About us

NBTB co-director Beatrice Motamedi gives the morning chalk talk before students head to classes and then afternoon activities.

Our educational philosophy is grounded in the idea that students learn best by doing, and no one knows that better than our faculty and staff, who combine real-world experience with a thorough understanding of journalism fundamentals.

Our faculty are among the best journalism educators in the country. Guest speakers contribute insights and experience from the world of professional journalism and emerging media. Our talented team leaders are available day and night to help students both inside and outside the classroom. Our 1:10 ratio of faculty/staff to students enables us to be attentive to our students’ academic and personal needs.

PROGRAM DIRECTORS

Beatrice Y. Motamedi is a teacher, writer and youth media advocate who turns classrooms into newsrooms. She is executive director of Global Student Square, an international student journalism network. Beatrice spent this year as a fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, developing curriculum in global studies and citizenship. She was a 2015 John S. Knight Fellow in Journalism at Stanford University, where she studied design thinking, entrepreneurship and the history of Iran and Islam. A Dow Jones News Fund Distinguished Adviser and 2012 California Journalism Educator of the Year, Beatrice spent 10 years teaching in public and private high schools and also served as program director for the Student Voice Project as well as California state director for the Journalism Education Association. She has helped students launch publications in Oakland, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Paris, Seoul and Ha Noi, Vietnam. Her students have won more than 200 awards for their work, including the Pacemaker and the Wikoff award for editorial leadership. Before becoming a teacher, Beatrice was a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, United Press International, and WebMD. She also served as associate editor for 24 Hours in Cyberspace, the landmark book on one day in the life of the internet. Beatrice graduated from Northwestern University and has been a Kaiser Foundation Fellow, a California Endowment Health Journalism Fellow and a Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, Wired, The New York Times, The International Herald-Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times and the Los Angeles Times in addition to two literary anthologies. Contact Beatrice at bymotamedi@gmail.com.

Paul B. Kandell, the 2009 Dow Jones News Fund National Journalism Teacher of the Year, and the 2009 California Journalism Teacher of the Year, earned a master’s in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and reported for Newsweek before becoming a high school journalism instructor in 1996. In addition to advising two award-winning journalism publications — Verde magazine and The Paly Voice — at Palo Alto High School, he serves on the board of the Journalism Education Association of Northern California and has served on the Student Press Law Center’s Advisory Council Steering Committee. The Paly Voice is a five-time winner of the National Scholastic Press Association’s Online Pacemaker Award and one of only two scholastic journalism winners of the Webby Award from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. A frequent presenter at local, state and national scholastic journalism conventions, Paul has served as co-director of Internet Youth Journalism Advising, an adviser-training program formerly headquartered at San Francisco State University’s Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism, and director of the East Palo Alto Journalism Institute, an educational/internship program designed to help youth leapfrog into scholastic journalism programs and pre-professional media opportunities. The lead writer for the University of California’s model Advanced Journalism curriculum, Paul also is one of the leading writers for 21st CenturyLit.org, an online curriculum for promoting digital, information and citizenship literacy in American high school English classes. He was one of the driving forces behind Palo Alto High School’s $10 million media arts center. Contact Paul at pkandell@gmail.com.

Summer 2018 staff

Alexandria Cremer (Year 1 team leader) will be returning to Newsroom By The Bay for her third year as a Year 1 team leader. A former staff writer for the (North Dakota) Jamestown Sun, Alex has worked on a wide range of stories, from exposing a backlog of background checks for daycare providers to compiling data on Jamestown’s housing market. Alex also mentors student journalists at a local college. A 2015 graduate of the University of Oregon, Alex covered breaking news and higher education for the Emerald Media Group, an independent student-run publication. Among other stories, she covered a lack of diversity in faculty and a lawsuit filed by an alleged rape survivor against three U of O basketball players. Alex enjoys visual journalism, including using data, videos, photo and graphic design to tell stories. After NBTB this summer, Alex will be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and writing about her adventures on her blog, Alexandriasadventure.com.

Camille Respess (Year 1 team leader) is a freshman at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. She has a passion for storytelling and finds fulfillment in producing works of journalism that discuss topics of societal disparities. During her time as a student journalist, she has worked for WUFT News, WUFT-FM and The Independent Florida Alligator. In between curating a morning newsletter that is sent to over 4,000 subscribers and hosting and producing a radio service for visually impaired individuals, she has written about a white supremacist coming to the University of Florida and its effects on campus, race relations at the university, student efforts to increase mental health resources and many things in between. Additionally, she is the only two-time recipient of the National Scholastic Press Association’s Brasler Prize, the association’s highest honor for the best student journalism story of the year.

Don Bott (faculty/news reporting and writing) has advised high school publications since 1986 when he founded his school district’s first bilingual literary magazine. During his tenure as an adviser to The Stagg Line newspaper, his students have won seven National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker awards and the Journalism Education Association Impact Award, as well as California Journalist of the Year and 1st Place for both NSPA Story of the Year and News Photo of the Year. Don was named Dow Jones News Fund Teacher of the Year in 2002 and was honored with the Journalism Education Association’s Diversity Award in 2008. He also gives presentations at national journalism conventions on topics from design to diversity. Most recently, Don helped pioneer the Stagg Online. Don earned his bachelor’s degree in literature from University of California, Santa Cruz, and his master of arts degree in English from Sacramento State. He is most proud of his column written about his son and published on Father’s Day in the Chicago Tribune. Contact Don at donbott1@gmail.com.

Hannah Jannol (counselor-in-training/NBTB reporting lead) attends Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles. She is the editor-in-chief of The Boiling Point, Shalhevet’s online and print publication. Hannah eats, breathes, sweats and bleeds journalism. She enjoys writing articles of all kinds, ranging from personal profiles to long-form features to political briefs and editorials. As a Year 2 student last year, Hannah wrote an article and created a video on gentrification in Northern California. Growing up in Venice, Hannah got an early education in gentrification and community news, which has led her to intern for her local newspapers The Santa Monica Daily Press and The Jewish Journal. Hannah recently won the 2018 Grand Prize in Jewish Scholastic Journalism for her writing, including a story on hair and the roots of Jewish identity. You can find her writing columns about issues in the Jewish community at globalstudentsquare.org or posting to Instagram and Twitter @hannahjann.

Izzie Ramirez (Year 1 team leader) is a junior at New York University, double-majoring in journalism and global liberal studies (politics, rights, and development). She’s also getting a minor in integrated digital media. Izzie started her journalism career during her sophomore year of high school and earned more than 30 awards for her writing, photography, design and editorial leadership. She has been writing for NYU Local — the university’s independent news blog — since her freshman year, where she has covered protests, on-campus disputes and food. Izzie will continue being city editor next year and plans to expand the multimedia capabilities of the website. In addition to serving as East Coast editor for Global Student Square, where she’s specialized in covering breaking news and public events, such as the March on Science and March For Our Lives, Izzie has written for VICE’s Broadly and is interning at Salon. When she’s not working or writing, Izzie can usually be found drinking boba tea and checking Twitter.

James Starr (counselor-in-training/NBTB video lead) is a rising junior at Pender Early College High School in Burgaw, North Carolina. He is the founder of Oceanside News Today, an online news platform serving the citizens of southeastern North Carolina. James has shadowed fellow broadcasters at WWAY News, WECT News, Spectrum News, and has written for the Topsail Post & Voice. James started NBTB in the Y1 program, continued into the Y2 program and is ecstatic to be returning as a CIT. He volunteers at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center. Find James on Instagram or Twitter @itsJamesStarr.

Julia Satterthwaite (faculty/digital storytelling) advises the El Estoque newspaper and website at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California. She is a certified journalism educator and was recently elected as director-at-large to the board of the Journalism Education Association. Before moving to California last year, Satterthwaite advised The Talon newspaper and website in Rochester Hills, Michigan for 11 years, and also served as Michigan’s state director. Her students’ publications consistently earn top state and national honors. She was awarded Michigan’s Adviser of the Year in 2014. Satterthwaite earned her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Michigan State University. She loves spending time with her family, reading, singing, being outdoors and traveling. Her love for travel developed when she attended 10th-12th grade at Canadian Academy in Kobe, Japan.

Jordan Tichenor (Year 2 team leader) is an Oregon-based journalist returning for his sixth year at Newsroom by the Bay. He received a bachelor’s degree from the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in 2014, where he worked for the Eugene Weekly and the Daily Emerald. Jordan has reported on a wide range of topics, including contract negotiations, animal care, and crime. In college, he garnered awards for newswriting and graphic design and a Hearst award for a long-term exploration of public safety issues in southern Oregon. In addition to writing, Jordan has also held jobs as a graphic designer, web designer, and researcher, and has worked with journalism education programs in Oregon and California. He works with an Oregon-based nonprofit to implement journalism education in schools across Lane County. In his free time, Jordan enjoys watching bad movies and making music.

Kasey Carlson (Year 1 team leader) is a rising senior studying print and digital news reporting at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism with a minor in atmospheric science. She was born and raised in Chicago (and talks about it a lot). Kasey began reporting for The Mash, a now-retired Chicago Tribune teen publication when she was 15. She spent a year as the opinion editor for The Maneater, MU’s student newspaper. She has also interned at WFLD Chicago, reported on the Columbia Missourian’s education beat and spent two weeks in Beijing as a media intern for the China Open international tennis tournament. Most recently, she has been a copy editor for the Columbia Missourian. Kasey’s second love is cooking and she claims that if journalism doesn’t work out for her, she’ll go to culinary school instead.

Kelly Trinh (counselor-in-training/NBTB video team and photo lead) is a rising senior at Prosper High School in Prosper, Texas. She is the assignments editor for Eagle Nation News, a national award-winning daily live newscast produced in a fully-equipped TV studio. Last year, Kelly released Blood and Bones, a memoir about growing up as a first-generation Vietnamese American. The film was named a semi-finalist in the UIL Young Filmmakers Award Festival in Austin, Texas. She also is a Lone Star Emmy Recipient for her story over the Texas transgender bathroom bill, Bathroom Brawl. Kelly was a Year 1 student at NBTB 2016 and is pleased to be returning as a CIT. She enjoys volunteering at Cornerstone NCT and loves baking for her staff every Friday. Find Kelly on Twitter @Trinhkel00 or Instagram @ktrinh.photography.

Lande Watson (Year 1 team leader) graduates summa cum laude in May from The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs with special honors in political communication. During her time at GW, she was an editor for the Pre-Law Student Association’s GW Justice Journal and was involved in student organizations, including the GW College Democrats. She also conducted media research and served as a research assistant for two SMPA faculty members. Lande has substantial internship experience at the intersection of journalism, public affairs, and politics. She has worked at the Glover Park Group, a political communications firm in Washington, D.C.; the Institute for Women’s Policy Research; and EMILY’s List, an organization that helps women raise funds and run for office. As a student in Washington D.C. for four years, Lande also has significant government internship experience; she interned in the Speechwriting Office at the Department of Justice and the White House Office of Management and Budget. Lande heads to the London School of Economics this fall for a Master of Science (MSc) degree in philosophy and public policy.

Macy Quinn-Sears (program assistant/NBTB social media lead) graduates in June from Walla Walla High School in Walla Walla, Washington. Macy is the editor-in-chief of her school’s publication, The Wa-Hi Journal, and is an avid editorial writer, horse rider, and letter-writing enthusiast. In the fall of 2018, Macy will be attending Cardiff University in Cardiff, Wales, to study journalism, media, and politics with the goal of working in bilingual journalism in a Spanish-speaking country. In the past three years, Macy’s work has appeared in various publications, including The Seattle Times and Global Student Square, as well as in Rock Steady Boxing’s national magazine. Find Macy on Twitter @opinionatedqs and on Instagram @macyqs.

Matthew Asuncion (counselor-in-training/NBTB writing and editing lead) is a graduate of Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California. He served as sports editor of The Lancer newspaper for two years but wrote articles for every section of the newspaper throughout his four years at Saint Francis. Matthew also served as editor-in-chief of Mindframes literary magazine, contributing pieces of political and social satire. Recently, Matthew has covered Saint Francis athletics for Prep2Prep, a regional sports news service. In the fall of 2018, Matthew will take part in the interdisciplinary Media Studies program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Find Matthew on Twitter @MattJAsuncion and Instagram @matt.j.asuncion.

Matt McHugh (Year 1 team leader) is a rising senior studying journalism and Spanish at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Matt is a native of San Mateo and is excited to be returning home to the Bay Area this summer. He first got interested in journalism at Aragon High School, where he created the sports department at the Aragon Outlook. At Northwestern, Matt has continued his interest in sports journalism, becoming the director of WNUR sports, the student radio station. Matt has called football, basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball games at Northwestern, and has traveled with the Wildcats all over the country. When not broadcasting or writing about Northwestern sports, Matt spends his time following his Bay Area teams (A’s, Raiders, Warriors, and Sharks).

Nebe Betre (faculty/video) works for WCVB Newscenter 5 in Boston, Mass. She will be a commencement speaker in May as co-chair of her graduating class of 2018 at Boston University’s College of Communication. Nebe recently worked for WorldBytes, a political news program in London, England and as a press assistant for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Washington, D.C. She believes student journalists should constantly be searching for new opportunities outside their comfort zones in order to grow. Originally from McKinney, Texas, Nebe was a Newsroom by the Bay Scholar in 2013, where her story on the television series Star Trek as a multicultural watershed in American television reflected her sense of humor as well as her serious approach to journalism; her efforts prompted staff to give her a “Sharkie” award, which goes to students who go above and beyond expectations during the course of camp. Nebe is NBTB’s first-ever college graduate to return as faculty.

Rod Satterthwaite (faculty/photography) co-advises The Campanile newspaper and website at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, California. Before moving West last July, Satterthwaite taught and advised students in Illinois and Michigan for 28 years. His students’ publications have won Pacemakers from the National Scholastic Press Association and Gold Crowns from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. In addition, he has been named Michigan’s journalism adviser of the year and a Dow Jones News Fund Distinguished Adviser. Rod serves on the board of the Journalism Education Association of Northern California, the JEA Certification Commission and the Student Press Law Center’s Advisory Council Steering Committee. In addition to NBTB, he teaches at summer workshops in Nebraska, Indiana and Michigan.

Steve O’Donoghue (faculty) taught journalism for 27 years in Oakland, California. He founded The Media Academy, a school-within-a-school program built around journalism. Long involved with scholastic journalism issues, he was the 1990 Dow Jones Newspaper Fund National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, California State High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, and the recipient of the Medal of Merit for the Journalism Education Association, the Pioneer Award from the National Scholastic Press Association, and the James F. Paschal Award and Gold Key from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. In 2011, Steve received the Carl Towley Award, JEA’s highest honor. He is director of the California Scholastic Journalism Initiative, a non-profit program to improve journalism in California schools.

Tyler Kraft (Year 1 team leader) is a rising senior studying sports print and digital journalism at the University of Missouri School of Journalism with a minor in political science. He hails from Denver, Colorado, and has been working as a journalist since he was a sophomore in high school. He has worked as a sports writer during his entire time at Missouri, covering the Missouri football team for the student newspaper, the Maneater, and most recently covering the Missouri football team for the Columbia Missourian. He has also interned for SKI Magazine and recently finished an internship located in Brussels, Belgium. There, he worked for MLEX, a newswire service covering regulatory risk and politics. While there he covered the EU’s attempts to implement artificial intelligence and Brexit. When he’s not writing, Tyler usually watches sports and will be very interested in this summer’s World Cup.