For nearly 20 years as the White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief for The New York Post, Deborah Orin epitomized the very best in journalism. She brought to her craft the highest standards of excellence. Deborah Orin began covering New York politics in 1977, and a decade later moved to the nation’s capital where she reported on four U. S. presidents. She believed that the media needed a wider political perspective, that a diverse country needs a diverse press. When she died of cancer in 2007, she left behind many friends, her husband, Neville, and colleagues on the White House beat. The New York Post wrote: “readers will miss her honesty and wisdom.” Thanks to a gift, the WHCA has established the Deborah Orin Scholarship to benefit students at her alma mater. Two students will each receive a $5,000 scholarship, allowing them to pursue the craft Deborah Orin practiced every day. This scholarship will allow a new generation of journalists to strive for Deb’s very high standards.
Caroline Cataldo is a graduate student. In 2012, she graduated from The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts where she studied English, creative writing nonfiction and anthropology. After graduation, she spent a year volunteering in southeastern Montana with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest, teaching reading skills at a small Catholic mission school on the Crow Native American Reservation. She was so affected by the personal narratives of her students and their families that she knew she had to find a way to tell stories like theirs on a larger scale. Caroline is currently a student fellow in Medill’s Social Justice News Nexus initiative where she is reporting on how drug policy affects children in Chicago. After graduating from Medill, she hopes to find innovative ways to let the voiceless speak for themselves by writing and producing for print and radio.
