2004 Interns

		Dakarai Aarons, Metro Reporter Dakarai is a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he majors in journalism. The DuVal High School (Prince George’s County) graduate is a Project Excellence scholarship recipient. He has had reporting internships at the Des Moines Register (2003) and the Wisconsin State Journal, Madison (2002). Dakarai reported for the Daily Nebraskan from 2001 through 2003. He was one of a dozen UNL students who visited Cuba in January 2003 and contributed in-depth articles to “Cuba, An Elusive Truth,” a single-issue magazine published by the College of Journalism. The publication was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in international reporting.
		Lauren Anderson, Financial Reporter Lauren is a senior majoring in journalism at Howard University. Last summer she was an intern at the Wall Street Journal’s Washington bureau. During her senior year she interned at Congressional Quarterly. Previous internships were at the Houston Chronicle (2002) and the Birmingham (Ala.) Post-Herald (2000). She was editor-in-chief of The Hilltop and cofounder and managing editor of District Chronicles, both at Howard.
		Arielle Levin Becker, Metro Reporter Arielle is a senior majoring in history at Yale University. She was a reporting intern for two summers (2002-2003) at the Hartford Courant. She was an editorial intern in the spring of 2000 for Real Change, a monthly newspaper on homelessness in Seattle. At the Yale Daily News, she’s served as news editor (2002-2003) and reporter (2000-2003).
		Amalie Benjamin, Sports Reporter Amalie is a senior majoring in English at Northwestern University. Last summer she was an intern on the sports desk at The Times Picayune in New Orleans. The previous summer she interned for the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette. She was a stringer for the Community Newspaper Company, Needham, Mass., during the summer of 2001. She was editor of the Daily Northwestern’s weekly football magazine, Gameday, in the fall of 2003, and was the sports editor during the fall of semester 2002.
		Karin Brulliard, Metro Reporter Karin is a candidate for a master’s in Latin American studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 1998 with a degree in Spanish and journalism. She has been an editorial aide in The Washington Post’s Southwest Bureau in Austin since January 2003. She’s taught bilingual (English-Spanish) fourth grade in Houston as a Teach for America Corps member, and she taught English as a foreign language in Manta, Ecuador. Last year she was reporter for her campus newspaper, The Daily Texan.
		Tracy Dahl, Financial Copy Editor Tracy is a graduate student at the University of Missouri. She is studying journalism with an editing concentration. She has worked as page designer, copy editor and criminal justice reporter at the Columbia Missourian. Last summer she was the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund intern at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. As an undergrad at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., she rose from staff writer to editor-in-chief during three years on the staff of the Whitman College Pioneer.
		Rebecca Dana, Style Reporter Rebecca is a senior at Yale, where she majors in history. She is returning to The Post, where she wrote for Style as an intern last summer. Her previous internships were at The Times Picayune (2002) in New Orleans and the New York Times (2001). She was editor-in-chief and president of the Yale Daily News from October 2002 until October 2003. She also served as co-director of a weeklong program for high school journalists.
		Raymund Flandez, Financial Reporter Raymund is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. Last summer he wrote business news and features for the Wall Street Journal, Dallas bureau. He was a 2002 summer intern at the Tennessean in Nashville, and in the second semester of 2003, he was a freelancer/ campus correspondent for The Washington Post’s Prince George’s Extra. He covered university administration for the campus daily, The Diamondback (2000-2002). He’s written for three journalism convention projects: the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Latino Reporter, the Associated Press Managing Editors APME Gazette and the Asian American Journalists Association Web site, AAJALink.
		Nicole Fuller, Metro Reporter Nicole is a December 2003 graduate of American University. She majored in print journalism. She has had internships at States News Service (fall 2003), the Boston Globe (summer 2003), the Chronicle of Higher Education (2003) and The Times of Pawtucket, R.I.,  (spring 2002). She also contributed articles to DC One, a monthly lifestyles magazine (fall 2001-spring 2002). She gained experience on two campus publications, the American University Eagle and the Howard University Hilltop.
		Brian Henderson, News Desk Assistant Editor Brian is a graduate student in the field of visual communication at Ohio University. He was an art intern at People magazine for two summers (2001 and 2002) and a graphics and photography intern last summer for Gannet News Service. During most of his four years as an undergrad at Grambling State University in Louisiana, Brian designed pages, took photos and produced graphics for the student paper, The Gramblinite. He was editor-in-chief his senior year.
		Cathy Kapulka, Photographer Cathy is a graduate student at the University of Florida, where she is one of a select group of students in the Florida FlyIns international photojournalism program. She received her bachelor of science degree in journalism in August 2003. She has worked as a stringer or intern for Hernando Today, United Press International, the Daytona Beach News-Journal and the Gainesville Sun. She also owns a commercial photography business. Before becoming interested in photography, Cathy had her own lawn care business for 15 years.
		Rong-Gong "Ron" Lin II, Editorial Page Ron is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a history major and is taking premedical science classes. Last summer Ron was an editorial page intern, writing one to two unsigned editorials a week, at the Los Angeles Times. He has been editor-in-chief of The Daily Californian and president of its publishing company (May 2002-May 2003). He previously was news editor, university editor, features contributing writer and city hall and student government reporter.
		Tommy Nguyen, Style Reporter Tommy is a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He is a contributor to the Los Angeles Times’ Calendar section, LA Weekly and the Christian Science Monitor, among other publications. He was an editor and writer at New Times Los Angeles (2002) and for United Entertainment Media (1999-2001). He was an intern at Entertainment Weekly (1999) and co-wrote the travel guide “City Tripping Los Angeles.” He received an English degree at UCLA, where he was a features writer for the Daily Bruin.
		Dana Oppenheim, News Art Dana is a senior at Northwestern University, where she is majoring in journalism and art theory and practice. She was a graphics intern last spring at Newsweek. She designed brochures and other publicity materials as a design intern for the Corcoran Gallery in Washington (summer 2002) and she was an art intern at Washingtonian magazine (summer 2001). At The Daily Northwestern, she was design editor and designer for nyou, a weekly arts supplement. She is also interested in theater. She was business producer for the musical Gypsy, the 2004 Dolphin Show, and graphic designer for theater shows at Northwestern.
		Amit Paley, Metro Reporter Amit is a senior at Harvard, where he is majoring in social studies and East Asian studies. He served the dual role as editor-in-chief and chief executive officer of The Harvard Crimson. His award-winning story, “The Secret Court of 1920,” uncovered a Harvard tribunal that persecuted and expelled gay students. The article was featured in The New York Times and Associated Press and on CNN and Good Morning America (ABC-TV). He has interned at the Boston affiliate and at the national headquarters of National Public Radio. He covered the national political conventions in 1996 and 2000 for National Public Radio, Public Radio International and The Boston Herald.
		Sarah Park, Metro Reporter Sarah is a Fulbright Fellow in El Salvador. She received her bachelor of arts degree in biology from Harvard in June 2003. This is her second summer internship at The Post. In 2002, she was our Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellow. She has also interned for the Village Voice and the ABC News medical news unit in Boston (both in 2001). As a Fulbright Fellow, she is researching HIV/AIDS and immigration. Her freelance work appears in the Baltimore Sun and the Boston Globe.
		January Payne, Health Reporter January is a December 2003 graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park. She is our 2004 Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellow. This winter, she is working as a features intern reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She covered defense and federal workers for Capital News Service, a wire service run by the University of Maryland, during the fall 2003 semester. Her previous internships were at: USA Today (2003), the Student Press Law Center (2001) and the Patriot-News, in Harrisburg, Pa. (2000). She was editor-in-chief and a writer for The Fourth Estate, the Harrisburg Area Community College student newspaper.
		Renée Petrina, Metro Copy Editor Renée is a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund intern. She is classified as a senior and a graduate student in a combined degree program at Penn State University. Her undergraduate majors are journalism and political science, and her master’s degree will be in media studies. Last summer she interned on the state desk of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. She was a general assignment reporting intern at the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle (summer 2002) and a news clerk in the New York Times Washington bureau (fall 2002). She is features/enterprise editor for Penn State’s student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, on which she’s worked as reporter or editor since 2000. She also was a staff reporter and Web editor of the newspaper covering the Society of Professional Journalists convention last fall.
		Sabaa Saleem, Foreign Copy Editor Sabaa is a senior majoring in communication at the University of California at Los Angeles. This will be her second summer as an intern on The Post’s Foreign copy desk. She was an intern at CBS Entertainment during the summer of 2002.  Sabaa has been a member of the UCLA Daily Bruin copy desk since transferring there from the University of California, San Diego, in 2001.  This is her second year as a copy deputy on that desk. She is also in her second year of tutoring UCLA students in composition writing. Upon graduating in early spring, she will be interning at the Orange County Register as a copy editor.
		Eli Saslow, Sports Reporter Eli is a senior at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. His previous summer internships, both in sports, were at The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J., (2003) and The Buffalo News (2002). As sports editor of his student newspaper, The Daily Orange, for a year starting in May 2002, he assigned and edited stories and covered football and men’s basketball. He interned at The Juice, a monthly Syracuse sports magazine (September 2002-April 2003). He has had articles published in the Denver Post, the Miami Herald and the Austin American-Statesman.
		Stefanie Shaffer, National Copy Editor Stefanie is a junior at the University of Maryland, where she majors in journalism. She is a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund intern. She has interned at Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services in Washington since her sophomore year. She was managing editor of her student newspaper, The Diamondback, from May to December 2003 and had previously worked there as a copy editor, deputy news editor and a beat reporter.
		Jessica Valdez, Metro Reporter Jessica is a junior at Johns Hopkins University. Her major is international relations, and she spent the fall semester of 2003 in Paris taking courses at the Institute for the International Education of Students and at the Sorbonne. She has interned for the Baltimore Sun’s Howard County bureau (spring 2003) and on its city desk (summer 2003, winter 2003-2004). She worked full time the previous summer at the Frederick (Md.) News-Post, often writing front page news. She’s also worked as a press intern for U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md. She’s worked on her student paper, the News-Letter, as reporter and news editor.
		Zachary Wittig, News Desk Assistant Editor This is a second summer internship at The Post for Zach, who was a member of the 2003 internship class. Since November, he has been working as a news page designer at The Columbus Dispatch. A senior at Ohio State University, he worked at the student newspaper, The Lantern, as graphics and presentation editor for more than two years. There, he designed the front page almost daily and led the paper’s redesign in 2002. He has also completed internships with The Detroit News and The Review — a small circulation newspaper near his hometown of Canton, Ohio. Along with his design work, Zach captured the Society of Professional Journalist’s 2003 National First Place award in spot news photography.