Our 2025-26 student interns are paired with their respective Fellows below:
Jack Albright, seniorJack has spent the last three years in various positions on the sports desk at the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire. He has covered everything from club women's soccer team tryouts to Dwyane Wade's Naismith HOF Induction Ceremony to multiple NCAA tournament games and even the NBA Draft. Outside of journalism, he enjoys traveling to new places, trying new coffee places and walking. He is very excited to become an O'Brien student intern and work with an esteemed professional on a public service reporting project.
Matthew BaltzMatthew's hometown is Colona, Illinois. He is majoring in journalism and minoring in digital media and sports communication. His dream job is to be a beat writer for a professional baseball team. At ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, he has had the opportunity to work for the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire over the past two years. Some highlights from that include working the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden the past two years, and covering the NCAA Tournament in Cleveland this year. Outside of school, he loves to attend sporting events, go golfing with friends, attending concerts or going to live music.
Dakota Barnes-RushDakota Barnes-Rush, from Milwaukee, WI, is majoring in journalism with a minor in digital media. At ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, Dakota has worked as a sports reporter and writer for the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire, where he covered many different sports like basketball, soccer, and track and field. Dakota is passionate about journalism because he wants to uplift marginalized voices and share stories that inspire change. At the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, he focuses on telling stories that matter to the Milwaukee community, especially those that are often overlooked. This summer, Dakota is interning at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he is gaining even more experience working in a professional newsroom. Outside of journalism, Dakota is active in community service and leadership.
Emma FishbackEmma is majoring in journalism with a double-minor in digital media and writing intensive English. She is interested in going into newswriting and photojournalism, with a focus on the LGBTQ+ community and amplifying queer voices. She is currently the copy chief at the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire, a peer writing tutor at the Ott Memorial Writing Center and a peer mentor through the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Honors Program. Through her time as a tutor, she has helped others to find their narrative voice and heard their stories, something she hopes to do through O'Brien as well.
Reyna GalvezReyna is studying digital media with a double minor in communication studies and creative writing. Outside of class, she can be found at the library, traveling, and dancing with friends in Dance Inc. on campus. After graduation, she will be working for SummerFest during the summer and pursuing her master's degree in communication in the fall.
Sophie GoldsteinSophie, from Glenview, IL, is majoring in journalism and digital media. She has served as the executive arts & entertainment editor at the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire for two years and has previously interned at WISN-12 News and Milwaukee Magazine. She enjoys creating, producing and sharing unique stories with our community. She is extremely honored and excited for the opportunity to be an O’Brien Fellow, and is looking forward to continuing to grow her journalistic and reporting skills through the program.
Sofie HanrahanSofie is currently a part of the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire as a sports journalist covering men’s soccer. Her story ‘Antonio Costabile carrying family legacy at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ’ was recently nominated by the Milwaukee Press Club 2024 Excellence in Journalism Awards for best sports story. While her main interests are within the sport of soccer and working for a professional club as a writer or broadcaster would be a dream, she is still on the journey to finding which avenue of journalism is best for her. Sofie is deeply grateful to ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ for giving her opportunities such as the O’Brien fellowship.
Ben HansonBen Hanson, from Minneapolis, MN, is studying journalism with a double minor in digital media and advertising. Hanson has been a sports reporter for the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire, and is currently interning with TMJ4 in Milwaukee. In his time at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, he has learned how to actively search for opportunities and not wait for them to come to him. This — and saying yes to every opportunity — has strengthened his storytelling ability, given him previously untapped confidence and helped him discover what he wants to dedicate his career toward after he graduates. Ben is ecstatic to be an O'Brien intern, and looks forward to the guidance and experience he'll gain reporting on untold stories that deserve a stage to be heard.
Joseph SchamberJoseph Schamber is a sophomore studying journalism with minors in digital media and graphic design. He is the executive opinions editor for the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire and has been contributing opinion columns for the past two years. His writing focuses on social justice, politics, and cultural commentary, so he is excited to start doing more public service journalism with an O’Brien fellow. He is also an aspiring food writer and would like to become a dining critic or something similar in the future. Joseph believes that public service is at the heart of all forms of journalism including food writing and hopes that this fellowship will make him of greater assistance to people in need.
Mimi SinotteMimi grew up in Milwaukee and is a journalism major and a communication studies minor. She was a reporter on the Arts & Entertainment desk on the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire and then became Executive Assistant Editor. She worked as an intern in the Strategic Communications department at Northwestern Mutual during the summer of 2024. During Spring 2025, she spent a semester abroad in London and took two journalism classes. When she is not writing, she enjoys rock climbing and spending time outside.
Sophia TiedgeSophia, from Arlington Heights, IL, is majoring in journalism with a minor in English. She aspires to pursue a career in investigative journalism after graduation. Recently, Sophia completed a fellowship with the James Foley Legacy Foundation, and for the past three years, she has been actively involved with the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire. In the upcoming academic year, she will serve as the Tribune/Wire student director in conjunction with the O’Brien Fellowship. This summer, Sophia will be joining the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as a reporting intern. Through the O’Brien Fellowship, Sophia looks forward to deepening her skills in investigative reporting and broadening her perspective on the world.
Mia ThurowMia, from Oconomowoc, WI, is majoring in journalism with minors in Spanish and sports communication and a concentration in communication leadership. She currently serves as Executive News Editor at the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Wire and will be working in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newsroom as a 2025 McBeath summer intern. Mia is a recipient of the Pete and Bonnie Axthelm Memorial Scholarship for exceptional sportswriting and a member of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. She is passionate about investigative and human interest storytelling, advancing media literacy and creating a more representative media landscape where all voices are heard.
Brennan WillsBrennan is from a modest rural town in the Metro East area of St. Louis, Missouri. While at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, Brennan is a member of over 15 clubs and has served as an executive board member for four of them. He sat on committees with university administrators and even delivered a student government address to the Board of Trustees. Brennan played the drums at concerts and men’s basketball games alike; both at home and in tournaments. In his spare time, Brennan enjoys reading classic literature, avidly watching wide genres of movies, drafting scripts and stories, and listening to his Leonard Bernstein CDs or Led Zeppelin vinyl records. Brennan is grateful to be expanding his journalistic horizons by working with true-spirited journalists in their adventures to serve the truth to the public.
The O’Brien Fellowship is committed to providing experienced journalists with the tools to pursue ambitious long-term projects in service of the public interest. In this vein, each fellow is paired with a hand-selected team of student interns who provide quality reporting and production support over the course of the project.
Our interns aren’t assigned busy work. They’re treated as entry-level reporters whose work and skills have a real impact on our fellows’ success. Many students even gain byline credit or go on to work in the fellow’s home newsroom in a university-sponsored summer internship. In this way, we strive to not only empower experienced journalists to do great work now, but also to train up-and-coming reporters to do great work in the future.
