William & Mary students embarked on reporting around the world during the 14th Sharp Writer-in-Residence Program/Journalism Seminar. The four-credit, two-semester program is a joint Campus Consortium initiative between the Pulitzer Center and William & Mary's Charles Center, supported by William & Mary alumni Anne and Barry Sharp.
The program serves as a journalism incubator, providing students with opportunities to go beyond the academic world to report on topics for more general audiences.
As in earlier years, students during the 2024-2025 academic year developed their reporting and writing skills with mentorship from journalist Stephanie Hanes and support from Pulitzer Center staff and grantees, including a William & Mary Sharp Seminar alum. Those journalists were grantees Caleb Hellerman and Hilke Schellman, and Seminar alum Noah Robertson. Pulitzer Center staff members Ann Peters and Mikaela Schmitt also supported the program.
This year's Seminar saw 11 students going deeper into reporting topics and career-building skills.
In interviews with the Charles Center, students reflected upon the focus of their reporting projects and the opportunities provided to them by the Seminar.
Sonia Samantaroy, a Class of 2026 geology and environment and sustainability double major, traveled to Hawaii. She reported on the environmental and cultural effects of the invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB), a topic she learned about from her older cousin who works in the Hawaiian agricultural industry.
“Hawaii is known as the invasive species capital of the world,” Samantaroy said. “I wanted to explore the invasive CRB species because it is one of the most pressing issues Hawaii is currently facing, and a fairly new species that has become very widespread.”
In the capital city of Bratislava, Slovakia, Akash Nayak conducted interviews and reflected on how the experience gave him the opportunity to advance his academic and career interests through on-the-ground reporting.
“Part of the benefit of being in a journalism program like this is that there’s a big focus on hands-on learning,” said Nayak, an international relations and economics double major expected to graduate in 2027. “I’m excited to take a more qualitative approach by talking to people and learning what they are really thinking, because that can get lost.”
