The CoH Team
Our team is currently composed of students at Roger Williams University. We are working to hire community members and high school students to join our staff or work as freelancers. We are specifically interested in working with members of the communities we aim to serve, those who have little access to jobs within the mainstream media.
If you are interested, please contact us at communitydrivennews@gmail.com.
Our Current Team
Luke joined Communities of Hope because he agreed that marginalized communities need to have their voices heard. He is from Easton, Massachusetts and in his free time, he enjoys reading and playing music.
Madelyn LaScala
Community News and Civic Information
Freshman, Journalism Major, Economics Minor
Madelyn T. LaScala is from New York and a freshman at Roger Williams and is a part of the Community News and Civic Information team. Her goal is to create quality journalism that can be accessible to all.
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Madelyn not only has a passion for writing but also fashion. She has built a substantial online following across multiple platforms with her fashion and beauty content. She is also a part of the Sailing Team here at Roger Williams.
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Madelyn exercises her writing in the Hawks Herald as she is the co-author of a satirical commentary column called “Tongue In Chic”.
Maeva Thompson
Junior, Public Relations Major
Public Relations
Maeva Thompson is from Washington and is a junior at Roger Williams University. Her role on the Public Relations team is to promote the Hawks for Hope website and work on its social media presence.
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Maeva's passion lies in coaching youth sports, with a particular focus on softball. She dedicates her time and expertise to teaching young athletes along with, helping them develop both on and off the field.
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Maeva believes that “whether good or bad it's the belief in hope that something will come of it.”
David Peters
Senior, Journalism Major
Editor for Community News & Civid Information
David Peters is a senior journalism major here at Roger Williams. In terms of Civic media and community engagement, David is working as a managing editor for the community news and civic info team.
Outside of school, he enjoys watching sports and hanging out with friends. In terms of journalism, David takes pride in his interview skills, and his ability to write.
To David, “Hope is resilience, so if something goes bad you don’t give up, you just have to have a little hope”.
Madison Berman
Community News & Civic Engagement
Senior, Public Relations major
Madison Berman is a part of the journalism team and is a Public Relations major. Her role in Communities of Hope is community news and civic engagement, meaning she will be interacting with students and other people in the community to gather information in order to create stories for the Communities of Hope webpage.
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Madison babysits in her free time and also works at an ice cream shop back in her hometown.
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Madison believes that hope means finding a little bit of faith in everyday life and that everything has its good in it and you just have to find it.
Sydney Lussier
Graphic Designer
Senior, Graphic Design major, Visual Arts minor
Sydney is a senior at Roger Williams and will be doing the graphic design for Communities of Hope.
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She is very active and loves to workout, do gymnastics, MMA, and jiu-jitsu. Another passion of hers is drawing.
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To Sydney, hope means that you have an idea that it will get better and always remembering that when you are in a bad spot and bringing that among others.
Editor/Manager of Community News & Civic Information
Sophomore, Journalism major
Alex Tavaglione
Alex is a sophomore at Roger Williams and is majoring in journalism with minors in digital media/photography and sports studies. At Communities of Hope, she serves as an editor in the Community News and Civic Information division.
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In her free time, she enjoys music, photography, and watching sports with her friends and family as these have become staples in her life that she wants to incorporate in her future career.
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To her, hope is something that can help you get through, it’s your light at the end of the tunnel and helps you push through the challenges.
Ben Mosher
Senior, Graphic Design Major
AudioVisual Team
Ben is a senior at Roger Williams where he is majoring in graphic design. At Communities of Hope, Ben is a part of the audio/ visual team where his primary focus is audio technology but he is excited about both aspects that his team focuses on.
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Graphic design is a big passion of Ben’s but it isn’t his only one; he is also very interested in public transit and how people get around and move places on a daily basis.
Ben says that Hope is on our Rhode Island flag and that it’s the people that are the hope. Hope is what we provide to the people of the community through civic media. He says that we are the hope that we bring to the people in the community.
Emmit Pelonzi
Graphic Designer
Junior, Graphic Design Major
Emmit is a junior here at Roger Williams where he studies graphic design and also uses his graphic design skills at Communities of Hope as a member of the graphic design team.
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He is passionate about drawing and artwork and enjoys going to museums. He also enjoys snowboarding as well as playing video games with his friends in his free time.
He believes that hope is something to look forward to and put your faith in.
JT Lawrence
Audiovisual Team
Sophomore, Communications and Media Studies Major
JT Lawrence is a sophomore here at Roger Williams. He’s a communication and media studies major - and he has a passion for films and filmmaking.
According to JT “I just love everything about film, watching films, making films”. In Communities of Hope, JT is working on the audio-visual team.
To JT - hope means “perseverance through tough times and keeping your head up when things get tough”.
Anna Pellegrini
Freshman, Graphic Design Major
Creative Department
Anna Pellegrini is a Freshman Graphic Design major at Roger Williams, and in regards to her work for Civic Media & Community Engagement, she is a part of the Creative team at Communities of Hope. She will be helping with the graphic designs for the Communities of Hope website.
Some of her passions include art, painting, drawing, graphic design work, and hanging out with her friends. She will be working on mainly graphic design projects for Communities of Hope.
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To Anna, hope is having the idea that something good can come from something else that someone did. So, to her, hope is something that can be received from one person to another from different good acts.
Kayla Nolan
How Communities of Hope Releases Themselves to the Public
Junior Public Relations major
Claire Kelley
Executive Director
Sophomore Public Relations major
Jeannette is a part of Solutions Journalism for Communities of Hope. She is from Fall River, Massachusetts and she is majoring in Journalism.
She joined Communities of Hope to be a part of the community and gain experience in the field of journalism.
Her current favorite memory with Communities of Hope is getting on the front page of the Hawks Herald with her article about Native American Mascots.
Kayle does public relations for Communities of Hope. She is from Albany, New York, and is majoring in public relations. She also is minoring in cultural studies and communications
She joined Communities of Hope to gain more experience in her major. Her favorite memory with Communities of Hope has been planning fundraisers and social media campaigns.
Kayle ​has traveled to 5 countries and is looking forward to traveling more in the future.
Claire is a part of the solutions journalism in Communities of Hope. She is from Willimantic, CT and is majoring in Journalism.
She joined Communities of Hope to get more experience in the field of journalism. Currently, her favorite memory with Communities of Hope is doing interviews for documentaries.
Mat Clarke
Senior, Journalism Major
Writing & Editing in Civic Media & Engagement
Apostolos Karnavas
multimedia
Senior, Journalism major
Is a new member to Communities of Hope and is ready to make a big impact!
Kyle is one of the Spanish translators for Communities of Hope. He is from Barrington, Rhode Island. He is majoring in secondary education and Spanish.
He joined Communities of Hope to help communicate the needs of various communities in Rhode Island. His current favorite memory with Communities of Hope is getting to work with the team.
Brenna Medeiros
Community News and Civic Info
Sophomore, Journalism major
Lexi is a part of the creative team in Communities of Hope. She is from Massachusetts and is majoring in Communications and Media Studies.
She joined Communities of hope because she believed that the values that Communities of Hope stands for are something that more people need to know about. She also wanted to have the opportunity to help minority groups which she believed could be impactful.
Reilly Murphy
Community News & Civic Info
Legal Research Team
Leena is a part of the legal research team for Communities of Hope. She is from Westwood, Massachusetts and is majoring in criminal justice and minoring in psychology.
She joined to serve and shed light on issues that impact marginalized communities and develop her skills and knowledge. She has a strong desire to make a difference and find solutions for communities in Rhode Island.
Kali Blackerby
Multimedia
Freshman, Public Relations major
Sam is a part of the legal research team for Communities of Hope. He is from Batavia, Illinois and is a first year law student. His interests involve environmental justice, land use, and public interest law.
He joined Communities of Hope to help tackle the many issues facing Rhode Islanders. He believed in Communities of Hope’s mission to uplift untold stories in the media.
His current favorite memory with Communities of Hope is meeting the team and seeing how everyone works together to create something transformative.
Kelly Dorherty
Public Relations & Marketing
Senior, Communications & Media Studies Major
Joshua Geaughan
Freshman, Journalism Major
Community News & Civic Information
Leena is a part of the legal research team for Communities of Hope. She is from Westwood, Massachusetts and is majoring in criminal justice and minoring in psychology.
She joined to serve and shed light on issues that impact marginalized communities and develop her skills and knowledge. She has a strong desire to make a difference and find solutions for communities in Rhode Island.
Stathi Savvidis
Community News & Civic Information
Senior, Journalism Major
Sam is a part of the legal research team for Communities of Hope. He is from Batavia, Illinois and is a first year law student. His interests involve environmental justice, land use, and public interest law.
He joined Communities of Hope to help tackle the many issues facing Rhode Islanders. He believed in Communities of Hope’s mission to uplift untold stories in the media.
His current favorite memory with Communities of Hope is meeting the team and seeing how everyone works together to create something transformative.
Emily Rosen
Public Relations & Marketing
Senior, Journalism Major
Professionals
Kaylee Pugliese
Director of Audiovisual Production
EcoTalk Podcast Editor
Dr. Bernardo H. Motta
Roger Williams University - Communities of Hope Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)
Solutions Journalism Network (SJN)
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)
Founder
Colleen Cronin
Program Coordinator - Hope Squad
EcoRI News, Report for America
Contributors
Jack Aviles
Multimedia Journalist
Junior Journalism major and Graphic Design minor
Jimmy Sadowski
Multimedia Journalist
Journalism major