Emily Forman delivers her last newscast last. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)
Friday, May 16, 2014, was Emily Forman’s last day on the job as KCAW’s Post-Graduate Fellow in Community Journalism (aka “Winter Fellow”). Over the past nine months she’s reported on just about everything that makes Sitka the interesting community it is: the subsistence herring harvest, locally-sourced school lunches, the Orthodox Church, to name just a few. Her series on the 50th Anniversary of the Great Alaska Earthquake has already become a KCAW News classic. And it’s not just us she’s impressed. Emily is spending her last week in town developing her story on birds and airport safety into a feature for National Public Radio’s Morning Edition.
In many ways, Emily was the perfect candidate for the KCAW Fellowship: She was on track to earn a Masters of Business Administration, and working on the business side of the Washington Post, when she realized that she wanted to be on the story telling side of industry. She quit her job, completed a program at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine, and arrived in Sitka a rookie journalist with an over-the-top desire to explore our big issues. Her experience here has paid off. When she leaves Sitka, Emily will head to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to take a job as producer for 371 Productions, which is developing a television/radio documentary series on the lasting impact of gun violence.
Forman hefts the triathlon trophy she delivered — as promised — for the station. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)
And what about the rumor that we hired Emily just to help us win some major bling for our office? Emily’s resume, sample stories, and writing ability were more than enough to land her the KCAW Fellowship. It was in a postscript to her cover letter that she wrote “I will help KCAW win the Julie Hughes Triathlon!” Well, a little chutzpah is not a bad trait in a reporter — especially when it’s backed up by a blazing time in the pool.
Thanks for a great job, Emily!
