My memories of the Voice are too numerous to capture in a couple hundred words, unless I default to a Larry King-like, ellipses-riddled regurgitation.
Driving all night to Storrs, CT to cover a basketball game…the terror and thrill of pinning a cover story on the board for edit…debating editorials on the bridge as the sun rose…helping plan the 25th anniversary of the paper by cold-calling alumni at newsrooms around the country
It was during that last exercise that I realized there were people who’d sat in the same seats—probably literally; the furniture in 413 Leavey was…not new—who were actually making a living, and an impact, folks Brian Kelly (COL ’76) and Margaret Sullivan (COL ’79).
While I was fortunate to learn from a number of Georgetown’s best professors, John Glavin, Fr. James Walsh, and Fr. John Breslin to name a few, all of that was largely supplemental to the professional training I received from my peers at the Voice.
I learned that being a journalist grants both proximity—a Thompson press conference or a Presidential visit to Healy—and a massive responsibility. And while I’m proud of Georgetown in general, I confess to a much deeper pride when I see Voice alum producing kickass journalism.
Heather Vogell (COL ’96) helped uncover a massive cheating scandal at Atlanta’s public schools. Andrew Rice (COL ’97) at New York Magazine and elsewhere, has written some of the most incisive stories about New York real estate, including the money around a certain developer-turned-President. Also note, Rice wrote stories for the Voice back in the day that outlined the admissions influence game long before Operation Varsity Blues was a thing. There are many accomplished Voice alum, who came before and after my time at Georgetown.
Last year, I came back to D.C. for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and walked out of my company’s reception to find fellow Voice alum Michelle Jaconi (SFS ’96, GRD ’97) and Anthony Zurcher (SFS ’94). We hugged and chatted and took a moment to appreciate that it all started for us in that dingy corner office. There we were, two decades on, real live journalists, applying what we’d learned just a few miles away.
Jason Kelly (COL ’96) was Editor-in-Chief in Spring 1995
