photographer

Anna Rose Layden is a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, concentrating in Photojournalism, with a minor in Political Science from Rochester Institute of Technology in Henrietta, New York. She is an active member of the National Press Photographers Association, as well as the Asian-American Journalists Association of New York. Her work reflects a fascination with the extraordinary moments in everyday life, as well as coverage of current news events. She is constantly seeking out ways to further her understanding of the cultures around her, meet new people, and find the nearest Chick-Fil-A.

Tags 2019

Speakers

Patrick Davis

PATRICK DAVIS

Manager of Field Operations, CNN Washington

Patrick Davis serves as the Manager of Field Operations at CNN’s Washington Bureau, where he oversees technical & logistical planning for daily newsgathering, breaking news, and major events including Inauguration, State Funerals, State of the Union, Oval Office Addresses, Papal visits, and hurricanes. Over the course of his career, Patrick has worked at a variety of jobs throughout the television & radio industries: production assistant, guest booker, writer, shooter, editor, advertising sales, show producer, field producer, DJ, reporter, and anchor. During his time at CNN, he has covered numerous election cycles, and every major story since 9/11, earning several distinguished awards, including multiple Emmys and a Peabody. Patrick is a long time member of the Capitol Hill Radio & Television Correspondents Association, and serves on the Board of the Technical Advisory Subcommittee. He began his career in local television & radio, while earning his journalism degree at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Tags 2019

Speakers

Kasi Bumgarner

KASI BUMGARNER

Assistant Digital Producer, National Endowment for Democracy

Kasi Bumgarner is an Assistant Digital Producer at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). At NED, she creates a variety of digital content to highlight events and capture stories of the organization’s grantees and fellows who are advocating for democracy and human rights around the world. Before joining NED, she worked as a receptionist, a freelance video editor, and a production intern for an independent documentary, Imitating Life: The Audacity of Suzanne Heintz.

Kasi’s love for storytelling and digital media began at a young age, but it wasn’t until she attended WJMC as a National Youth Correspondent in 2011 that she realized she could turn her passion into a career. She has loved being a part of the WJMC family ever since, returning as a Junior Faculty Advisor in 2014 and a Videographer in 2016.

Kasi graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Film and Video Studies from George Mason University. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, exploring new spots in the DC area, and producing videos for her lifestyle YouTube channel, Curlyhairlove.

Tags 2019

Speakers

Shermichael Singleton

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON

Contributing Host, Vox Media

Shermichael Singleton is a political consultant, writer, commentator, and Contributing Host of Vox Media’s Consider It, a current affairs digital show that airs weekly on Facebook Watch. He is also a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree for Law and Policy for his contributions to politics and media.

As a political operative, he has worked on the presidential campaigns of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich where he focused on youth outreach and engagement. From there he went on to work on former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in campaign operations and coalitions where he traveled the country during the 2012 election. During the 2015 and 2016 cycle, he worked on the presidential campaign of renowned Neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson where he was the faith coalitions advisor tasked with targeting and building coalitions within the faith community, which would become Dr. Carson’s strongest base of support. As a result, Dr. Carson became the only candidate to surpass President Trump in polls for several straight weeks during the 2016 campaign cycle.

In addition to his work on political campaigns, he was an opposition researcher for America Rising, LLC where he did opposition research for several Republican candidates running for Congress and the United States Senate. Beyond politics, he also worked with Florida based non-profit Lauren’s Kids, which focuses on raising awareness about child sexual abuse. During his time with Lauren’s Kids, he was a part of a team of former political operatives who worked on a statewide bus tour across Florida to raise awareness for this very important issue.

When Dr. Carson ended his bid for the presidency, he appointed Shermichael as his director of communications, where he would manage all communications for the former presidential candidate. As Dr. Carson’s top aide during the presidential transition process, Shermichael played a pivotal role in successfully guiding Dr. Carson through the Senate confirmation process. Subsequently, he was appointed to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he was sworn in as the Deputy Chief of Staff, the youngest ever appointed to the role in the history of the agency. Getting acclimated in his role at HUD, Shermichael was later fired by the Trump Administration after an articled surfaced where Shermichael criticized then-candidate Trump. After his dismissal, Shermichael went on to become a CNN Political Commentator.

In addition to co-hosting his weekly show on Vox Media, he appears weekly on MSNBC where he offers political analysis.

A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, he studied Political Science at Morehouse College and Government and Politics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Tags 2019

Counselor

Eva Bramesco

Student Support

Eva Bramesco is the Senior Assistant Director of Honors College Admissions here at Mason. Beginning with her involvement in the Admissions Office at her alma mater, Eva has spent nearly a decade working with students and families of all backgrounds to overcome the various hurdles of the college admissions process.

In working closely with the Honors College, Eva gets to meet some of Mason’s most ambitious and inquisitive applicants. As the product of a small liberal arts college herself, Eva loves to share the Honors College’s benefits of small classroom settings, individualized attention from brilliant professors, the academic freedom to truly dive into areas and topics of interest, and what students can really do with these opportunities in a large research university setting.

Prior to her time at Mason, Eva worked in international development, first with the American Red Cross, and then for a consulting firm. From working in the competitive and fast-paced environment of Washington, D.C., Eva learned firsthand about the powerful combination of a customizable education in a unique location.

Originally from Danvers, Massachusetts, Eva graduated with high honors from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania with degrees in International Relations, Spanish and a minor in Latin American Studies, and is currently working towards a Master’s in Public Policy at Mason. Her undergraduate research focused on democratization processes in disparate nations. In addition to her work at Mason, Eva is a long-time mentor, tutor, and advocate for educational equity. She can also be found on Twitter talking about current trends and issues in education at @EvaAdmissions

Tags 2019

Speakers

Kayla Sharpe

KAYLA SHARPE

Deputy Newsletter Team Lead, Bloomberg Government

Kayla N. Sharpe is a digital journalist based in the Washington D.C. area. She is the Deputy Newsletter Team Leader at Bloomberg Government and previously worked as an Associate Editor at Axios — where she oversaw reporting teams in D.C., Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Twin Cities — at POLITICO as Engagement Editor for Subscriber Strategy and as a Digital Producer, and at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting supporting student and freelance journalists covering under-reported global issues.

Kayla graduated from the College of William & Mary in 2017 with degrees in Film & Media and American Studies and served as the Digital Media Editor for the campus newspaper, The Flat Hat. In addition to completing communications internships at the Brookings Institution, the Democratic National Committee, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Kayla has seen her reporting recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, receiving their 2017 Regional Mark of Excellence Award for In-Depth Reporting, and William & Mary, receiving their 2016 Rex Smith Journalism Award.

Kayla is proud to be an engaged William & Mary alumna and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Young Guarde Alumni Council and on the William & Mary Washington Center Advisory Board as Board Development Chair. Kayla currently lives in Reston, VA with her Australian Shepherd, Kirby, and her many houseplants.

Check out Kayla’s website

Tags 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023

Advance Team Staff

Allison Wells

ALLISON WELLS

Director of Logistics, Washington Scholars Program

Allison Wells is the Assistant Director of Events for the Office of Admissions at George Mason University, and the Director of Logistics for the Washington Scholars Program. Allison joined the team in May of 2019 and has spent the last two summers supporting and leading the Washington Scholars Programs. She is a lover of all things logistics, and the summers quickly became her favorite time of year. She earned her B.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Grand Valley State University in 2019. In her free time, Allison looks forward to spending time outdoors, being with friends, and traveling.

Tags 2019