We made another addition to the newsroom this week. Will Wright, a senior at the University of Kentucky, is our newest summer fellow. He'll be here for several months, digging through documents and working on stories with the team.
Wright, 22, hails from Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, a town just south of Pittsburgh.
He has interned at the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Sacramento Bee and spent countless hours working for UK's student newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel. There, Will produced a spectacular story on a university bank robber. It's a must-read.
Here's Will in his own words:
I have always liked investigative reporting, but my interest for it really ignited earlier this year. During off hours at the University of Kentucky's student newspaper, I looked through clips of investigative and narrative stories. Some pieces of journalism are great reads, but these clips felt like they could actually enact change or reforms. I hope to produce a few stories of that caliber this summer at the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. KyCIR reports deeply on issues that others aren't necessarily tackling. These stories expose corruption, shine light on government waste, and serve as a voice for people who would otherwise go unheard. I want to tell those stories. I finished my term as the Kentucky Kernelβs editor-in-chief earlier this month and look forward to returning to UK this fall with more investigative skills. I am glad to have this opportunity, and pledge to serve Kentuckians as best I can.
You can follow Will on Twitter @KernelWright and email him at wwright@kycir.org.
The newsroom's previous summer fellow, Eleanor Hasken, is working on an advanced degree in folklore studies at Western Kentucky University. Many of her great photographs still grace our website.
