Jason has been working as a film editor in New York, piecing together various commercials and television shows while gaining an appreciation for the finer subtleties of reality TV. Previous to that he worked for New Line Cinema and as a personal assistant to Christopher Reeve. He graduated from Vassar College as a film major in 2004. There are few things he enjoys more than writing and rambling excessively about film and television to anyone who is even slightly interested, and he is looking forward to putting that slightly annoying habit to good use.

Phillip aspires to three goals: to work in arts journalism, to live in Paris and to amass a notable sweater collection. To those ends, Phillip covered fashion and local theater as the Features intern at The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C. and worked for three years as an arts writer at The Daily Tar Heel, a leading college daily. Phillip recently graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in news editorial journalism.

Adam was born and raised in Albany, New York, where he spent most of his high school days songwriting, performing and recording with local bands, and attending concerts whenever possible. In 2007, one of his songs reached No. 1 on Cashbox Magazine’s “All Indie Picks” chart, which assesses music written and performed by unsigned musicians. He attended Ithaca College for two years, where he wrote for Buzzsaw Haircut, an independent, student-run magazine. He then transferred to Syracuse University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in history and a minor in writing. In addition to writing and keeping up with as much new music as possible, Adam is a lover of film, television, and pop culture, who spends his spare time working his way through an endless Netflix queue.

After having the opportunity perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the summer of 2002, Sonaite found herself fascinated by how art can create connections across languages, cultures and continents. Sonaite continued to explore this question by traveling to places like London, England and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She attended the University of South Carolina in her hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre in 2008. While attending USC, Sonaite wrote papers exploring varied topics such as how desire functions in various plays, how the idea of gender roles can be applied to history, and the evolution of dance in musical theatre. While attending school Sonaite received the LIFE and University Scholars Scholarships.

Leah Dennison just completed her bachelor’s degree in linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and she is thrilled to continue sporting orange as she embarks on her arts journalism journey at Syracuse. As an undergraduate at Illinois, Leah undertook the roles of copy editor, contributing writer, and film reviewer for an entertainment-oriented campus publication. She is eager to build upon her journalistic experience and to further explore her various artistic interests this year.

Although Janna loves sweet tea, fried chicken, and Tex-Mex, her adventurous spirit frequently draws her away to far-off places. Originally from Texas, Janna attended Baylor University in Waco, where she received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. When not studying Kant or Aristotle, Janna was immersed in classes such as World Cultures and Rhetoric. Through experiences in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core honors program and international encounters, Janna acquired a passion for all things related to art and culture.

Carren Jao is a freelance writer and communications consultant from the Philippines. Having reignited her passion for writing and the arts, she forges full steam ahead, covering the exciting tangents of Philippine contemporary art. Blessed with vital curiosity and wonder, she has also written on other topics such as architecture, travel, entertainment and women’s issues. She is a regular contributor for Contemporary Art Philippines and Mega Magazine . She has also been published in Bluprint, Asian Dragon, and Rogue Magazine, among others. On a constant quest to capture the essence of an experience, Carren Jao makes use of words and images to bridge the gap between storyteller and reader. Find more of her work at Carren’s Pitch: Life by Design.

Bethany Larson graduated cum laude from the University of Arkansas in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. She has been involved in performances ranging from children’s theater to Shakespeare to musicals, danced with a professional ballet company, was a member of an a cappella choir that performed in Los Angeles, and studied ancient art and architecture in Greece. Bethany also enjoys cooking, Facebook stalking, and traveling. She is excited for the upcoming year!

Originally from the Chicago area, John graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Ball State University where he was a Whitinger scholar and member of the Honors College. He has spent the past five years in Los Angeles performing various roles for three architecture firms and enjoying the natural beauty of southern California. In addition to architecture and design John’s interests include profuse traveling, photography, music, and art.

Jessica studied communication and music industry at James Madison University and is a contributing writer for Beyond Race Magazine and Haydenfilms.com. In 2007, Jessica interned for the radio station Z100 in New York City and in 2008 joined the Paul Green School of Rock Music in its mission to save rock and roll one kid at a time. She plans on continuing that mission upon completion of her Syracuse education, one article at a time.

Kristen arrives to Syracuse with a life-long love of reading and writing and a B.A. in English from Gannon University. She served as the editor-in-chief of The Gannon Knight following two years of reviewing music, theater and news on Gannon’s campus and in the Erie, Pa. area. During the summer of 2008, Kristen interned on the features copy-desk at The Buffalo News. She recently was recognized in Gannon’s undergraduate poetry and journalism contests.

Thomas, who graduated from Valparaiso University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in theater, takes pleasure in the little things in life, like drinking beer, watching reality television, and writing about himself in the third person. His love for the theatre developed at age three, when he saw his parents perform in a community production of Pirates of Penzance and witnessed firsthand the magic that can only happen during live performance. Since then, he has sought to devour all things theatre from his New Jersey home, all the while spreading the gospel of the stage.

Bonnie’s interest in the visual arts was ignited by her hometown Chicago. In graduate school she hopes to find bigger and better art happenings on the east coast. She is a recent graduate of Saint Louis University, receiving a dual bachelor’s degree in art history and English literature. In St. Louis she held two competitive internships, where she worked as the Family Program intern at the Saint Louis Art Museum and curated her own exhibit in the Historic Samuel Cupples House on SLU’s campus.

Rebecca Schmid has explored the world of opera as a musicologist, writer, and singer. She recently undertook a research project for Universal Music. Parallel to her vocal studies in Austria and Switzerland, Rebecca translated and edited musicological articles. Under a Fulbright grant in Vienna, she researched a contemporary and rival of W.A. Mozart. Rebecca has also performed in ensembles and as a soloist. She holds a B.A. in music and comparative literature from Brown University.

Nigel currently freelances for Ottawa’s Capital Xtra, Now EMC and The Fulcrum, with a focus on Arts & Culture within the capital city. Nigel earned a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance: Acting, from Ryerson University in Toronto in 2005. Upon graduation Nigel landed leading roles in a number of independent features. His most recent, Half a Person, was accepted into the Sudbury International Film Festival and has just been released on DVD. As a performer Nigel has toured the worldwide Fringe circuit, to festivals in China, Australia and all across Canada.

Courtney recently graduated from Millikin University with degrees in theatre and English writing with an emphasis in journalism and a dance minor. Her undergraduate years were spent as the copy editor for the Decaturian, working in the box office, and doing assorted plays, musicals, and dance concerts. She spent a year writing obituaries for the Decatur Herald & Review and has traveled to Paris, Rome, and London, where she discovered her love for Europe and nutella crepes.

Tamara is a wanderlusting Los Angeles native who headed to the wheat fields of the inland Northwest for her B.A. in English from Washington State University. While there, she served as music director at KZUU 90.7 FM and as a weekly music columnist for student newspaper, The Daily Evergreen. Since graduating in 2008, she’s written for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, National Public Radio, LAMag.com and Filter Magazine, focusing on independent music of all genres. The day after she finishes at Newhouse, Tamara will hop in her car and head for a life in Seattle – whether she has a job, or not. But hopefully she’ll be employed. So she can buy concert tickets. And shoes.

Gemma Wilson attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, from which she received a BFA in theater in 2005. While at NYU, she studied acting with the Atlantic Theater Company and Collaborative Arts Project 21, and sang with an award-winning a cappella group. After graduating (and realizing that she was a terrible waitress), she took her love of theater and ventured away from performing to spend time learning about other facets of the industry. She interned at Upper West Side arts venue Symphony Space until landing a position as assistant to legendary Broadway producer and director Harold Prince, working with him throughout his productions of Phantom of the Opera in Las Vegas and LOVEMUSIK on Broadway. She still performs from time to time, singing in workshops of new musicals in New York. Gemma is originally from beautiful Seattle, WA, which she loves and encourages everyone out there to visit.

Recently departing from her role as associate editor of the No. 1 trade magazine in the flooring industry Floor Covering News Sarah returns to her high school stomping grounds in upstate New York in pursuit of a more artistically inspired journalism career. Frequently moving as a child, she first cultivated her love of the written word as expression, focusing on poetry and creative writing. Though still passionate about both, a new seed journalism rooted at Wagner College, where Sarah was editor-in-chief of the student paper for two years prior to graduating in 2006 with a masters in English and double minors in journalism and sociology. She has also held internships with CollegeBound Teen magazine and The Noise, and maintains freelance relationships with such companies as KNOW Theater, P.S.122, Brass magazine and FCN.