{"id":426011,"date":"2026-09-04T11:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426011\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:14:16","slug":"texas-tribune-welcomes-six-fall-fellows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426011\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tribune welcomes six fall fellows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/about\/ethics\/#ai-policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AI policy<\/a>, and give us <a href=\"https:\/\/airtable.com\/appFeleeKVUN0Iytx\/pagPG40gbkU0EfjIr\/form\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Six stellar college students and one recent graduate are joining us this fall as we cover a marquee midterm election cycle and produce The Texas Tribune Festival, our signature politics and policy event. To say it\u2019s an exciting time to welcome them is an understatement. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three times a year, the Tribune\u2019s fellowship program offers young industry professional paid positions across several departments. Our fellows get real-world experience covering major Texas stories, visually documenting the lives of Texas officials and residents, promoting our newsroom\u2019s journalism, and growing our audience. Join us in welcoming these young professionals to our organization.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1600\" data-attachment-id=\"241935\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/09\/04\/fall-2026-fellows\/sashadm_portrait-sasha-draeger-mazer-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sashadm_portrait-Sasha-Draeger-Mazer-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1600\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS REBEL T3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1669443069&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;65&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;100&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0025&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"sashadm_portrait \u2013 Sasha Draeger-Mazer\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sashadm_portrait-Sasha-Draeger-Mazer-1.jpg?fit=780%2C780&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sashadm_portrait-Sasha-Draeger-Mazer-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241935 size-full\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sasha Draeger-Mazer is an Austin-based reporting fellow. Originally from Montana, she is a senior at Northwestern University, where she studies journalism and political science. At NU, she has served as an editor of The Daily Northwestern and covered national security for Medill News Service. Most recently, Sasha worked for Bloomberg News, reporting on global business from Berlin as a native German speaker.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1600\" data-attachment-id=\"241936\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/09\/04\/fall-2026-fellows\/headshot_cropped-william-hammann-1-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/headshot_cropped-William-Hammann-1-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1600\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D3500&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1778166712&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;48&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;360&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"headshot_cropped \u2013 William Hammann (1)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/headshot_cropped-William-Hammann-1-1.jpg?fit=780%2C780&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/headshot_cropped-William-Hammann-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241936 size-full\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Will Hammann is our Washington reporting fellow. He covered Maryland state prisons, justice and campaign finance amid the state\u2019s primary elections for States Newsroom outlet Maryland Matters. Before that, Will reported on Maryland\u2019s congressional delegation for Capital News Service and local news for the Greenbelt News Review. The Ashburn, Virginia native originally studied saxophone performance until entering the field of journalism at the University of Maryland, where he\u2019s an assistant managing editor for The Diamondback, the university\u2019s independent student newspaper. Will is based in College Park, Maryland, and is proficient in Spanish thanks to his parents and friends.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1600\" data-attachment-id=\"241940\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/09\/04\/fall-2026-fellows\/headshot-summer-2026-zach-leggio-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/headshot-summer-2026-Zach-Leggio-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1600\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"headshot summer 2026 \u2013 Zach Leggio\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/headshot-summer-2026-Zach-Leggio-1.jpg?fit=780%2C780&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/headshot-summer-2026-Zach-Leggio-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241940 size-full\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zach Leggio is a reporting fellow based in Austin. Zach was born in Augusta, Georgia, and is a recent graduate from the University of Georgia, where he majored in journalism and international affairs. While at UGA, he worked for various student publications, including The Red &amp; Black, where he was a news editor, managing editor and editor-in-chief. Zach previously interned with the Oglethorpe Echo, a newspaper serving a rural Georgia county, interned in the U.S. Senate and interned for the Investigative Reporting Workshop in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1600\" data-attachment-id=\"241939\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/09\/04\/fall-2026-fellows\/employee-head-shots-jacob-lujan-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/hc071326JacobLujan-jacob-lujan-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1600\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Houston Chronicle&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;ILCE-1&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Jacob Lujan, photo intern, poses for a portrait in the Chronicle studio in Houston, Monday, July 13, 2026.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1783938246&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;\\u00a9 2026 Brett Coomer \/ Houston Chronicle&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;70&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;50&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Employee head shots Jacob Lujan&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Employee head shots Jacob Lujan\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Jacob Lujan, photo intern, poses for a portrait in the Chronicle studio in Houston, Monday, July 13, 2026.&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/hc071326JacobLujan-jacob-lujan-1.jpg?fit=780%2C780&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/hc071326JacobLujan-jacob-lujan-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241939 size-full\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jacob Lujan is the photography fellow who previously worked as the visuals intern at the Houston Chronicle and editor-in-chief of The Daily Toreador, Texas Tech\u2019s student-run publication. Lujan, from Corpus Christi, is a graduate student pursuing a master\u2019s degree in communications at Tech.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1600\" data-attachment-id=\"241938\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/09\/04\/fall-2026-fellows\/img_3644-valeria-mota-guerra-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_3644-Valeria-Mota-Guerra-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1600\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS Rebel T7&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1744330122&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;25&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1600&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.002&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_3644 \u2013 Valeria Mota Guerra\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_3644-Valeria-Mota-Guerra-1.jpg?fit=780%2C780&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_3644-Valeria-Mota-Guerra-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241938 size-full\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Valeria Mota is our marketing and communications fellow based in Austin. Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, Valeria speaks fluent Spanish and is entering her senior year at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is pursuing a degree in marketing with a minor in journalism. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Afterglow ATX, a student-run music publication, where she has led a staff of more than 90 and covered festivals including SXSW and ACL. She previously served as social media editor at The Daily Texan and interned with The Team\u2019s brand partnerships team and the Long Center for the Performing Arts, working on paid social campaigns and audience engagement.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1600\" data-attachment-id=\"241941\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/09\/04\/fall-2026-fellows\/laura_rivera-laura-rivera-ramos-1-3\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Laura_Rivera-Laura-Rivera-Ramos-1-2.jpg?fit=1600%2C1600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1600\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Laura_Rivera \u2013 Laura Rivera-Ramos (1)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Laura_Rivera-Laura-Rivera-Ramos-1-2.jpg?fit=780%2C780&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Laura_Rivera-Laura-Rivera-Ramos-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241941 size-full\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Laura Rivera-Ramos is an audience engagement fellow based in Austin. She is a senior studying journalism and government at the University of Texas at Austin. Previously, Laura worked as an editorial intern at The Austin Chronicle, an associate news editor for the student newspaper, The Daily Texan, and produced social media content for the Austin Current. She is fluent in Spanish and enjoys trying different coffee shops during her free time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Disclosure: States Newsroom and The University of Texas at Austin have been major financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/support-us\/corporate-sponsors\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/author\/brandon-formby\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Avatar photo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cropped-Brandon-Formby-2025-NP-Update-120x120.jpg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-120 photo\" height=\"120\" width=\"120\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrandon Formby works with The Texas Tribune\u2019s beat editors and reporters to bring Texans the news, analysis and explanatory journalism they need to put pressing issues into perspective. Previously, as&#8230;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/author\/brandon-formby\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Brandon Formby\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101670,27,29,28,36798,6588],"class_list":["post-426011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-t-squared","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-the-texas-tribune","tag-well-c-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}