Three University of Nebraska-Lincoln students were chosen to be student fellows for the Carnegie-Knight News21 Program at Arizona State University; Naomi Delkamiller, Jenna Ebbers and Joseph Zakaria.
Sophomore Naomi Delkamiller of Omaha is looking forward to collaborating with fellow student journalists from across the country.
“Being nominated for News21 as a sophomore is such an honor,” the advertising and public relations and journalism double major said. “It means a lot to know that this college believes in me and I hope to make those who nominated me proud.”
Senior journalism major Jenna Ebbers of Cambridge, Nebraska is excited to bring the journalistic skills she’s developed at her news internship with the Lincoln Journal Star and fellowship with the Omaha World-Herald to the News21 program.
“I have been working towards my goal of becoming a journalist since I was a sophomore in high school,” Ebbers said. “Having the opportunity to see what life outside of Nebraska looks like, while also getting to work for an amazing news organization is all I could have ever asked for.”
December 2022 graduate Joseph Zakaria of Lincoln, who also goes by Jazari Kual, was recently named the 2022 Young Citizen of the Year by the Lincoln Young Professionals group and finished up a reporting internship with the Nebraska Examiner.
“I have had the opportunity to reach millions around the world, connect with people and most importantly, inspire people within different generations,” Zakaria said on graduation day.
Zakaria’s goal is to positively impact the world however he can and ever since he discovered his passion for journalism two years ago, he hasn’t been able to imagine himself doing anything else.
This spring the fellows will attend a weekly virtual seminar to get fully immersed in the topics they’ll be reporting on this summer. Starting in May, they’ll work with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and other media and communications experts for 10 weeks at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication to produce news media projects that will be distributed nationally.
“The CoJMC encourages exploration in the journalism field and because of that I feel prepared to participate in News21,” Delkamiller said. “The classes I have taken so far have helped me diversify and develop a unique skill set.”
Graduates of the News21 program have gone on to work at some of the country’s largest newsrooms, including The New York Times, NPR, Bloomberg and Politico.
“I’m proud of these student journalists and I’m excited to see what they’ll be working on at Cronkite,” UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications Dean Shari Veil said. “It’s an honor to these three hard-working and students accepted into a nationally acclaimed program like News21.”
