The Reporting Team
Alyssa Adasiak is a senior majoring in journalism and minoring in general business at Western Michigan University. She expects to graduate in Spring 2019. During her time at WMU, Alyssa has had experience with working with WMU’s Young Broadcasters of Tomorrow and enhancing her work through her journalism courses. After graduation, Alyssa hopes to pursue a career in broadcast journalism or a career in business with a specialty in marketing or sales. In her free time, she likes to spend time with family and friends and binge watch The Office and Friends.
Olivia Bentley graduated from Western Michigan University in December 2018 with a major in journalism and minor in gender and women’s studies. While at WMU, she wrote for the arts and entertainment section of the Western Herald. Human interest and entertainment stories are the types of stories she most enjoys writing. After attending graduate school, she hopes to get a job writing for an online-based news company like BuzzFeed. 

Alex Calvert is a student at Western Michigan University.
Mikhayla Dunaj is a junior at Western Michigan University studying journalism. Her minor is in global and international studies. In her time at WMU, she has been the news editor of the campus newspaper, the Western Herald, and is currently the editor in chief. Her favorite stories are those that involve human interest reporting. She was the Western Herald Reporter of the Year in 2017 and she interned with 94.9 News/Talk WSJM in Benton Harbor, Mich. in 2017. She is also a member of Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society, a member of the Lee Honors College, a Northouse Leadership Scholar and an Axle Johnson Memorial Scholar.
Jillian Fletcher is a senior majoring in journalism with an emphasis in broadcasting and minoring in gender and women’s studies at Western Michigan University. She will graduate in Spring 2019. While at WMU, Jillian sat in and shadowed sports broadcasts for spring and summer sports at WMU. Over the summer in her hometown, Cincinnati, Ohio Jillian also shadowed at a local news station. After graduating, Jillian hopes to either continue her journalism career in sports broadcasting or attend law school. During her free time, Jillian loves to play basketball (she is a current student-athlete at WMU), watch Netflix, shop and go to dinner with friends.
Elissa Kedziorek is a senior at Western Michigan University. She will be graduating in April of 2019 with a bachelor’s of arts in journalism and a minor in gender and women’s studies. She has worked at the Western Herald serving as a staff reporter, opinion’s editor, editor-in-chief and assistant news editor. In March 2018, Elissa was chosen as the Michigan Fellow for the National Newspaper Association Foundation Fellowship and traveled to Washington, D.C. to cover the current political divide in U.S. politics. Elissa has also interned as a newsroom intern at WOODTV8 in the spring of 2018 and a special projects intern at WDIV Local 4 News in Detroit in the summer of 2018.
Taylor Little is a journalism major and fashion merchandise minor at Western Michigan University. After graduation, she plans to intern at WDIV in her hometown, Detroit and start her own online fashion boutique.

Adam Rayes is a 19-year-old journalism student at Western Michigan University. He has worked a crime beat for Western Michigan University’s campus newspaper, a cybersecurity beat for Homeland Security Today Magazine in Washington, D.C. and currently freelances for several organizations in, and around, Kalamazoo, Mich. He enjoys hiking trails, Star Wars and being really, really bad at guitar. You can find Adam on Twitter @arayes17.
Da’Chelle Burnett is a senior at Western Michigan University double majoring in social work and journalism. She enjoys writing fiction and poetry and watching popular movies from the 1990s. Da’Chelle plans to have a successful career in entertainment journalism and wants to work for Essence magazine. Following graduation in 2019, Da’Chelle plans to immediately begin her career in the human service field and work as a freelance writer.


Zoe Jackson is a junior studying journalism and global studies at Western Michigan University. She is in her third role at her campus publication, serving as both news editor and vice-chair of the Student Media Group board. She currently interns at NPR member station WMUK 102.1 in Kalamazoo and is a former The Flint Journal/MLive intern. Zoe was named Western’s 2018 Burke Scholar in Journalism. She is an alumna of Online News Association Student Newsroom and Innovation Lab and of the National Association of Black Journalists’ student newsroom.


Will Kriss is a student of journalism and sociology at Western Michigan University. He is a top-rated A&E reporter for the Western Herald and the top Student DJ at WIDR FM, WMU’s official student radio station. He enjoys live music events and traveling.



 
Robert Tomlinson is a senior journalism major at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich. He is also the lead sports reporter for the Western Herald, the weekly student-run campus newspaper. He has a passion for sports journalism and is hoping to be a sportswriter or sports broadcaster when he graduates.

Dr. Jocelyn Steinke is a professor in the School of Communication and holds a joint appointment with the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at Western Michigan University. Previously, she taught at Ithaca College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has taught courses in news writing and reporting, environmental reporting, science writing, journalism research, introduction to mass communication, gender and media, and race, gender and science.