MARISSA AIVAZIS is a rising senior at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California and has been admitted to the progressive MA in Communication Management. Invited into the Honors Senior Thesis program, she will focus on the effects of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics on city residents, particularly underrepresented groups, and the City of Los Angeles’ responsibility to mitigate these effects and serve as a resource. She is preparing to apply to the USC Gould School of Law to complete a JD in communication law. Marissa has interned with the Greek Consulate in Los Angeles and is a member of USC Hellenic Student Association. A Pasadena, CA native, she lives between Los Angeles and Athens, Greece with her younger sister and parents, Vassilis Aivazis and Christina Bogdanou, who immigrated to the US in the early 1990s.

EPHEMIA NICOLAKIS is a rising junior in Quinnipiac University’s accelerated dual degree BA and MA program. She manages social media accounts for the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival and soon for the St. Nicholas National Shrine. Ephemia runs her own photography business specializing in senior portraits and events, which evolved from volunteering at her parish events at St. Barbara Church in Orange, CT. She recently earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouts, creating a sustainability guide to raise awareness and help “green” Orthodox parishes around the United States. An Orthodox Christian Fellowship member, Ephemia is the daughter of Theodore and Clio Nicolakis of Woodbridge, CT.

TIA ROTOLO recently graduated cum laude from New York University with a BA in Global Liberal Studies and Journalism, and a minor in French. She plans to continue her education in journalism. Her work has been published in Taste, and she has held internships at Galerie Art’ et Miss (Paris), Purpose and Perspective (NY), and Girlie Action Media and Marketing (NY). Most curious about stories at the intersection of food and culture, she recently completed her undergraduate thesis, “A Seat at the Table: Artistic Depictions of the Dinner Table and the Semiotic Implications of the Consumer.” Her Journalism Capstone was a work of literary journalism on Greek-owned diners in New York City. She is awaiting word on an editorial fellowship with the online travel publication Gastro Obscura. Tia is the daughter of two restaurateurs, Michael Rotolo of Los Angeles and Dina Axotis of Wilmette, IL, who she credits with inspiring her adoration for food journalism.

THEODORE CANTER is a rising junior at Oberlin College majoring in media and history, with minors in comparative literature and religion. A creative storyteller through audio and written journalism, he has published in Tablet Magazine (New York) La Revue-K (Paris), Culture.PL (Warsaw) and hosts podcasts, including a weekly Greek music podcast on college radio. He speaks six languages with which he has reported from the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. A musician, Theo played guitar and bouzouki in a Greek fusion Grateful Dead cover band, Pericles and the American Beauties, and recently participated in a multimedia artist symposium at the Onassis Center in Athens, where his grandfather lives. He hopes to pursue a career conveying stories through film, music, and art. Theo is the son of Jonathan Canter of Queens, NY, and Tajlei Levis of Manchester, VT.

NATALIE PSYHOGEOS is a rising senior at Villanova University pursuing a BA in communication, concentrating in journalism, with minors is psychology and economics. She is the recipient of a United Nations WFI Journalism Internship in Rome, Italy, which was cancelled due to Covid; is a contributing writer for The Villanovan, and president of the Villanova Model United Nations. Continuing her family’s commitment to serving her community, she holds leadership positions on Villanova’s Special Olympics Committee and Kappa Kappa Gamma, and volunteers with Habitat for Humanity. Passionate about her Greek heritage, she is a member of the Villanova Hellenic Student Association. Natalie is the daughter of Nicholas and Michelle Psyhogeos of Cambridge, MA.

MARIA WILSON is a rising senior at Endicott College studying digital journalism. She is a multimedia journalist for The Pappas Post, including producing a new series, Inside the Artist’s Studio, which featured artists from around the world. She has interned with LexMedia, where she produced original television programming and with Bedford MA TV, as a fill-in anchor for the weekly news and creating promotional videos for the station. She is an anchor on Endicott College’s weekly news program, president of the Film Club, secretary of Lambda Pi Eta, and a member of its Scholars Program and the Society of Professional Journalists. She is currently interning with WCVB-TV Channel 5 in Boston. Her parents are Michael and Stephanie Wilson of Bedford, MA.