PRINCETON, N.J. – The Dow Jones News Fund (DNJF) is proud to announce this year’s O’Toole Family Foundation fellows, three college students awarded free training and paid internships in Philadelphia-area newsrooms, thanks to the foundation’s support.
The 2026 recipients will work as interns this summer at nonprofit news organizations VoteBeat, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, and Next City. The O’Toole Family Foundation was founded by Terry O’Toole, a DJNF summer program alumnus, and his wife Polly. Terry was a News Fund intern in 1979 after his junior year at Villanova University, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Villanovan. He attended the tough copy editing bootcamp at Temple University under the direction of the legendary Dr. Edward Trayes, followed by a summer in the Wall Street Journal newsroom. Although he ultimately made his mark in finance, he never forgot the News Fund and its mission to train the next generation of journalists.
Terry is now the founder and managing member of Macanta Investments. Through his family foundation, he provided a scholarship in Trayes’ name for one DJNF editing intern each year for over two decades. In 2025, the foundation, in partnership with the News Fund, created the fellowship to support local journalism through paid internships. The 2026 grant provides funding for three students to attend News Fund training and work for 10 weeks during the summer.
“We’re very excited to continue this collaboration with the DJNF,” said Terry. “The program is designed to provide students with real local newsroom experience, and offers the nonprofit news organizations additional reporting capabilities at a time when strengthening local news is more critical than ever.”
The 2026 O’Toole Family Foundation Fellows and their newsrooms are:
- Emily Scolnick, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, who will attend business reporter training at American University before interning at the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
- Samantha Olander, a senior at Syracuse University, who will attend multiplatform editor training at the University of Texas at Austin before interning at VoteBeat.
- Sydney-Leigh Brockington, a senior at Syracuse University, who will train in audience engagement at Temple University before interning at Next City.
About the O’Toole Family Foundation:
Founded in 1993, The O’Toole Family Foundation is a national non-profit organization co-chaired by Terry and Polly O’Toole. Grants are made to non-profit organizations focusing on education, health, hunger and food scarcity, and building better communities through the arts, athletics, and media. Since its inception, the Foundation and its affiliates have made grants to more than 200 non-profit organizations. For more information, please visit: https://otoolefoundation.org.
