Editorial Board

Scoop08 enjoys an ever-growing network of student journalists across the country.
The following list constitutes just the tip of the iceberg: our editorial board.

Alexander Heffner (Co-Founder) is a senior at Phillips Academy. He is the general manager of WPAA, the academy's radio station, and the founder of The Political Arena with Alexander Heffner, a political and public affairs program for which he has interviewed preeminent political and intellectual figures. He is also the co-founder and editor in chief of the Phillips Academy Historical Review, a student-run scholarly journal, and the recipient of the Brace Center for Gender Studies fellowship. This past summer, Heffner served as an editorial intern and writer for the Columbia Journalism Review. He intends to major in history, political science or philosophy.

Andrew Mangino (Co-Founder) is a junior political science and history major at Yale University. He spends most of his time in New Haven as the editor in chief of the Yale Daily News, the oldest daily college newspaper; he was its politics reporter last year. He is also co-president of the Davenport Pops Orchestra and was a director of the Yale Daily News Summer Journalism Program. Mangino, who interned last summer at The New York Observer, graduated in 2005 as valedictorian from James Caldwell High School in West Caldwell, New Jersey. In high school, he served for three years as editor in chief of The Caldron, a nationally award-winning student newspaper. While working, Mangino listens to the music of John Williams. He also loves the writing of Gay Talese, the films of Stanley Kubrick and astrology.

Meghan Louttit (Managing Editor) is a senior journalism major at Ohio University, where she specializes in world religions. She is the former managing editor of the student-run SpeakeasyMag.com and a member of the Online News Association. Over the past three years, she has interned for MediaBistro.com, American Express Publishing and The Columbus Dispatch, spent a summer studying in Florence, Italy, and retained a part-time job developing OU's island in Second Life. After graduating, she plans to take another trek through Europe before moving to New York City. In her rare free time, Louttit enjoys concerts, reading, writing, designing and exploring.

Steven Siegel (Managing Editor) is a junior biology major at Yale University. He is the administration and labor beat reporter for the Yale Daily News and previously held the medical school and swimming beats for the News. For the past two summers, he has conducted research at the National Institutes of Health in his home state of Maryland. Siegel also works in a cell biology lab at the Yale School of Medicine during the academic year, and spends his almost nonexistent free time reading and watching cooking shows. After graduating, he plans to attend medical and graduate school and become a biomedical researcher.

Benjamin Harris (Deputy Managing Editor) is a sophomore at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California who has had an abiding interest in politics and the race for the presidency since the age of seven. Harris' interests include law, government and media, and he participates in his school's award-winning mock trial team. After graduating high school, he plans to study politics or law.

Ben Loffredo (Opinion Editor) is a senior at the Fieldston school in New York City. He is a contributing writer for his school's newspaper, The Fieldston News, and is a managing editor and co-founder of The Fieldston Historical Review, its history journal. In 2006, he was the national first-prize winner of the JFK Profile in Courage Essay Contest, and his work is pending publication in the next issue of The Concord Review. He is very interested in politics, history, international relations, and economics, and hopes to pursue those topics in college.

Rosie Servis (Opinion Editor), a junior at Arizona State University, is an English literature and Spanish double major. She writes a political column for ASU's The State Press and serves as a research assistant for the university's Global Institute of Sustainability. While spending this past summer in Spain studying medieval Spanish literature, Servis wrote her second novel.

Samantha Fields (Democratic Candidate Editor) recently graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in American studies and is currently working as a full-time staff reporter for the Wellesley Townsman. She enjoys reading, learning and writing about politics, civil rights issues, culture and ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Fields also loves traveling, good books, photography, speaking Franglais and going to games at Fenway Park.

Jeremy Willinger (Democratic Candidate Editor and Spokesman) is a lifelong New Yorker currently enrolled at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he is majoring in magazine writing. Willinger also works in marketing and business development for a leading public relations firm. In his free time he enjoys biking, seeing concerts and photography.

Emily Angell (Republican Candidate Editor) is a junior at the University of Michigan majoring in English literature and history of art. Over the past year, she has been a reporter for the Michigan Daily, specifically covering student government. She was also a summer news editor for the publication. Angell, who grew up in California, the District of Columbia, Thailand, Germany and South Korea, loves to travel. After graduating, she hopes to work as a fashion journalist in New York City and eventually become an editor at Vogue.

Anish Kumar Mitra (Republican Candidate Editor) is a sophomore at Brown University concentrating in economics. He is the managing editor for production of The Brown Spectator, a journal for Conservative and Libertarian thought, and serves as the internal vice president of the Brown Model United Nations. Mitra plans to attend either law or business school after graduating, and resides in Long Island, N.Y. when he's not at Brown.

Lynnsay Maynard (Independent Editor) is a first-year political science and broadcast journalism major at the University of Maine. She was the editor-in-chief of Hampden Academy's student newspaper, The Pinion, and has just recently completed an internship with Congressman Mike Michaud of Maine. In addition to being a journalism junkie, Lynnsay stumbled upon a career in radio broadcasting when she began volunteering at WERU F.M., a community radio station in Blue Hill, Maine. Lynnsay has continued to volunteer at WERU, co-hosting shows and has written articles for it's quarterly publication Salt Air. She works at the Maine Public Broadcasting Network as a radio announcer and also works at a local health food store. In her increasingly limited free time, Lynnsay reads as many newspapers as possible and drinks way too much coffee.

Lara Kattan (Policy Editor) is a junior at Northwestern University, majoring in economics and political science. She spends her days contemplating the barriers of entry into the spy industry and making lame econ jokes. Marketable skills are a weak point for Kattan, but her involvement in Speech Team and Debate does allow her to indulge in her favorite pastime of talking at people. Her weekly column for North by Northwestern is just a way of passing the time until The Revolution. Her future promises to be full of lawsuits, although she hopes to be the lawyer rather than the defendant in at least 50 percent of them.

Alexander Laska (Policy Editor) is a senior at Staples High School in Westport, Conn., and is the editor in chief of the award-winning school newspaper, Inklings. Laska's interests include journalism and politics, and he plans on studying these in college. Also an actor, Laska starred in his school's production of "Miss Saigon," in the role of the Engineer.

Emma Dumain (Features Editor) is a senior at Oberlin College. There, she spent three beautiful years at the Oberlin Review - the official student newspaper - first as a news editor and then as editor in chief. After a period of denial in which she thought she might like to go into book publishing or academia, Dumain came to terms with her love of journalism and has never looked back: since starting college, she has interned at Time Out New York, Real Change News, and Roll Call, a daily newspaper in Washington, D.C. that covers congress. She hopes to return to the nation's capitol after graduating in May to pursue a career in political reporting as well as to ride the Metro, the public transportation system second only to the subway in her hometown, New York City.

Vivian Nereim (Features Editor) is a junior at Yale University majoring in architecture. She is a former news editor and opinion editor for the Yale Herald, a former associate editor for the Yale Daily News Magazine, and a frequent contributor to other campus publications. This past summer, Nereim interned at The Atlantic Monthly. This semester, she will serve as vice president of the Yale Political Union, where her job is to recruit and host guest speakers. After graduating, Nereim would like to pursue a career in journalism.

Jack Keefe (Breaking News Editor) is a sophomore at Swarthmore College on track to earn an honors major in psychobiology. He is managing editor at Swarthmore's printed weekly, The Phoenix. This semester, he hopes to start assisting at research at the college on inhibitory circuits of memory modulation. In between pretending to know things about Indie music and reading pretentious magazines and journals, Keefe remains indecisive about whether he wishes to enter scientific academia or journalism after college.

Sam Guzik (National Editor) is a sophomore majoring in English and minoring in political science at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. He is the senior news editor of its independent, student-run newspaper, Student Life. Originally from Long Island, N.Y., Guzik's interests include writing, photography, international relations and obscure grammatical concepts, and his favorite tropical fruit is the pineapple.

Prateek Kumar (International Editor) is a freshman at Harvard University, where he intends to major in economics and government. Kumar graduated in 2007 from Phillips Academy, where he attended as a President George H.W. Bush Scholar. Kumar was named an Apex Scholar by the American Psychological Association and studied constitutional law under Professor Alan Morrison of Stanford Law School. In addition, Prateek received the Gold Congressional Award from U.S. Representative Michael McNulty in part for completing 450 hours of community service between 2004 and 2006. In the summer of 2007, Prateek interned in the Revenue Forecasting Division of the New York State Division of Budget under Director Paul Francis. At PA, Prateek was Deputy Managing Editor of Andover's student-run newspaper, the Phillipian, and a Community Service Coordinator.

Dylan Diggs (Chief Copy Editor) is a senior at Johns Hopkins majoring in political science and minoring in writing. He is a chief copy editor for the Johns Hopkins University News-Letter and is chief copy editor for Sights Productions. Diggs, who interned at the Heritage Foundation and volunteered for several political campaigns, has also written three novels.

Robert Diggs (Staff Director) is a junior at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He is currently co-editor in chief of Lawrenceville's yearly publication The Messenger and writes for his school's weekly publication The Lawrence. During the summer he resides in Brooklyn, New York - when he isn't traveling visiting family and friends. He enjoys tennis, baseball and the Superbowl. Diggs intends to pursue a career as a history teacher once he reaches college - that is, while keeping up to date by reading The New York Times, The Economist and, of course, the Scoop08.

Alex Schaefer (Staff Director) is a senior at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis, Missouri. She is co-editor in chief of the monthly paper, The Voice, as well as an anchor for the video broadcast, RamReport. She also serves on the student council and plays field hockey. After graduating, Schaefer hopes to double major in English and French with a minor in East Asian studies at a university in the northeast.

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