Madison Powers 鈥24, a Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellow, traveled this summer to El Paso, Texas, to conduct extensive reporting on families seeking asylum on the United States-Mexico border.
Journalism major Madison Powers 鈥24 presented findings from her on the United States-Mexico border as part of a journalism panel in October at the Pulitzer Center鈥檚 national meeting in Washington, D.C.
Powers, who traveled to the border in May on a fellowship grant from the international journalism foundation, profiled families with children who were fleeing violence in their home countries and became stranded at the Texas border amid the worsening migration crisis. At the time of Powers鈥 visit, a Trump-era COVID-19 rule allowing the United States to summarily turn away migrants had just been lifted, resulting in a surge of people seeking asylum.
Aided by her minor in Spanish, Powers interviewed a series of immigrants including Maria Jos茅, a young Venezuelan mother stranded in El Paso with her sister and two small children. Powers said statistics do not convey how stressful and precarious immigrants鈥 lives are, even after being granted asylum.
鈥淭he biggest thing that I took away from her was this balance of fear and hope,鈥 Powers told the audience of fellow grantees, journalists, and educators. 鈥淪he talked about how her kids didn鈥檛 understand what they were going through. She was weary, and she didn鈥檛 know what her next steps were.鈥
The student journalists reported on an array of climate and human crises spanning the globe, from Chile to the Arctic, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Singapore. The three-day conference, held Oct. 13-15, included high-intensity journalism workshops, a visit to the National Press Club, and dinner with accomplished international reporters and editors.
鈥淣ot only did the Pulitzer Center give students a first-rate platform to present their work to some of the most decorated foreign correspondents we have,鈥 said Lorraine Ahearn, assistant professor of journalism. 鈥淭hese seasoned veterans, in turn, got a good, hard look at the passion and energy our rising generation of journalists brings to critical issues around the world.鈥
Ahearn serves as 黑料不打烊鈥檚 liaison to the Pulitzer鈥檚 , an educational initiative that supports, funds and mentors one 黑料不打烊 student each year to undertake an in-depth reporting project. Additionally, the school annually hosts a professional international journalist who is a Pulitzer grantee.
This spring the school is scheduled to host the Pulitzer Prize and Emmy-winning Canadian reporter Nadja Drost, who trekked the deadly migrant route across the Darien Gap, a notorious jungle between Colombia and Panama. Drost will visit 黑料不打烊 journalism classes with her documentary film partner, Bruno Federico.
Powers, a Communications Fellow, is active in student media at 黑料不打烊, serving as news editor of .