Graham Brink, Business Editor of St. Petersburg Times

It was fun having Nicole on the business team for the summer. She is intelligent, friendly and got along well with the other business reporters. … Her enthusiasm led to some reporting victories, such as her 1A story about Suncoast Federal Credit Union reissuing debit cards. The Times would benefit from keeping in contact with Nicole as she finishes up her college degree.

Contact Info:   gbrinks@sptimes.com

Chris Roush, Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Scholar in Business Journalism, Director of the Carolina Business News Initiative

I have known Nicole during the past year in her role in the business journalism program, which I run. I find her to be one of the brightest and smartest students that we currently have in the program. This past semester, Nicole was a student in the “Business and the Media” class that I teach. The class was putting together stories for the School-wide Latino Project, a state-wide initiative designed to give North Carolina residents a better understanding of how the growing Hispanic population in the state was affecting the economy. As part of that project, each student was required to submit a proposal, and Nicole did so. After reading her proposal, I gave her some specific suggestions that I thought would make her story better and more compelling. She followed every single one of those suggestions and turned in one the best papers in the class.

Contact Info:  croush@email.unc.edu

Kevin Schwartz, Director and General Manager of The Daily Tar Heel

Nicole is a standout in a group of outstanding journalists who are riding the cutting edge of what collegiate journalists are producing in print and online in photo, video and audio. As the online managing editor for The Daily Tar Heel, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s daily newspaper, she exhibit skills, abilities and drive that make her precisely what journalism is going to need in its future practitioners to thrive and survive.

Contact Info:  kschwartz@unc.edu