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Nobody understands young voters the way other young people do. So for the 2024 election cycle, Teen Vogue has recruited a team of student-journalist correspondents to report on how their peers are navigating this messy political landscape. Our seven-person team — chosen from nearly 200 applicants — represents seven of the key states that will determine the presidency and control of Congress: Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Throughout this election year, Teen Vogue’s election correspondents will cover a wide range of subjects including on-campus organizing, the struggle for abortion access, and voter-suppression measures that target young people. These students and recent graduates will be tracking important local races and sharing what young people are saying about the presidential candidates. Join us for an on-the-ground look about what matters most to Gen Z as we head into the 2024 campaigns and beyond.
Meet our team of correspondents below.
Sarah Akaaboune, Michigan
2024 graduate from University of Michigan, starting a graduate degree in science writing at MIT
Teen Vogue: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
SA: I studied English and neuroscience at the University of Michigan. I worked for my student-run newspaper, The Michigan Daily, over the course of the last three years as an editor and writer. I'm interested in this project because narrative-driven stories are one of the most profound ways to give people back their voices. More importantly, these narratives underscore the way we think, the way we feel, the way we love, and ultimately, the people we choose to lead us.
TV: What are you looking forward to covering during this election cycle?
SA: I'm most excited to cover how traumatic events and the way we choose to recover from them impact voter choices and turnout in the communities of color I call home, particularly within the parameters that define the social determinants of health and wellness.
TV: What's your sign?
SA: Taurus sun, Scorpio rising, and Cancer moon.
Tori Gantz, Arizona
December 2023 graduate from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix
TV: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
TG: At the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, I wrote for a student newspaper, The Arizona State Press, and various local publications. I've had internships that focus on political writing at all levels of government, including city, state, and national legislatures, fact-checking and digital production. I've been involved in rigorous courses on houselessness reporting in the Valley, a Google News Initiative-funded media literacy research project, and a national investigative news program called News21.
I want to sharpen my skills in writing about politics, identity, and education. Exercising this practice, through the lens of young people statewide, allows me to become a better cultural critic and to focus on how movements are taking shape in a hyper-polarized political climate. I believe working as a Teen Vogue 2024 election correspondent will help me promote to people in Arizona a comprehensive package of the current political problems or progress, clarify democratic threats, and make mobilization in the state approachable.
TV: What are you looking forward to covering during this election cycle?
TG: I will be looking out for bills that propose new restrictions on voting rights and ballot initiatives, such as expanding abortion access or other reproductive justice protections, and congressional candidates' on-campus meetings with student organizations to promote their campaigns.
I wonder how existing state issues, for example, policies to expand state open-carry laws to college campuses and the Legislature's over-policing of LBGTQ+ people, will ruminate with the current Arizona politicos. I am curious about how young people will turn out for new congressional candidates after years of protesting Kyrsten Sinema for liberal hypocrisy, lobby on behalf of the presidential nominees, or signal early support for a new city mayor.
TV: What's your sign?
TG: I am a Pisces!
Jane Houseal, Wisconsin
2024 graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in journalism and certificate in gender and women’s studies
TV: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
JH: I have covered a variety of topics on and off the UW campus, including local politics, campus culture, and the arts. I served as a fellow at the UW Center for Journalism Ethics and the outreach coordinator for Sex Out Loud, UW-Madison’s peer-to-peer sexual health resource. I've also interned at Isthmus, Madison’s independent, local-news source, and served as an editor of a campus-life and -style magazine.
TV: What are you looking forward to covering during this election cycle?
JH: I want to discover the core issues motivating voters by examining various get-out-the-vote initiatives. I also look forward to seeing how youth activism on and off Wisconsin campus impacts the elections.
TV: What's your sign?
JH: Aquarius.
Samuel Larreal, Florida
2024 graduate from Florida International University, who is now working as a political reporter at NOTUS
Correspondent tenure: January-September 2024
TV: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
SL: I'm a multimedia journalism student reporting on politics, immigration, misinformation, and the rise of authoritarianism. I grew up in Venezuela and fled to Miami during my freshman year of college. Since I got to the States, I've had the pleasure to learn from amazing people at my school's student media, NBC Washington, Telemundo, and The Miami Herald.
TV: What are you looking forward to covering during this election cycle?
SL: I'm especially eager to explore how Hispanic and Latin communities might influence the outcome of this election. As an immigrant and a Spanish speaker, I want to help people better understand the complexity, multiplicity, and richness of our communities' political sensibilities.
TV: What's your sign?
SL: I'm a Virgo.
Caroline Val, Florida
2024 graduate of the University of Miami and associate producer at WPLG
Correspondent tenure: September-December 2024
TV: What's your background in journalism?
CV: I'm a recent graduate of the University of Miami, earning my bachelor's degree in journalism with minors in political science and French. During my time at UM, I served as the co-news editor and first-ever podcast editor for our college paper, The Miami Hurricane, where I've spoken with a variety of important local and national politicians and figures. Having also originally started my career at Barnard College of Columbia University, I first found my love for journalism working at the Columbia Daily Spectator during the pandemic. I'm now working as a freelance contributor for the Miami New Times, as well as an associate producer for the local ABC news affiliate in Miami.
I'm incredibly honored to be given the opportunity to expand my journalistic endeavors by working as the Florida 2024 election correspondent for Teen Vogue. Florida is such a microcosm in terms of issues that are directly being discussed on a national level, and even though it can be a tough state to cover with all its nuances, I feel I'm more than ready for the challenge.
TV: What are you most excited to cover?
CV: Throughout my journalism career, I've been especially interested in covering issues that directly affect the Latino community, immigration, women, and low-income families/individuals. As a young Cuban-American woman, I feel these are all areas that not only concern me as a human being, but as someone who wants to get a better understanding of policies that could have the most impact in Florida. Plus, as someone who's always been interested in the field of politics, I'm extremely excited to get deep into unpacking what could possibly be the biggest election in our lifetime.
TV: What's your sign?
CV: I'm a Leo!
Lydia McFarlane, Pennsylvania
2024 graduate of Villanova University, who is now working as a multimedia healthcare reporter for WVIA News
Correspondent tenure: January-September 2024
TV: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
LM: Throughout my time at Villanova, I was very involved with the University’s student-run newspaper, The Villanovan, first as a staff writer and then as a co-news editor. I have had several journalism internships, with organizations like Resolve Philadelphia, Education Week, and The Hill.
I am so excited to be Teen Vogue’s 2024 election correspondent for my home state of Pennsylvania, because I love to speak and write about politics, especially to young people and marginalized groups. Politics can seem confusing and scary, but I want to help empower Teen Vogue’s young audience to vote with conviction and knowledge — and help them understand the power of their civic duty.
TV: What are you looking forward to covering during this election cycle?
LM: I am excited to cover campaigning in Pennsylvania. How will Democrats and Republicans campaign accordingly after John Fetterman’s success with campaigning to rural Pennsylvanians? I am also looking forward to covering the candidate stances on key issues such as education, abortion, and immigration, and the role of young people in influencing the results of elections.
TV: What's your sign?
LM: Virgo sun, Pisces moon, Aquarius rising.
Emmanuella Agyemang, Pennsylvania
Junior at Lehigh University pursuing a double major in Journalism and Africana studies
Correspondent tenure: September-December 2024
TV: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
EA: I'm the daughter of two hardworking Ghanaian immigrant parents and a Bronx native. I plan to pursue a career in investigative journalism. I currently serve as the Editorial Editor of The Brown and White, Lehigh’s student newspaper, overseeing and writing the production of insightful opinion editorial pieces. Additionally, I am an active member of the Lehigh University Journalism DEI Committee, and this past summer year, I had the honor of being the first American City Business Journals/Dow Jones News Fund Intern at the New York Business Journal covering business journalism in New York City.
I understand the importance of news journalism and believe that it is a privilege to be the one to report on matters such as these. In a time when journalism plays such a crucial role in informing the public, my deep interest in being a Teen Vogue correspondent stemmed from my desire to write compelling stories that spark positive change, particularly focusing on the narratives of Black voices on my campus.
TV: What are you looking forward to covering during this election cycle?
I am particularly interested in keeping an eye on how the Black students on campus feel about the election cycles as well as seeing what barriers they face when engaging in the political process. Understanding different perspectives can reveal so many insights into the unique challenges Black students encounter, both in terms of representation and accessibility.
Toni Odejimi, Georgia
Junior journalism student at Georgia State University
TV: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
TO: Politics has always been one of my passions, and I pursued political coverage at my first internship, The Atlanta Voice, my student newspaper, The Signal, and as a Georgia correspondent for the Senate races for Howard University. I also covered education with a political focus at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and interned on the health desk at Politico this summer.
TV: What are you looking forward to covering in this election cycle?
TO: The 2024 presidential race is shaping up to be a poignant one for American history. I am extremely excited to see how Trump’s indictment in Fulton County plays a role in how the race will shape up. The Georgia GOP is one to watch.
TV: What's your sign?
TO: Virgo.
Lizzie Ramirez, Nevada
Graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno
TV: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
LR: In my time as a student journalist at the University of Nevada, Reno, I was the news editor at The Nevada Sagebrush, a student-run newspaper on campus. Additionally, I participated in the Public Relations Student Society of American Bateman competition. In this competition, my group and I ran a campaign for the News Literacy Project and educated people on how to become news literate and how to spot fake news in the media.
I'm now in my first year of grad school, studying crisis communications.
I am so excited to continue my journalism career and to be working for Teen Vogue! I thoroughly enjoy interviewing people and covering political topics — they were always my favorite stories to cover as a news editor — and I can’t wait to continue it for the 2024 presidential election.
TV: What are you looking forward to covering during this election cycle?
LR: Seeing how university students respond to the political climate. We have an app on campus called YikYak, and during elections, students always post controversial debates regarding the candidates and what they believe in for the matter. [Being from] a battleground state, I am expecting students to be very open to conversation on explaining why they believe what they believe.
TV: What's your sign?
LR: I am a Sagittarius!
