Moving on:

Jason McKibben (Spring 2005) is a photographer for The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y. Previously he did freelance work in Maine.

Ana Cubías (Spring 2008) is a reporter for El Tiempo Latino in Washington, D.C., where she previously was an intern. She says, “I cover issues including immigration, foreign affairs dealing with Latin America and the U.S. —that’s the one I enjoy the most— and the Salvadoran community, which is really big and which I fully understand being from over there.”

Simmi Aujla (Summer 2008) is a congressional reporter for Politico, based in Arlington, Va. Previously she covered state politics for The Associated Press in Idaho.

Xavier Mascarenas (Summer 2008) is a photographer for The Journal News in Westchester County, N.Y. Previously he was a photographer for The Times Daily in Farmington, N.M.

Aaron L. Morrison (Summer 2008) is a reporter for the Daily Record in Parsippany, N.J. He says, “I’ll be writing stories for the paper’s seven weeklies in North Jersey and contributing to the daily edition on a general assignment beat.” Previously he was a temporary reporter for The Associated Press in Trenton, N.J., covering the statehouse.

Emma Carew (Summer 2009) is a reporter for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, covering suburban metro news in a two-year apprenticeship position. Previously she was editorial assistant for The Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington, D.C.

Christina M. Wright (Summer 2009) is crime reporter for The Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind.

Internships:

Rick Rojas (Summer 2008) is an intern for the second summer at The Washington Post on the metro desk, joining Phillip Lucas (Summer 2010).

Thaisi Da Silva (Summer 2009) is an American Indian Journalism Institute intern at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D. A recent graduate of Hampton University, Da Silva also participated in the New York Times Student Journalism Institute in New Orleans in May.

Kiah Haslett (Spring 2010) is a Pulliam Fellow at The Arizona Republic, where she covers the community of Surprise, Ariz.

Diane Lee (Spring 2010) is a multimedia intern for The Bulletin in Bend, Ore., where she was a reporter intern for 12 weeks in the spring.

New beats:

Manny Lopez (Summer 1994) is opinion page editor/columnist for The Detroit News after being auto editor. He says, “The two and a half years I spent doing it just about buried me with all the incredible news (two bankruptcies; two GM CEOs fired by the White House; global auto shows; union concessions…). The opportunity arose for me to go back to commentary writing and add an editing/management function to it and I jumped at it. Best part is it gives me back some control of my life and allows me to see my kids and wife again at night before they all go to bed.”

Awards:

Heather Charles (Summer 2001), photojournalist for the Chicago Tribune won first and third places in the 2010 Illinois Best of Multimedia/Pro Individual Video Pieces category and first place for Multimedia Portfolio of the Year award. She also won third place in the Illinois Best of Photojournalism/Feature.

Two Chipsters are finalists for the Association of Food Journalists’ 2010 Awards Competition. Winners will be announced in September 2010. Finalists and categories are:

• Johnathan L. Wright (Summer 2001), food & drink editor, Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal; Best Newspaper Food Coverage 150,000 Circulation

• Kevin Pang (Spring 2003), features reporter, chicagotribune.com; Best Food Multimedia Presentation

Markeshia Ricks (Summer 2002), state government reporter for the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, won the Paula S. Moore Standard of Excellence Award, a company award named after a former executive editor at the paper. The award comes with a $1,000 cash prize.

Polyana Da Costa (Summer 2004), reporter for the Daily Business Review in Miami, won third place in the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2010 Sunshine State Awards for real estate reporting.

Ashley Anthony (Spring 2007), reporter for The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun, is a finalist for the National Association of Black Journalists’ 2010 Salute to Excellence Awards. She is a finalist in the newspaper category 150,000 circulation and under for a feature/single story she did on local African-American historian and artist Bodie Gentry. Winners will be announced during NABJ’s 35th annual convention in San Diego in late July.

Jasmine “Jaz” Gray (Summer 2009), was named one of USA Today’s 2010 All-USA College Academic First Team. Gray will attend Syracuse University in the fall to study screenwriting and production in the Newhouse School of Public Communications’ television, radio and film program. She says, “I received the Turner Broadcasting Diversity Fellowship, which includes tuition, a stipend and a job with Turner after graduation. God is good!” Gray graduated in May from Middle Tennessee State University.

Bethany Mollenkof (Summer 2010), won tenth place and a $500 scholarship from the 50^th annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program/Multimedia. A student of Western Kentucky University, she is a summer intern at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Convention news:

Chipsters had a strong presence at the recent National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention in Denver. Alejandra Matos (Spring 2010) and Ricardo Lopez (Summer 2008) worked at the Latino Reporter, the convention paper. Art Marroquin (Summer 1997), reporter for the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif., was a mentor.

Other Chipsters served in capacities as track leaders, panelist and speakers. They are:

• Joe L. Ruiz (Summer 2006), associate producer-lead for news, SeattleTimes.com
• Natalie Genevieve Guillen (Summer 2003), photographer, The Santa Fe New Mexican
• Paul Gutierrez (Summer 1993), senior sports reporter, The Sacramento Bee
• Evan Semon (Summer 2001), former photographer, The Rocky Mountain News
• Joshua Trujillo (Summer 2001), visual journalist, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Other news:

Getahn Ward (Summer 1994 and 1995), health-care business and commercial real estate reporter for The Tennessean in Nashville, wrapped up his first semester as an adjunct faculty member with the Department of Africana Studies at his alma mater, Tennessee State University. He says, “It’s been a rewarding experience teaching a class on advertising and marketing in African communities. I expect to teach another class this fall on business opportunities in Africa.”

Christian Moises (Summer 2002), news editor for New Orleans City Business, was elected president of the New Orleans Press Club Board.

Wasim Ahmad (Summer 2003), faculty member at State University of New York-Stony Brook, spoke at a Deadline Club multimedia workshop. His topic was “How to Build Your Brand Online — Building Your Web Portfolio, not just the Website, but What’s in it, Too.” Ahmad has a master’s degree in photography from Syracuse’s Newhouse school and has worked as a copy editor, columnist, multimedia journalist and Web editor at Gannett and Scripps newspapers in Minnesota and Florida and at the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y.

Angela Manese-Lee (Summer 2003) graduated from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business with a master’s degree in business administration. Previously she was a reporter for The Roanoke (Va.) Times.

Leezel Tanglao (Summer 2003), online news producer at KCBS/KCAL in Los Angeles, graduated from the University of California-Los Angeles with a master’s degree in Asian American studies. Tanglao is co-chair of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) convention in Los Angeles in August.

Ivy Dai (Spring 2004) is a pastry chef at the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore in Santa Barbara, Calif. She says, “I attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Los Angeles and worked in France at a pastry shop… I also run a blog and am a freelance food writer. I also recently worked on Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars” show. Previously she was a weather producer at KABC-TV in Los Angeles (ABC 7 News).

Patricia Ho (Summer 2004) will attend Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs this fall, with the goal of earning a master’s degree in international relations. Previously she was a reporter for Dow Jones in Beijing, where she covered China’s transportation industry (mainly autos and airlines) and other financial news for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She says, “Living and working in my ancestral home country for two and a half years was a terrific experience. Now I’m excited to be going back to school and living in the big city.”

Bao Ong (Spring 2005) graduated from Columbia University in May with a master’s degree in journalism. He is currently interning and freelancing for The New York Times.

Eric Bolin (Summer 2006) is internal communications coordinator for Chreokee Nation Entertainment in Tulsa, Okla. He says, “Basically, it means I run the intranet, use all sorts of multimedia storytelling and assist with all other communications internally.”

Workshops:

Nancy Kelsey (Summer 2003) and Jomay Steen (Summer 1997) attended the American Indian Journalism Institute June 2010 workshop in Vermillion, S.D. The following Chipsters served as mentors and speakers.

Kevin Abourezk (Summer 1999), higher education reporter, Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star

Thaisi Da Silva (Summer 2009), AIJI intern at the Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D.

Mary Hudetz (Summer 2007), West Desk editor, The Associated Press, Phoenix

Dalton Walker (Summer 2005), reporter, Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D.</li

Marco Santana (Spring 2009), education reporter for the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, Ill., was accepted to the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media’s seminar on education reporting. The workshop runs July 16-18 in New York City at Columbia University.

Outreach:

Veronica Cruz

Veronica Cruz (Spring 2010) was assistant director for a journalism diversity workshop for high school students, an eight-day program hosted by the University of Arizona. She says, “It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed mentoring the students.”

Personal Best:

Markeshia Ricks finished the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville, Tenn., in two hours, 34 minutes, 15 seconds. She wore her Chips Quinn T-shirt and ran with two other reporters from her paper, the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

Wedding:

Nancy Yang (Spring 2003), a national news editor for Internet Broadcasting, married Branden Peterson, a business partner at Target Corp., on June 5, 2010, in Minneapolis, Minn. The two met while studying journalism at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Several Chipsters attended the wedding, including Bao Ong, who was one of the readers during the ceremony. Nancy and Branden honeymooned in Hawaii.

Keep your news coming. Send updates to Michelle Hedenskoog.