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Tyler Thompson is currently a senior at Kent State University, focusing on multimedia journalism. He works for Black Squirrel Radio as a writer, article coordinator, DJ and production director. A former graduate at the University of Akron, he has a degree in firefighter protection where he earned his state license and graduated the EMT-Basic program from Akron General Hospital.

Ryan Van Velzer has told stories of people surviving floods in Thailand, record-breaking heat in Arizona and Hurricane Irma in South Florida. He has worked for The Arizona Republic, The Associated Press and The South Florida Sun Sentinel in addition to working as a travel reporter in Central America and Southeast Asia. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Ryan is happy to finally live in a city that has four seasons.

Daysha Eaton reports about religion and cultural issues, including social justice, for KUER.

David Williams is an intern at WKSU for summer 2019. A junior at Kent State, Williams is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in multimedia journalism. Williams has reported for The Kent Stater, the university’s student-run newspaper, since spring 2018. His interests include history and politics.

Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.

Laura Smitherman is Deputy National Editor for NPR News. She oversees breaking news and enterprise reporting from the eastern half of the United States, and she is the lead editor on immigration coverage. The National Desk covers the biggest issues facing the nation in collaboration with member stations around the country. Our reporters cover a range of beats, including national security, climate, race and identity, gender, criminal justice, state government and addiction.

Emily Abshire (she/they) is an assistant producer for NPR One. She makes day-to-day programming and production decisions about the content in the NPR One app and collaborates with the newsroom to optimize audio stories for platforms beyond radio. She also hand-curates NPR One's ethical news algorithm that powers the app and is used on voice platforms. Along with other members of the NPR One team, Abshire works to envision fresh news experiences on emerging platforms, such as voice assistants and smart speakers.