We're thrilled to welcome this year's cohort for KALW's Summer Journalism Program! After two intensive days of orientation, they are all set to dive into their assignments within our news department. They'll be working with our experienced staff of editors and journalists producing short and long-form stories for the radio. We can't wait to showcase their talent on the airwaves very soon!
Here they are — in their own words.
NeEddra James (they/she)
NeEddra is a Bay Area reporter and audio producer covering health and disability justice and the impact of emerging technologies on everyday life.
They’ve covered perimenopausal ADHD and the marginalization of women in medicine and are exploring how grief tech platforms — like AI memorial apps — are changing how we mourn and remember.
Their journalism follows how people move through systems that shape perception and possibility — navigating complexity, meaning, and access in environments where recognition and care are often uneven.
Jasmine Ascencio (she/her)
Jasmine is an audio reporter and producer who follows the threads of news that affect underrepresented communities in the Bay Area. Her reporting has included language barriers in local elections for Lao Richmond residents, the mental health impact of unpaid caregiving in the Latine community and the importance of library access for the blind and print-disabled in California.
Ellie Prickett-Morgan (they/them)
Ellie is an 11th Hour Food and Farming intern through UC Berkeley's School of Journalism. They are an audio journalist based in Oakland. Their reporting focus is food, environment, and climate stories with a Bay Area lens.
Evan Roberts (he/him)
Evan Roberts is a producer, journalist, educator, and artist based in San Francisco. He has contributed stories to KALW since 2006. He's worked with The New York Times, IDEO, Substack, and the Eames Institute for Infinite Curiosity. His documentary work has taken him from interviewing asylum-seekers in South Africa to skydiving with Marines in Texas to searching for the soul of a famous DJ in a Pasadena storage unit. He holds an MFA in Film Production from the University of Texas at Austin and is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.
Kristie Song (she/they)
Kristie Song is a multimedia journalist based in Berkeley, California. She has previously covered arts and culture for KQED, where she reported on DIY music, zine and comics spaces as well as other diverse Bay Area arts communities.
Renée Bartlett-Webber (she/her)
Renée is an emerging journalist dedicated to exploring the community impact at the intersection of policy and people. She is currently studying at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism specializing in audio and investigative reporting. Renee has covered elections, school budgeting, state funding, First Amendment disputes and more.
Audy McAfee (any/all)
Born and raised in Southern California, as the oldest of four, Audy learned how to take the lead early on in life and works to channel that power to produce original stories with a positive impact on marginalized communities. They started their journalism journey at UC Santa Cruz. They were a reporter and editor at their student-led newspaper, City on a Hill Press, for their senior year. Right after, they went to UC Berkeley for their Master's in Journalism, concentrating on audio. Now, Audy does a range of print and audio stories mainly focused on arts and culture, with interests in social justice as well. Outside of reporting, Audy loves to grab a bite with friends, hang out with her three cats, and watch fantasy TV shows.
Erin Bump (she/her)
Erin is an award-winning audio producer and portrait photographer living in San Francisco. She is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Once voted "biggest mensch" by a jury of her peers, Erin has been to all 50 states and is on a perpetual quest to find the finest cup of coffee in America.
shaylyn martos (she/they)
shaylyn martos is a Gracie Award winning producer, host and GM examining the intersections of gender and Indigeneity in solutions-focused media. shaylyn managed and mentored BIPOC youth journalists as a producer in YR Media's newsroom; she was also the season 3 host of the climate advocacy podcast Inherited. They currently serve as an at-large board member of the SF-Bay Area chapter of AAJA. Previously, they were an AIR's New Voices Scholar, an NPR Next Generation Radio mentee, and a member of the inaugural early-career cohort of Chips Quinn Scholars.
Desmond Meagley (any/all)
Desmond Meagley is a multimedia producer, editor and graphic designer from the East Bay. Desmond is a proud product of two of Oakland's most renowned student-led journalism programs: YR Media (f.k.a. Youth Radio) and The Peralta Citizen. Desmond's award-winning coverage has appeared on CalMatters, Teen Vogue, NPR, The SF Chronicle and more, spanning across topics such as urban design, public elections and transgender rights. Outside of the newsroom, Desmond can be found riding their bike, painting, or spending time with their cat and partner.