News & Media Fellows

Rhea Chesson is a junior at William & Mary from Chesapeake, Virginia. She currently majors in Sociology with a concentration in Social Problems, Policy and Justice. In addition to her major, she holds a strong academic interest in media studies and has taken various courses and conducted guided research on the topic to cultivate her own related focus pertaining to digital culture. Outside of her academics, Rhea devotes much of her time to ROCKET Magazine, William & Mary’s premier fashion, art, and photography publication, where she holds the executive position of Fashion Director. Through her diligent work with this organization, she finds that she is able to combine both her career and academic interests by communicating socially relevant stories through collaborative methods of content creation. During her time in the News and Media Institute, Rhea is excited to continue exploring the nuanced intersections of these fields while enjoying all that DC has to offer.

Ireland Degges is a sophomore from Vienna, Virginia, pursuing a career in journalism. She is majoring in her self-designed Communications major with a minor in Psychology. On campus, she is an active member of the Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Society. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing and art. Ireland is excited to gain real-world experience and develop her writing skills through the DC Summer Institutes program.

Will Larroca is a junior from Arlington, Virginia majoring in both English and Film & Media Studies. He participates in clubs such as Students Demand Action, a group that advocates for gun sense legislation, and Campus Kitchen, who prepare and deliver meals to food insecure residents of Williamsburg. On top of this, he has performed musical sets at two AMP Homebrew events and recently participated in the Youth Filmmaking Institute, where he mentored young middle to high school aged students in creating their very own short films. On his free time, he likes to write scripts, practice guitar, and direct short comedic films and music videos. This summer Will hopes to apply the skills he has learned inside and out of the classroom and gain real world experience in the realm of media studies and production.

Harper Tang is a sophomore from Ningbo, China majoring in government and minoring in economics. With a concentration in Comparative Politics and American judicial study in the former and a focus on public policy in the latter, the News & Media Institute will serve as a unique platform for studying her academic interests through a journalism perspective. Harper is a member of AidData Research Lab on campus, where she studies Chinese government finance projects in developing countries. She is also a Guest Writer of The Flat Hat, regularly writing for the news section and the opinions section and covering stories of international students. Outside of college, Harper also founded a WeChat Platform blog called Spotlight, which shares Chinese students’ campus life and academics life at William & Mary. In her spare time, she sings K-pop, watches theatres and musicals, and travels around the world. Harper is excited to explore Washington, D.C. as a News and Media fellow and to discover media’s role in the current political polarization within the U.S. She is also now applying for her American citizenship, so the 2020 election year is exciting for her to learn about the relation between media and individual electorate engagement at the national level and in their localities.