aaricka washington
National K-12 and Higher Education Reporter at Freelance
quality-oriented , culturally aware storyteller expertise news writing , community engagement teaching .
'm freelance journalist based los angeles , california . would love leverage journalism skill detail-oriented storyteller excellent communication interpersonal skill role . enterprising , passionate , enthusiastic reporter , break complicated idea ten-year-olds grandmother alike understand 's going world around . written compelling , insightful story new york time , time magazine , pb newshour , business insider , hechinger report several local news publication across country . 'm passionate connecting marginalized community , giving space front center medium . people-driven reporter heart , 've built sustained relationship several community member , student , parent educator time journalist . also love flexing multimedia muscle creating new tech resource people need . naturally enterprising , passionate networker . past life , wa seventh grade texas history writing teacher , wa responsible trying coax pre-teens buying corny joke alamo paragraph . earned master 's degree journalism columbia university bachelor 's degree journalism indiana university . iu , minored sociology african american african diaspora study , credit making socially aware communicator . outdoorsy l.a. native , 'm always trying learn new thing ( like skydiving ! ) . 'm avid roller skater swimmer . next list accomplish : salsa bachata dancing . 'm also actively working speaking spanish fluently . specialty : content writing | news writing | communciations | teaching | tutoring | public speaking | data visualization | public relation | video production | photography | mentoring | leadership
Freelance
Wrote in-depth articles about issues in education for The New York Times, Business Insider, Time Magazine, PBS NewsHour, PBS SoCal, Capital B, The Hechinger Report, The Seattle Times and the Austin Chronicle.
Los Angeles, California, United States
National K-12 and Higher Education Reporter
Chalkbeat
https://www.linkedin.com/company/chalkbeat
- Wrote stories centered around how the 11 Indianapolis school districts were navigating educating students in the COVID-era, as well as the city's unique charter school landscape and racial inequity. 

- Interviewed racially diverse teachers and students as they witnessed national, historically-significant events like the Breonna Taylor murder trial verdict, the U.S. Capitol insurrection, the presidential  inauguration and the Atlanta spa shootings to gain their perspective. 

- Launched a text messaging service to keep Indianapolis citizens aware of important school board decisions, increasing readership and actively engaging with 80 readers a month.

- Organized and published SEO-driven stories on Wordpress, Chalkbeat's content management system. 

- Spoke on panels and radio broadcasts about Indiana education coverage. 

- Acquired two new community partnerships, increasing engagement within underserved communities in Indianapolis. 

- Organized and published SEO-driven stories using Wordpress as a content management system. 

- Composed newsletters twice a week in order to increase readership within Indiana.
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
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Reporter
Austin American-Statesman
https://www.linkedin.com/company/austin-american-statesman
- Wrote breaking news, enterprise and investigative stories focused on the 15 largest school districts in Central Texas. 

Covered policy, budgets, student enrollment shifts, school closures, school board ousts and monumental sex curriculum changes, racial discrimination and the beginning of COVID in schools. 

- Collaborated with colleagues on stories.
Austin, Texas Area
https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C560BAQF86vYekUGUOg/company-logo_100_100/0/1519856159019?e=1655942400&v=beta&t=vonF9Q6KG2ts38dHU7mH4fWqKBTIIiCoZbrisrtzmro
K-12 Education Reporter
The Hechinger Report
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-hechinger-report
- Wrote a long-form article about how one school network based in Ohio took a unique approach to educating refugee students exclusively, which was also published on KQED MindShift's website.  

- Collaborated with a veteran reporter on an article about why a public college had a zero percent graduation rate for Black students in a state with already abysmal success rates for Black college students, which was also published on Eye on Ohio's website. 

- Contributed to shorter news items, newsletters and other reporting tasks.
Greater New York City Area
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National Education Reporting Intern
Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism
https://www.linkedin.com/company/columbia-university-graduate-school-of-journalism
Master of Science, focus on education. Training in data, multimedia and investigative projects. Covered education through William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School – a predominately black male, career and technical school in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. 

Highlights: 

- Master’s Project: Wrote a 5,000-word master’s project on the negative effects of co-located schools in traditional public school buildings. Focused on a traditional public school in Harlem that is facing over-utilization challenges due to being co-located with a charter school and a selective public school.
  
- Documentary: Co-produced a documentary about a struggling NYC public high school’s goal to enroll a record number of students despite the city’s inequitable high school admissions process. 

- Investigative: Reported on a confidential investigative project under the guidance of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Walt Bogdanich
Greater New York City Area
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Graduate Student
Indiana Commission for Higher Education
https://www.linkedin.com/company/iche
- Facilitated and engaged in college readiness discussions and activities with nearly 3,500 students, parents, counselors, community partners and volunteers on behalf of the *21st Century Scholars program.

- Worked heavily with school counselors to help parents apply for the 21st Century Scholars program at 18 middle schools in Marion County. 

- Helped plan events with high school counselors so that high school students could successfully complete their Scholar Success Program activities at 22 high schools in Marion County. 

- Launched the Scholar 2 Scholar Mentorship Program - a mentorship program between college 21st Century Scholars and high school 21st Century Scholars with the hope of supplying relevant role models who come from similar backgrounds for high school students. 21 College Mentors and 23 High School Mentees were involved in the pilot launch. 

- Planned and hosted the first Quarterly Community Engagement Meeting which had 39 Marion County community partners in attendance at Marian University.

- Created the Marion County Community Engagement Report using Tableau's data visualization tool in order to pinpoint the gaps in college preparation activities provided in Indianapolis.  

*The 21st Century Scholars Program is a scholarship program that provides students who will most likely be first-generation college students up to four years of undergraduate tuition at any accredited public college or university in Indiana. I am very proud to say that I am a 21st Century Scholars alumna.
Indianapolis, Indiana
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21st Century Scholars - AmeriCorps VISTA
KIPP Houston Public Schools
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kipp-texas
- Instructed 7th grade students in Social Studies (Texas History) and Writing 

- Led 74% of my 7th graders (Class of 2021) to passing their STAAR Writing Exam (March 2016)

- Taught 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders how to become their own storytellers in a Creative Writing enrichment class. 

- Advised and Mentored a group of 20 students about character building and life skills.
KIPP Voyage Academy for Girls
https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E0BAQFUjXCl8UtLWQ/company-logo_100_100/0/1553094769914?e=1655942400&v=beta&t=5LXf_5sXRkvbPAvU95vupKMEIHbnzCkDpR8EcZWyGQk
7th Grade Social Studies Teacher
Teach For America
https://www.linkedin.com/company/teach-for-america
- Selected as one of 5,800 corps members from a pool of 48,000 applicants

- Instructed 20+ fourth grade students at Piney Point Elementary School during Teach for America's five-week long Summer Institute. 

- Taught 20+ second grade students Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies and Science at Foerster Elementary School during the 2014-2015 school year

- Communicated regularly with parents, teachers, and school staff to create a positive learning environment in the classroom

- Engaged in professional development, including conferences, workshops, and diversity trainings

- Assisted in achieving the mission of all students receiving a quality education regardless of their socioeconomic status
Houston, Texas Area
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Corps Member
Houston ISD
https://www.linkedin.com/company/houston-isd
- Taught 20 second graders core subjects at Foerster Elementary School. 

- Collaborated and communicated regularly with parents, teachers and school staff to create a positive learning environment. 

- Engaged in professional development including conferences, workshops, and diversity trainings to become a more effective teacher.
Houston, Texas Area
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2nd Grade Teacher
Indiana Daily Student
https://www.linkedin.com/company/indiana-daily-student
- One of the 1,533 winners out of 11,407 entries that won an award for The Columbia Scholastic Press Association's 31st Gold Circle Awards 

- Certificate of Merit Award for "Full Time Aspirations," Indiana Daily Student 

- Reported, wrote, edited and published 60+ articles related to higher education policy, diversity and culture at Indiana University

- Led the charge of increasing racial/ethnic diversity at the award winning college newspaper organization
Indiana University-Bloomington
https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C510BAQEwKkRoTEvzWA/company-logo_100_100/0/1519895688758?e=1655942400&v=beta&t=vgXKq_KFM_K8WG8aQ2tHdqld9vxZwLza47rHwtaoIhI
Education and Culture Reporter
Master of Science - MS
Journalism
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Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism
https://www.linkedin.com/school/columbia-university-graduate-school-of-journalism/
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
Journalism
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Indiana University Bloomington
https://www.linkedin.com/school/indiana-university-bloomington/
Books & Beyond is a global service learning project that connects Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana, USA) students with TEAM Academy schools in Newark, New Jersey, USA and Kabwende Primary School in Kinigi, Rwanda, Africa to form a colloborative, cohesive learning initiative. The students participate in writing, illustrating, publishing and marketing an anthology of children’s stories. The stories are mostly written by the IU and TEAM students to help English literacy in Rwanda, Africa.The program has encourages mentorship, global citizenship, cultural understanding and so much more. 

For information visit the B&B website: http://www.indiana.edu/~booksb/
Books & Beyond Service Learning Project
Document Team Lead
- Oversaw 15-20 general body and executive board members in coordinating events, hosting guest speakers in the industry and planning fundraisers for the annual national NABJ conferences, resulting in a growing amount of member involvement and morale. 
-	Built strong internal systems by effectively organizing historical information, meeting minutes, and social media updates, increasing long-term productivity within the campus chapter. 
-	Developed and maintained two blogs, Twitter and Facebook sites daily, cultivating more public awareness.
Indiana University Chapter of National Association of Black Journalists
President
The Curious Case of the Willie Lynch Letter
Clutch Magazine
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2012/02/the-curious-case-of-the-willie-lynch-letter/
Awarded Community Service and Leadership award for noteworthy contributions to Indiana University Bloomington campus.
Neal Marshall Black Culture Center
Community Service and Leadership Award
A first time award for outstanding undergraduates who have showed excellence in research, writing and publishing. This award was named after IU Professor Emeritus A.B. Assensoh. He co-authored African Military History and Politics: Ideological Coups and Incursions
African American and African Diaspora Studies Department
A.B. Assensoh Award
An award for outstanding graduate and undergraduate students who have displayed excellent leadership skills at Indiana University.
African American and African Diaspora Studies Department
Joe Russell Leadership Award Nominee
Chi Alpha Epsilon
Chi Alpha Epsilon Honorable
Inducted in the National Honor Society at Ben Davis High School
Ben Davis High School
National Honor Society
Broadcast News
JOUR-J343
Media and Culture in China
-
Multimedia Storytelling
JOUR-J362
Narrative Journalism
JOUR-J460
Race, Gender & The Media
JOUR-J375
Reporting, Writing, and Editing I
JOUR-J200
Sociology of Childhood
-
Visual Communication
JOUR-J210
Ben Davis Broadcast Television 2009-2010
BDTV News Crew Member
Books & Beyond is a cross-cultural literacy exchange for students and teachers from Indiana University’s Global Village Living-Learning Center (Bloomington, IN), TEAM Schools (Newark, NJ), and the Kabwende Primary Center (KPC) (Kinigi, Rwanda). The project focuses on developing models for cross-cultural teaching and learning. Books and Beyond also seeks to foster global citizenship by promoting communication and understanding amongst students from diverse backgrounds in the United States and Rwanda. College students at Indiana University are paired with students from TEAM schools, and the writing partners work together to author and illustrate childrens stories.
Books&Beyond
http://friendsofbnb.com
Broadcast resume reel from Indianapolis WXIN Fox 59
Aaricka Washington's Resume Reel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW8ljdZ3Wok
Education
Books & Beyond: A Service Learning Project
For my entire college career, I was involved in the public "face" of the Books & Beyond Service Learning Project. I served as not only the Document Team Leader of the project, but also the Public Relations Director. My major role and goal was to make sure that the project received mass exposure on campus and abroad through photography, videography, speaking engagements and more. 

In the summer of 2012, I traveled to Rwanda, Africa to serve as a teacher with 11 other IU and Newark, New Jersey KIPP TEAM students at our Rwanda affiliate school, Kabwende Primary School. While we were there, not only did we give the 4th edition of our The World is Our Home anthology to 2,000 students, we also hosted the first ever holiday camp for 200 Kabwende students to assist them in their *English literacy skills. 

All eight IU students, along with four middle and high school students from TEAM Schools in Newark, New Jersey facilitated the camp, instructing students on writing, reading, speaking and tactile learning in English. By the end of the camp, all of the Kabwende students finished a story and became a published author in our anthology.

*In 2008, the Rwandan government mandated that English would be used as the language of instruction from primary school to the university level instead of French.
Public Relations Director
Education
One Goal Houston
- Talked to students about defining their passion, purpose and path after high school. 
- Proofread and edited high school students' college essays.
Professional Mentor/Essay Editor
Education
Indiana University Bloomington
https://www.linkedin.com/company/indiana-university-bloomington
- Collaborated with a team of 12 college students to plan, organize and facilitate activities for incoming IU freshmen 
 
-  Informed incoming freshmen about college classes, organizations and activities that could drive them to achieving their careers and aspirations 

-   Led and facilitated college tours for incoming freshmen students
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Welcome Week Assistant
Social Services
WXIN Fox 59
- Created and edited news packages for five anchors 

- Collaborated with five reporters on their daily packages for air

- Cultivated, edited and produced a broadcast reel for employment in the field
Broadcast Television Intern
Social Services
WTIU-TV (PBS)
https://www.linkedin.com/company/wtiu-tv-pbs-
- Reported stories in Central/Southern Region of Indiana for the PBS/NPR local affiliate.
https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C510BAQFnt0hFy8KYoQ/company-logo_100_100/0/1519899435516?e=1655942400&v=beta&t=tzyAjGVweLyhyIf0KNm8aiSg1nam9SiJG5gZt1eG5T0
Broadcast Television Intern
LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com
Using Brain Science to Find Your Calling
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/using-brain-science-to-find-your-calling
LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com
Managing Your Time
http://www.linkedin.com/learning/managing-your-time
Texas Education Agency
4-8 Generalist
Texs Education Agency
EC-6 Generalist
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/janine-boivin-9795ba76
Canada
Janine Boivin
--
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaachury
Indianapolis, IN
Joshua Achury
Team Supervisor at Brooks Automation
https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-baldini-61970998
Indianapolis, IN
Madison Baldini
Human Resources Manager at Fiserv
https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshaynarang
Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Akshay Narang
Program Analyst with the EPA
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-williams-45b21166
Arlington, VA
Jason Williams
Student at George Mason University
https://www.linkedin.com/in/r-barthel-a41081a0
Bloomington, IN
r barthel
na at NA
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-a-king-2296b446
Newport News, VA
Joe A. King
Academic Advisor & Counselor at Hampton University
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cparey1220
Los Angeles, CA
Chris Arey
B2B Content Marketer & Copywriter
https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-sanchez-9a5871207
Santa Clara, CA
April Sanchez
Brand Ambassador at Airfield Supply Company
https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelle-mckearney-734146195
Brockton, MA
Noelle McKearney
Center Director at Octapharma Plasma, Inc.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-boggs724
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
Mara B.
Expansion Director
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-tate-4390b8a
Dayton Metropolitan Area
Jason Tate
Operations Administration
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-gonzalez-17a553202
Los Angeles, CA
Katie Gonzalez
Senior Center Director  at Octapharma Plasma, Inc.
https://de.linkedin.com/in/aaron-ianniello-b40a41b2
Stuttgart Region
Aaron Ianniello
BIM Manager
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-larson-01516747
Louisville Metropolitan Area
Chris Larson
Reporter at Behavioral Health Business, a publication of Aging Media Network.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerald-porter-627051106
Brooklyn, NY
Gerald Porter
Strategist at The One Nine Three Group
https://www.linkedin.com/in/segann-march
Cincinnati Metropolitan Area
Segann March
Content Manager/Storyteller at Greater Cincinnati Foundation
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-mccormick-yahoo-finance
New York City Metropolitan Area
Emily McCormick
Senior reporter, Yahoo Finance
Crystal Hill
      
          



            
              
        
              
  

    
        Aaricka is a talented journalist who brings passion, depth and rigor to her reporting. She has a keen eye for stories that connect with readers and bring undercovered issues to the fore. And throughout her career she’s cultivated a brand as a sharp writer with a growing audience. She would be an asset to any company or publication.
Liked by Aaricka Washington
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New Work 🎥 💥 “For Love & Country” My first feature length documentary on @amazonmusic streaming on @primevideo April 7th 🤎🙏🏿I had the pleasure…
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Some cool opportunities and resources to get you started on your tech journey. FREE CERTIFICATIONS, courses, tools and mentorship programs in data…
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Karen Walrond and I have been friends for a long time. We laugh a lot and we lean a lot, and when I say lean—I mean into each other. We lean into…
IU 21st Century Scholars Program
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12032310
Careers After News
https://static-exp1.licdn.com/sc/h/4h1ldzvvebtszyx75ve7dst1v
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9155882
MEOjobs Community
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8602949
Texas HR Pros IN-Transition Group
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4175385
21st Century Scholars Alumni Network (Indiana)
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12073009
Houston Hoosiers.  Indiana University Alumni Association
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8322355
NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists)
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/56785
Young Black Austin
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8527280
The Posse Foundation
https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E07AQFsRI0JE_j9qQ/group-logo_image-shrink_92x92/0/1631006805677?e=1647694800&v=beta&t=YMtyaCjZAjW601J8Vb152qMXTgogZf9OowtyK51T1Tk
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/51922
Columbia Journalism Alumni
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/138206
Innovation Journalism
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https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1032627
Media Jobs (1885602)
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