Meet the AJC newsroom’s interns for Summer 2023

Colin Beazley

Colin Beazley is a senior at Villanova, where he serves as co-editor-in-chief of Villanova’s student newspaper, The Villanovan. A native of Los Angeles, Colin has previously written for the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Acorn. He was the only student journalist to cover both the 2022 NCAA Final Four and the 2023 CFP National Championship.

Credit: Michael Blackshire

Credit: Michael Blackshire

Michael Blackshire

Michael Blackshire is a current graduate student at Ohio University were he is in the Viscom program studying photojournalism. He enjoys the landscape of Bluegrass that his forefathers built and the mountains that shape our nation. Blackshire loves how photojournalism can introduce readers to people who are from different perspectives, backgrounds, states, and countries.

Credit: Sarah Davis

Credit: Sarah Davis

Sarah Davis

Sarah Davis will be a senior at Emory University in the fall, where she serves as editor-in-chief for The Emory Wheel. Previously, she’s worked with Atlanta Magazine, The Covington News and Austin Monthly Magazine.

Credit: Davis Giangiulio

Credit: Davis Giangiulio

Davis Giangiulio

Davis Giangiulio is a student at Northwestern University studying journalism and economics. He is originally from outside of Philadelphia.

Prior to joining AJC as an intern, he was a freelance writer. His work covered politics, health, culture, the economy and more for both local and national publications.

Credit: Benjamin Kornegay PIPHOTOATL

Credit: Benjamin Kornegay PIPHOTOATL

Jada Harris

Jada Harris is a graduating senior at Spelman College, majoring in Comparative Women’s Studies with a concentration in Women in Media & Entertainment. She is from Los Angeles, California and serves as president of the Women in Hip Hop Collective, SGA’s Co-Director of Public Relations, and is a Woman of Excellence in Leadership at Spelman (WELS) scholar.

She has a passion for entertainment, marketing, audience development, and creating digital content. She aspires to make others aware of the misrepresentation of women in media and help guide young women into the entertainment industry.

Credit: Maia Irvin

Credit: Maia Irvin

Maia Irvin

Maia Irvin is a fourth-year student at the University of Minnesota, majoring in journalism and anthropology, and is originally from Austin, Minnesota. She has worked as an intern at several news organizations including the Star Tribune, the Minnesota Reformer and Castilla-La Mancha Media in Spain. She has also worked for the University of Minnesota’s student-run newspaper, the Minnesota Daily, in various roles including as a staff reporter and the editor-in-chief.

Credit: Avani Kalra

Credit: Avani Kalra

Avani Kalra

Avani Kalra is a sophomore at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and is originally from Chicago, Illinois. She has previously worked for the Wisconsin State Journal, and most recently served as the City Editor at her student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, where she covers local politics and housing issues in the city of Evanston.

Credit: Evan Lasseter

Credit: Evan Lasseter

Evan Lasseter

Evan Lasseter is a second-year master’s student in the Missouri School of Journalism. He is interested in reporting on the impacts of policy and policy decisions made at various levels of government. His most recent work was through the Missouri News Network, a statewide wire service, as a state government reporter. Evan graduated from the University of Georgia in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and is a native of Perry, Georgia. He enjoys playing golf, reading and listening to music in his free time.

Credit: Shahid Meighan

Credit: Shahid Meighan

Shahid Meighan

Shahid Meighan earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Nevada State College in May of 2019. After graduating, he served briefly as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi before being evacuated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After returning to the U.S., he was accepted into Arizona State University and earned his Master’s degree in investigative journalism from the Cronkite School December of 2022. While in school, he also interned as an education reporter with the Copper Courier in Phoenix. Outside of journalism, Shahid loves reading, traveling, exercising, and hip hop.

Credit: Katelyn Myrick

Credit: Katelyn Myrick

Katelyn Myrick

Katelyn Myrick is a student at Savannah College of Art and Design, but is originally from Pompano Beach, Florida. She has done everything from travel photography to other journalistic adventures.

She doesn’t have any limits when it comes to the type of photography she does and enjoys. Photojournalism is her passion, hobby, and aspiring career.

Credit: Toni Odejimi

Credit: Toni Odejimi

Toni Odejimi

Toni Odejimi is a journalism major and political science minor at Georgia State University with a concentration in multimedia reporting. She started her journalism career interning at the Atlanta Voice, a black-owned newspaper. She then went on to work for two campus news organizations, The Signal and HerCampus, covering the 2022 midterms for the former, and the intersection between pop culture and politics for the latter. She continued her midterm coverage with Howard University’s News Service.

Credit: Alice Tecotzky

Credit: Alice Tecotzky

Alice Tecotzky

Alice Tecotzky is a rising senior at Columbia University studying English and History. She has served as the Deputy City News Editor at the Columbia Daily Spectator and a Breaking News Intern at the Daily Beast. Born and raised in New York City, she is interested in metro reporting, with a special focus on education. When she’s not reporting, Alice can be found baking, hiking, or hanging out with her two dogs.

Credit: Caitlin Thompson

Credit: Caitlin Thompson

Caitlin Thompson

Caitlin Thompson is getting her master’s in investigative journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. Prior to that, she was a reporter covering disinformation and surveillance for Coda Story, an international non-profit newsroom that gets to the root of global crises. While working for Coda, she was based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Thompson also reported for KAZU, the NPR affiliate in the Monterey Bay area, where she was on the team that won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for coverage of wildfires. She has reported from Northern Ireland and the Dominican Republic, as well as Florida, North Carolina and California. She speaks Russian.

Credit: Olivia Wakim

Credit: Olivia Wakim

Olivia Wakim

Olivia Wakim is a 2023 graduate from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism. She is a Georgia native and previously spent time writing for The Red & Black and interning at the Marietta Daily Journal. Wakim is passionate about writing and using digital media to share stories and experiences from the community.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the leading journalism organization in the Southeast, focuses its reporting staff on local matters and closely monitors state and local governments, the local economy, entertainment and sports.

Our journalists seek to uncover the truth, protect the public’s right to know and hold community leaders accountable for serving the public. Reporters, editors and photographers aggressively document the region’s moments, milestones and people. Every day, whether in print or on its digital and social platforms, the AJC informs and empowers its readers who value credible, in-depth journalism.

The newspaper traces its roots to 1868, the founding date of The Atlanta Constitution. The Atlanta Journal debuted in 1883. The papers have been under common ownership since 1950 and fully merged in 2001. The newspaper is owned by Cox Enterprises, a family-owned company that has been in Atlanta since 1939. While the newspaper is owned by a private company, its news decisions are made by the journalists in the AJC’s newsroom.