Dylan Ortiz, a student at SUNY Westchester Community College, was recently named a 2022 Reporting Fellow by the Pulitzer Center. Projects by Reporting Fellows address some of the most critical, and underreported, stories in today’s world, spanning climate injustice, migration, and reproductive health. While completing his studies at SUNY WCC, Mr. Ortiz was a junior video producer for Bantam Tools in Peekskill producing video storytelling content for promotional and educational use.
Mr. Ortiz was honored for his project focusing on food insecurity in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. His reporting will look at food resiliency in the community in the form of pantries and markets, and also efforts to address root causes of food insecurity. While completing his studies at SUNY WCC, Mr. Ortiz was a junior video producer for Bantam Tools producing video storytelling content for promotional and educational use.
“Studying at SUNY WCC allowed me to enhance my academic strengths while also focusing on areas where I could improve,” said Dylan Ortiz. “My education at SUNY WCC prepared me to become a versatile custodian of knowledge who was able to take on the Pulitzer Fellowship.”
“At SUNY WCC, Dylan took Film courses such as Video Editing and Documentary which helped to prepare him to plan and produce the short documentary that he’s making for his summer Pulitzer Fellowship,” said R. Jenny Evans, Chair of SUNY WCC’s Film Department. “We are grateful for the recognition by the Pulitzer Center that journalism and film studies students at SUNY WCC receive a high-quality education, and they do so at a fraction of the cost of most other colleges and universities.”
Mr. Ortiz is the second SUNY WCC to be named a Reporting Fellow in the past two years. Kyle Cristello was named a Reporting Fellow in 2021, traveling to the Dominican Republic to tell the story of the death of his friend’s grandfather, creating a portrait of grief in the time of coronavirus.
For more information on SUNY Westchester Community College’s journalism program, please visit www.sunywcc.edu/journalism.
