Introducing the NBTB 2018 CITs

One is 16 and covers North Carolina’s southeastern communities for Oceanside News Today, the news network that he founded — three years ago.

Another is an editor-in-chief for her school’s publication, where she’s helping to lead a difficult but necessary conversation about suicide prevention.

One serves as sports editor for his school’s newspaper, covers football for a regional sports news service and also heads his school’s literary magazine. Another is a leader in her school’s broadcast program and has produced award-winning videos on growing up Vietnamese American and on transgender bathrooms.

One says she “eats, breathes, sweats and bleeds journalism” (and she really means that).

They’re a talented bunch, and they’re our counselors-in-training for summer 2018 at Newsroom by the Bay.

Every year we have the pleasure of saying “welcome back” to Year 1 students who want to climb the ladder of journalism skills and leadership by applying to be CITs.

This year we have selected five talented students, including Macy Quinn-Sears, who will serve as a program assistant overseeing the CIT group.

CITs are our eyes and ears, helping us to address student needs. CITs also find ways for students to share what they know, for example, by organizing teen lightning talks last year on everything from drone journalism and Catholic school press rights to social media in China.

As members of our Year 2 strand, CITs work as a team to cover camp week and publish on our website and social media. They also spearhead collaborative projects, such as the “Worlds Apart” reporting push on homelessness in 2016 and our “One Day, One Story” deep dive into the Supreme Court’s 2013 decisions allowing same-sex marriage.

This year’s CITs are an accomplished group with across-the-board skills and demonstrated experience running their schools’ newspapers, news websites, broadcast programs and literary magazines.

The CITs are:

• Hannah Jannol, 17, of Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles, California
• James Starr, 16, of Pender Early College High School in Burgaw, North Carolina
• Kelly Trinh, 17, of Prosper High School in Prosper, Texas
• Macy Quinn-Sears, 18, of Walla Walla High School in Walla Walla, Washington
• Matthew Asuncion, 18, of St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California

Trinh’s “Blood and Bones” was shot on location in Vietnam. Screenshot by NBTB staff.

By the way, here’s our CIT answer key:

• James Starr is founder of Oceanside News Today.
• Macy Quinn-Sears is editor-in-chief of the Wa-High News.
• Matthew Asuncion is a literary journalist who covers sports for Prep2Prep.
• Kelly Trinh’s “Blood and Bones” (click on image at right) was named a semi-finalist in the UIL Young Filmmakers Award Festival in Austin, Texas.
• And Hannah Jannol sweats the details as editor-in-chief of The Boiling Point.

Newsroom by the Bay was launched in 2011 with a goal of identifying talented students and putting them into the pipeline for leadership positions. Eight years later, an increasing number of Year 1 students are returning as Year 2 students, counselors-in-training, program assistants and team leaders.

Congratulations to our CITs! We’re already inspired by you and we’re excited to see your ideas in action this summer at Newsroom by the Bay.

Featured photo: NBTB student Kelly Trinh (standing left of whiteboard) heads up an editorial meeting at the Eagle Nation News, the broadcast program at Prosper High School in Prosper, Texas. Trinh will be a counselor-in-training at NBTB 2018. Photo by Eagle Eye staff.

CORRECTION: Macy Quinn-Sears is 18, not 17 as previously reported.