Meet Our Reporters
Terah Bennett (she/her)
Terah Bennett is a freelancer for Street Roots, a weekly social justice newspaper, and a participant of The Oregonian’s Youth Voices reporting program. Currently taking a gap year between high school and college, she also works as a barista at Starbucks. In order to pursue her journalistic aspirations, she hopes to pay her own way toward college, and major in political science and journalism. Terah was born in Eugene, Oregon, and attended St. Mary’s Academy in downtown Portland. She adores interviewing people and engaging in intensive research, with the ultimate goal of bringing the stories of those typically disregarded by society to the forefront of the media. Terah loves reading, and is in the midst of rediscovering her childhood love of the library. She also crochets and sells her works online.
Ways to connect with Terah:
- @its.teranana Instagram/Threads
I can be President! According to Barbra, at least
Between the recorded audio sessions with my source Barbra, we had a conversation about my career aspirations and how hard it is to market oneself. She told me how even she, a woman who has had a remarkably successful life, had difficulty articulating her...
Carrie Cantrell
Carrie Cantrell is an accessible technology specialist, human rights advocate, and digital storyteller in Portland, Oregon. Her goal is to engage community through media and to continue the tradition of storytelling through journalism. Carrie is currently a digital communications arts student at Oregon State University. Previously, she was a traveling chef and volunteer creator for KBOO FM radio in Portland. Carrie is from Appalachia, North Carolina, and feels most at home wandering the streets of Portland, eating from food carts, and soaking in the vibes with her dog, Charlie.
Ways to connect with Carrie:
- @eye.de.laedi on Instagram/Threads
- Carrie Cantrell on LinkedIn
- Carrie’s Website
Soft skills and hard deadlines
This week, I learned a lot from listening to Miguel Chavez’s responses to my interview questions … over and over again throughout the editing process. Repeatedly, I heard from him that home is something you build as a community. It is more than a place and it is more...
Nora Colie (she/her)
Nora Colie is a filmmaker, film curator and high school film teacher. Her goal is to engage her community through media and to continue the tradition of storytelling through journalism. Her primary focus is in documentary film where she got her start in New York City working with the filmmaker Eugene Jarecki on his Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning films, Why We Fight and The House I Live In, and on his highly acclaimed films, The King and HBO’s Reagan. She is a passionate member of Making Earth Cool, a creative collective that produces films, social media content, and events, using art and science to inspire people to be better stewards of the earth.
Learning to trust the process
Home for me is a sanctuary where I can unwind, recharge, create a place of love, warmth and a strong sense of community. However, this week has served as a reminder that the comfort of home isn’t always where I want to be. Venturing beyond the walls of praise and the...
Ella Hutcherson (she/her)
Ella Hutcherson is a recent graduate of the University of Oregon, where she studied journalism and sociology. At UO she was managing editor of the student-run Ethos Magazine, and a reporter for Eugene Weekly. She is passionate about solutions-oriented storytelling, audio reporting, and long drives up the coast. Ella is fresh off of an internship at Jefferson Public Radio in Ashland, Oregon, where she was introduced to life in public radio.
Ways to connect with Ella:
- Ella Hutcherson on LinkedIn
- @ellakhutch on X
Experiencing radio in the real world
My week with NPR’s Next Generation Radio was enriching, challenging and inspiring. I’m walking away from my time at OPB’s headquarters with an array of new skills in my toolbelt and a multimedia story that I’m incredibly proud of. There were challenging moments,...
Anna Lueck (she/her)
Anna Lueck is a documentary producer and editor who tells stories about people and communities working toward a better world. She began her career at Brooklyn’s BRIC TV, reporting on climate activism, green jobs and workers’ rights, before returning to her home state of Washington to freelance. She is currently a graduate student in the University of Oregon’s multimedia journalism program. Raised on a Puget Sound island, Anna is particularly drawn to stories about bodies of water and the communities on their shores.
Ways to connect with Anna:
- @alueckphoto on Instagram/Threads
- Anna’s Portfolio
From video to audio (and everything in between): Expanding my toolkit
This week, I learned many things, big and small: how to be in front of a camera and not lose my cool, how to balance the need to capture photo and audio simultaneously but with separate equipment, and how to produce a story faster than I thought was possible for me to...
Maya Zavala (she/her)
Maya Zavala is a student at Oregon State University. Expected to graduate this fall with a bachelor’s in media and communications. Her aspiration is to continue telling stories through photojournalism and other forms of media. Previously she interned at Legacy Health in their marketing and communications department, where she had the opportunity to interview a patient on their recovery journey. In the meantime she can’t wait to finish the term in hopes to get quality sleep again.
Ways to connect with Maya:
- Maya Zavala on LinkedIn
Finding the creative spark
I've moved between various groups due to my major and my socio-economic status. The further I pursued my education, the more I had to let go of my old social circles and engage with my college peers. Even then, I had trouble fully immersing myself in college. I...