IRW selects first high school intern
Monday, July 17th, 2017
Maya Wilson says her parents' first kiss was over a side table the pair assembled in February 1993, when they both worked as journalists at the News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Photo by Jeff Watts, AU
Maya Wilson
Today, that table sits in the family's Northwest Washington, D.C., entry way where journalism has led them, after stints in North Carolina, Philadelphia and Mexico City. Maya's mom, Trish Wilson, is the international investigations editor at the Associated Press. Her dad, Charles Fishman, is the bestselling author of "The Wal-Mart Effect" and "The Big Thirst."
This summer, Maya, 16, a rising junior at Woodrow Wilson High School, is IRW's first high school student journalist. She is features editor at Wilson High's student newspaper, The Beacon. She loves her experience there, but she said she's excited to be edited by professionals during her time at the Workshop.
Maya already has interviewed a group of Kansas student journalists whose investigative work led to the ouster of their high school principal. She's also contributing to social media, posting work of IRW staff members and interns on Facebook and Twitter.
"I'm definitely going to grow as a journalist this summer," Maya said. "One hundred percent. Elevate it."
Maya plans on continuing in the family business though her older brother, Nic Fishman, 18, will attend Stanford University this fall to study computer science and bio-engineering. For her, the choice of study remains journalism, bolstered by her summer experience at the Workshop.
“That’s where things are pointing right now," Maya said of journalism. "I can’t really see myself doing anything else.”
