A St. Edward’s McNair Scholar’s Journey to Her PhD
_{St. Edward’s University}
The McNair program helps students from underrepresented backgrounds earn graduate degrees. I followed St. Edward’s alumna Victoria Rodriguez from her San Antonio neighborhood to her doctoral program at Stanford to her first university teaching position.

Sue Monk Kidd Found the Courage to Pursue Her Passion
_{TCU Magazine}
The Secret Life of Bees author wanted to be a writer since childhood but went into nursing because it seemed more practical. Her desire to write fiction “went into some waiting room inside of me and just waited its turn, and suddenly its turn was here,” Kidd said of her early 40s. “I was so homesick for myself.”

A Yearlong Quest: On a Watson Fellowship, alumna Kirsty Leech deepened her understanding of families — like her own — who navigate disability
_{Rice Magazine}
Leech’s fellowship supported her as she traveled to The Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, South Africa, Zambia and Ireland, volunteering with disability rights organizations and interviewing families. The award is a no-strings-attached “golden ticket” to study the topic of the recipient’s choice anywhere in the world for one year. What would you study, and where would you go?

2020 Vision: How next year’s census will help all levels of government see 10 years into the future
_{Macalester Today}
I interviewed seven Macalester College alumni who were involved in the 2020 census. To wrangle an enormous amount of information into eight pages, I organized the story as a “class,” with narrative and as-told-to sections serving as “lectures” and a bullet-point “quiz.”

UT is Working to End the Stigma Surrounding Mental Health and Offer Support
_{The Alcalde (University of Texas)}
A deep dive into the state of college student mental health locally and nationally… and an exploration of the programs UT offers to help students cope.