SCHOLARSHIP WINNER UPDATE
WHAT IS HE DOING NOW?
Jesse Kirsch
2017 GRADUATE of NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
2016 Board of Governors’ Scholarship
Jesse Kirsch is an NBC News correspondent regularly reporting for TODAY, Nightly News, and NBC News NOW along with the network’s other platforms from around the world.
He consistently leads NBC’s coverage of major stories including the New Year’s Day Bourbon Street terror attack, the 2023 United Autoworkers Strike, and numerous natural disasters. He has pressed elected officials on everything from a public school bible mandate to Medicaid mismanagement and has sat down exclusively with newsmaking athletes including Damar Hamlin.
In January 2025, Jesse was the only reporter in Poland with 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Ruth Cohen as she made her first-ever trip back to Auschwitz, coinciding with the Nazi death camp’s 80th anniversary of liberation. Jesse’s coverage from Poland has more than 120 million views on social media alone.
Before joining NBC, Jesse spent more than 4 years as a reporter at ABC 7 Chicago. The Livingston, New Jersey native graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of science from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 2017. He loves traveling with friends, cooking and playing the saxophone.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER UPDATE
WHAT IS HE DOING NOW?
DERRYL BARNES
2024 GRADUATE of UNIVERSITY of miami
2013 Silver Circle scholarship (given in honor of roger ebert)
THREE TIME NATAS SCHOLARSHIP WINNER:
2020 Paul Lisnek Scholarship (NATAS Chgo)
2022 NATAS Suncoast Scholarship
2023
Board
of Governors’ Scholarship (NATAS CHGO)
Derryl Barnes is a Multimedia Reporter at Front Office Sports, a digital media outlet focused on the business of sports.
He is one of the faces of FOS’s video content. He writes, shoots, and edits original content for the Front Office Sports Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts.
Through his first six months on the job, he has reported on major sports events in Berlin, Los Angeles, New York, and more. Some of his favorite projects include the LA Clippers opening the Intuit Dome, Magic Johnson’s $1 Billion empire, and Northwestern Football’s temporary stadium.
CONGRATS DERRYL ON YOUR GREAT FUTURE AHEAD!
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER UPDATE
WHAT IS HE DOING NOW?
BRIAN GEORGESON
2017 GRADUATE of MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY
2013 Silver Circle scholarship (given in honor of roger ebert)
2016 Ephraim family foundation scholarship
Brian Georgeson is the Los Angeles Charger Senior Production Engineer. Since entering the NFL in 2017 as an intern, Brian has evolved immensely within the Chargers’ digital department.
Originally joining the team as a Producer/Editor, Brian has transitioned to handling all the technical operations. He currently oversees all post-production infrastructure, field production equipment, and the operations of the A/V & Samsung LED video walls in the Chargers new quarter-of-a-billion state-of-the-art practice facility in El Segundo, Calif.
In his role, Brian’s main priority is to create a more efficient way for the Chargers award-winning digital department to create the most viewed content in the NFL by finding solutions to technical problems and challenges.
Despite his evolving role, Brian still films a variety of content on game days and enjoys traveling with the team on road trips, taking in the essence of every NFL stadium - both in season and during playoffs.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER UPDATE
WHAT IS HE DOING NOW?
Andrew RoWan
2023 GRADUATE of NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
2022 Ephraim Family Foundation Scholarship Winner
Andrew Rowan is a multimedia journalist at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. He joined the station in August 2023.
Andrew is a daily news reporter who covers the top stories of the day, focusing on transportation and economic development. He shoots, writes, and edits many of his own stories using a creative approach that utilizes drones, action cameras, gimbals, and graphics.
Andrew is passionate about innovating the TV news medium and tries to incorporate a variety of visual elements into his storytelling.
He graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 2023 after studying journalism, data science, and business institutions.
While at Medill, Andrew was the News Director of the Northwestern News Network. He interned at NBC News Now, MSNBC, and WCSC-TV.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER UPDATE
WHAT IS SHE DOING NOW?
JOEY SAFCHIK
2021 GRADUATE of NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
2020 Ephraim Family Foundation Scholarship Winner
Joey joined NBC 7 San Diego as a reporter in November 2023.
She graduated with honors from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 2021.
She is the recipient of five student Production Awards.
After graduation, Joey spent two years as a reporter/investigative reporter at the ABC affiliate, KETV, in Omaha, NE. While at KETV, Joey covered education, politics and the occasional tornado. Her work brought attention to injustices in the prison system and among students in special education programs. She won a Great Plains Journalism Award for feature storytelling.
While at school, Joey spent years as the news director of the Northwestern News Network. She spent two summers interning at NBC Nightly News in the Los Angeles Bureau and another getting her feet wet on-air at KGET in Bakersfield. She also interned at ABC 7 Chicago, spent a quarter reporting in Washington, D.C. and reported from the Middle East. She won both of Medill's prestigious broadcast journalism awards upon graduation.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER UPDATE
WHAT IS SHE DOING NOW?
GRACE RUNKEL
2017 GRADUATE of loyola UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
2016 BERNSTEIN GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT Scholarship Winner
Grace Runkel is an investigative reporter at FOX Carolina News in Greenville, SC.
She joined the station as a morning reporter in October 2019 and was a part of the team when they won a Southeast Emmy Award for Best Morning Newscast in 2022.
Since transitioning to her new role, she's uncovered systemic failures within South Carolina's juvenile justice system and pushed for answers when an electronic monitoring device failed to keep the victim of a domestic violence incident safe from her abuser. Grace also covered the entirety of the high-profile murder trial of Alex Murdaugh in 2023.
Before moving south, Grace was an MMJ at WHBF in Rock Island, IL. Prior to graduating from Loyola University Chicago in 2017, Grace was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Phoenix. She interned at Chicago's WGN and at WLKY in Louisville, KY.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER UPDATE
WHAT IS HE DOING NOW?
ANthony Landahl
2020 GRADUATE of bradley UNIVERSITY
2020 tom skilling scholarship
Anthony Landahl is currently an Associate Video Producer with NBC News, editing video content for nbcnews.com and across social media platforms. He is particularly proud of his work on a timeline of eyewitness video recorded during a terrorist attack at a Moscow concert venue and a compilation of Snoop Dogg's most viral moments at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
After graduating from Bradley University in December of 2020, Anthony worked for Nexstar Media on their Aggregated Content team, gathering video material across the nation’s largest television station owner until May of 2022 when he moved to NBC News.
In his freelancing free time, he has edited multiple videos for the Historical Society of Forest Park, Illinois.
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