Charliss (Charly) Edsitty, Navajo, Baylor University, Waco, Texas.

Has been news editor at the Baylor Lariat and is a senior at Baylor University, majoring in journalism, with a minor in film and digital media. She plans to graduate in December 2009. She attended UNITY ‘08 in Chicago.

Melanie Gilkerson, Blackfeet heritage, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Md.

Has been a staff writer for the Campus Current at Anne Arundel Community College and also was a staff writer at her high school paper, The Raider. She expects to graduate from Anne Arundel in May 2010, with a major in journalism and minor in English.

Gemma Givens, Mayan heritage, University of California, Santa Cruz, Calif.

Is a reporter for reznetnews.org and was a still photographer on the set of “Life’s Blood” by Koncept Films. She has been an intern at the International Forum on Globalization and part of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala. She was a reporter and youth participant at the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change in Anchorage, Alaska, and is currently a writer and editor for the Third World and Native American Student Press at University of California-Santa Cruz.

Meredith Moriak, Citizen Band Potawatomi, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.

Has been a reporter and copy editor for The Oklahoma Daily, where she won The Oklahoma Daily Rising Star Award and was named Reporter of the Week. In the fall she will serve as managing editor. She is vice president of the student chapter of the Native American Journalists Association and member of the student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She has been a contributing writer to the University of Oklahoma Visitor Guide and was a public relations intern with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She plans to graduate in May 2011 with a major in journalism and minor in sociology.

Benny Polacca, Colorado River Indian Tribes, 2005 graduate of Arizona State University, Tempe.

Working journalist, Osage News. Graduated from AIJI in 2004 and was a member of the Chips Quinn Scholars Program. He had summer reporting internships at The Forum in Fargo, N.D. (2005), and The Bulletin in Bend, Ore. (2006). He formerly was a general assignment/night reporter for The Forum and a reporter for reznetnews.org. He also wrote for the Native Voice, the convention newspaper at the 2006 Native American Journalists Association convention in Tulsa, Okla.

Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan, Tohono O’odham, University of Arizona and graduate of Pima Community College, Tucson, Ariz.

Graduated from AIJI in 2008. She was managing editor of the Pima Community College student newspaper, the Aztec Press, and also was a reporter for the Desert View High School newspaper, the Jaguar Tribune. In 2008 she had a summer internship at The Daily Times in Farmington, N.M., and she has been a reporter for both reznetnews.org and Native Perspectives, published by the Native American Journalists Association.

Danielle Swanson, Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Ga.

Was a reporter for The Daily Tribune of Cartersville, Ga., where she won business writing awards from the Georgia Press Association. She has a bachelor’s degree in communication from Kennesaw State University, where she is enrolled in the professional writing master’s degree program and expects to graduate in May 2010.

Anne-Marie (Annie) Taylor, Choctaw, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.

She is a TV and radio volunteer at the University of Oklahoma and wrote for UNITY News at the UNITY ’08 convention in Chicago. She has been a participant in the Oklahoma Institute for Diversity in Journalism and was editor-in-chief of the Durant High School Lions’ Roar. She expects to graduate in May 2012 with a major in journalism.

Molly Young, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb.

Has been a reporter for the Albion News, Albion, Neb., and has been a reporter and columnist for the Daily Nebraskan at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also was an intern at the Norfolk Daily News in Norfolk, Neb., and was a national tribal relations intern with the National Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Agriculture Department in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Native American Journalists Association and expects to graduate in May 2011 with majors in news-editorial and anthropology.