Columbia News Tonight Staff 2010: Leslie Adkins, Kibkabe Araya, Ryann Blackshere, Angela Chen, Chao Deng, Kethevane Gorjestani, Leslie Hart, Alexandra King, Kelly Koopmans, Rory Kress, Jane Lee, Olivia Manders, Taremekedzwa Mutasa, Thaddeus Novak, Carmen Perez, Sherisse Pham, Leslie Picker, Monika Plocienniczak, Janelle Richards, Michelle Schacherer, Leonard Schoenberger, Amikka Smith, Angelica Spanos, Saskya Vandoorne, Brandon Walker

	LESLIE ADKINS is a 2009 graduate of Dartmouth College and a Michigan native. She earned a B.A. in Government and French Studies. Adkins interned at ABC News 20/20 and for the United States Congress. She was also a 2005 Al Newarth/USA Today Free Spirit Scholar. During her undergraduate studies, she wrote a television column, a fashion column, and features for the arts section of the Daily Dartmouth Newspaper. Adkins also served as an editor of the World Outlook Journal of International Affairs. Her professional interests include American politics, international development, health care and youth issues. She is a proud advocate for diabetes research and education.
	KIBKABE ARAYA is from Sacramento, CA. She worked on her high school newspaper and several college publications as a staff writer, section editor, and copy editor. She interned at the National Weather Service in Sacramento; ESSENCE Magazine, a Time Inc. publication; and WSB-TV 2, the local ABC News affiliate in Atlanta, GA. Araya graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, where she studied environmental science and policy and mathematics. During her junior year of college, she spent a year at Barnard College.
	RYANN BLACKSHERE is from Monrovia, California. She graduated from Stanford University in 2009 with degrees in Communication and Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity. As an undergraduate, she was editor-in-chief of the Real News, a historically black campus newspaper, and a reporter for a campus news broadcast. She interned at Tiger Beat Magazine, People Magazine, and O, The Oprah Magazine. During summer 2009, Blackshere helped teens in East Palo Alto, California create a 48 page health magazine targeted toward their community.
	ANGELA CHEN is originally from southern California, where she worked as a news writer and associate producer of the morning news program “Good Morning San Diego” at KUSI News. Chen was also an NBC News fellow at Dateline and Channel One News. She has written for the San Diego Union-Tribune and worked for The Charlie Rose Show. Chen graduated from the University of California, San Diego, where she earned degrees in Literature/Writing and Psychology. She is a member of AAJA, SPJ and Pi Beta Phi.
	CHAO DENG was born in China and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from Brown University where she double majored in neuroscience and economics. She is especially interested in reporting on health, science, and the economy. Deng interned at CNN’s Beijing Bureau, covering stories on the 2008 Olympic Games. She has also interned at WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island. In the future, she would like to work as a foreign correspondent in Asia.
	KETHEVANE GORJESTANI graduated in 2005 with a law degree from Assas in Paris, France. Gorjestani received a master’s from the SciencesPo Journalism School in Paris, where she specialized in TV reporting. She interned and freelanced for the French news website 20minutes.fr (an equivalent of Metro.us, the web site of the free handout newspaper) and more recently for the Paris Bureau of AP Television News. She has lived in Austria, Chad, Belgium and France. Gorjestani is fluent in English, French, Georgian, and speaks Russian. Eventually she would like to work as a foreign correspondent.
	LESLIE HART is a summa cum laude graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Communication with a B.A. in Theater, a minor in Art History, and a Music Theater Certificate. She now seeks to apply her storytelling and interviewing skills to a new medium – broadcast journalism. A New Jersey native, Leslie has interned in the Artistic Office of the Roundabout Theater Company and with “Great Performances” on Channel Thirteen/WNET. Leslie ultimately hopes to work as an anchor and executive producer. Her special interests include cultural commentary, the visual and performing arts, travel, business, technology, and the entertainment industry.
	ALEXANDRA KING spent the last five years studying and reporting in London where she gained her BA in English literature at University College. King worked for the BBC, Channel Five, and Sky News. She was the news editor of the London Student, the largest student newspaper in Europe. King contributed numerous comment pieces, features, and art reviews to local and national papers. Her career highlights were covering the G20 protests, the Iranian election, making Michael Portillo a cup of tea, and interviewing Josh Hartnett. In 2007, she was short-listed for a National student media award and twice nominated for the prestigious Guardan student media awards.
	KELLY KOOPMANS was born and raised in Seattle. Koopmans spent a year working in Shanghai for a multinational media company and taught English in Hanoi, Vietnam. An avid sports fan and lifelong athlete, Koopmans is interested in sports and health/fitness journalism. In addition to reporting, she enjoys running and reading. She graduated from Washington State University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Communication. As an undergraduate student, she spent a year abroad at Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville, Spain.
	RORY KRESS After receiving her B.A from Princeton University, Kress worked for the Jerusalem Bureau of the Associated Press and the Jerusalem Post covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the environment and the arts. She reported from all across Israel and the West Bank. Her work has appeared on CNN.com, the Drudge Report, ABC.com and in the International Herald Tribune. Kress  filming a short video documentary on the conversion of Hispanic Americans to Islam.
	JANE LEE graduated from Washington and Lee University in 2009 with a B.A. in broadcast journalism and a concentration in art history. She produced, reported and anchored for the university television program. Lee completed her undergraduate multimedia thesis on the sub-prime loan fallout in Lexington, Va., and produced a short documentary film on the alcohol culture of southern Virginia universities. She has interned for U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, the Reeves Center with Washington and Lee University Special Collections, and NBC Universal in Boston. Upon graduation, she hopes to focus on international reporting, with a specialization in East Asian affairs.
	OLIVIA MANDERS grew up in the Netherlands, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Ede Christian University. Manders spent the last three years interning for different Dutch and international media, producing news stories at the CNN Paris Bureau and assisting foreign correspondents in the Middle East. She produced various multimedia projects, including a documentary on a corruption case in the South African media. Manders was an assistant producer and editor on documentaries about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in the Middle East. She speaks French, Dutch,  English and German. She hopes to work as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East and Africa.
	TAMMY MUTASA worked as a television news reporter for KAMR NBC 4 News in Amarillo, Texas. She covered stories from local politics and corruption to wildfire disasters, to live shots in one of the worst blizzards in the Texas Panhandle. Mutasa’s work has aired on CNN, NBC and ABC affiliate stations. Mutasa is a native of Zimbabwe and has travelled throughout Africa, and specifically in Uganda where she reported on the AIDS crisis and the effects of the Ugandan Civil War on civilians. A graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, Mutasa is proud to be a Longhorn and proud to be from Texas – where everything really is bigger.
	THADDEUS NOVAK came to broadcast journalism by an unusual path, having spent the last seven years at the University of Chicago earning a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Thad received his B.S. from Yale University, with a double major in English and Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry. In addition to using his academic training to cover science stories, he’s especially interested in sports reporting.
	CARMEN PEREZ is Puerto Rican and was born and raised in Orlando, Fl. She spent the last two years working as teacher in a low socioeconomic neighborhood in Houston Texas. She was a corps member with Teach For America and taught bilingual students reading. She is a graduate of Florida State University where she took special interest in issues concerning human trafficking and education. While at FSU, she was a sports reporter on the Sunshine Network and a reporter with the local PBS affiliate. Carmen has a special interest in working with issues that deal with Education.
	SHERISSE PHAM comes to New York via Beijing, where she worked as a freelance print journalist for more than four years. In China’s capital, she interned for the CNN Beijing bureau covering stories such as the Sichuan earthquake and the 2008 Summer Olympics. She has written for WWD, The South China Morning Post, People Magazine, Wallpaper*, CNN.com, Frommer’s, and Zagat Survey among others.
	LESLIE PICKER has held internships with the CBS Evening News and Bloomberg TV-Radio in Washington, DC, and local television stations in Kansas City and Champaign, Ill. Picker is originally from Leawood, Kansas and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Illinois. While at Columbia, Picker is taking advantage of available business courses, as she is interested in business and political reporting.
	MONIKA PLOCIENNICZAK worked for WCJB-TV in Gainesville, Florida as a general assignment reporter. She feels fortunate to have had internships with NBC’s Nightly News, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360°, as well as CNN International in London. When Plocienniczak wasn’t just pursuing journalism, she worked for the United Nations Foundation, a charity that works to broaden support for the United Nations. Plocienniczak is a 2008 graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication with a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism and International Relations.
	JANELLE RICHARDS received her B.A. in English from Spelman College. Richards has interned with CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, CBS in Washington D.C. and WSB-TV Channel 2 in Atlanta, Georgia. Richards is currently working on a long-form multimedia project about the lives of Halal street vendors. In her spare time, Richards enjoys reading and traveling.
	MICHELLE SCHACHERER graduated in 2009 from the University of Iowa. She double majored in English and journalism, with honors in both. Schacherer interned as a producer at KGAN, a CBS/Fox affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with hands-on experience writing and producing newscasts. After the internship, Schacherer was hired at KGAN to work in the production department. She would like to work as a producer for evening or local news or work in advocacy journalism. Her major interests include news analysis and bias in the media.
	LEONARD SCHOENBERGER was born and raised in Germany. In 2009 he received his degree in American Studies, Politics and Philosophy at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. Leonard spent his fourth year studying in Paris where he interned at CNN in the summer of 2008. A native German speaker, Leonard is fluent in English and French. A sports and outdoor enthusiast himself, he enjoys covering sports, as well as national and foreign affairs.
	AMIKKA SMITH was born in Detroit, Michigan. She interned at WWJ-TV/CW50; WXYZ-TV 7, the local ABC affiliate in Michigan. She graduated in 2009 from Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C., majoring in mass communications. Upon graduation, Amikka plans to become a community affairs correspondent reporting on issues concerning substance abuse, education, poverty and health care. She plans to use her voice to advocate for underrepresented minorities.
	ANGELICA SPANOS is originally from Falls Church, Va and received her B.A. in journalism and mass communications from the George Washington University. Her primary interests are in business, politics, and sports reporting. She formerly interned at WTOP Radio, WTTG FOX-5 and CNN’s The Situation Room in Washington, D.C.  Spanos currently interns at FOX Business Network, working on the online web shows.  In her spare time you can find her playing soccer and being outdoors with her family.
	SASKYA VANDOORNE graduated in 2009 from Durham University in England with a B.A. in modern languages and English literature. She was editor-in-chief of her campus paper and hosted a weekly radio show. She completed the International Program at Sciences Po journalism school. Vandoorne interned at Associated Press Television News in Paris covering the Pope’s visit to France and interviewing the French footballer Thierry Henry. She also interned with the International Herald Tribune in Paris. Vandoorne ultimately hopes to become an international reporter.
	BRANDON WALKER holds a BA in History from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He currently works as a Broadcast Associate at CBS News, providing content for The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and other CBS News broadcasts. The native New Orleanian enjoys covering stories that feature everyday people making a difference in their community.

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