Meet the 2024-25 Editorial Staff!
Skylar Paxton
Editor in ChiefSkylar Paxton is the Editor In Chief for the 2024-2025 school year. She is a third-year Literary Journalism major. She joined New University in the fall of 2022 as an Opinion intern. In the spring of 2024, Skylar wrote for News during the UCI Pro-Palestine Encampment. She also works for KUCI News. During her free time, she likes to listen to Beyoncé and do origami.
Jacob Ramos
Managing EditorJacob is entering his third year at both New University and UC Irvine and loves all things sports, music and cooking. He is also the main beat writer for UCI's Men's Basketball team.
Trista Lara
Managing EditorTrista is a third-year philosophy and criminology double major, and 2024-25 Managing Editor. All of which has given her the perfect opportunity to overthink just about everything, including (especially) this bio. In her free time she loves to read and heavily annotate books, bask in the sun with her cats, and illegally dabble in the teachings of the Oxford comma manifesto as an AP-style abiding citizen.
Riki Murase
Financial ManagerRiki is a first-year Applied Physics and Quantitative Economics double major. Outside of being the financial manager for the 2024-2025 school year, his interests include listening to and creating music, powerlifting, combat sports, cooking, and sci-fi novels.
Jaheem Conley
Copy ChiefJaheem Conley is the Copy Chief for the 2024–2025 school year. He joined as a Copy intern in winter 2023. Outside of NewU, Jaheem is a third-year double majoring in Political Science and Psychological Science. In his spare time, he loves listening to music and cooking. He looks forward to working with both his peers and newcomers this year.
Logan Heine
Assistant Copy EditorLogan Heine is an Assistant Copy Editor at New U. He joined the Copy team as an intern in fall 2024. He is a third year English Major and Creative Writing Minor who just transferred this year to UCI. He hopes to be able to edit not just newspapers, but books in his future. His free time is filled with gaming, listening to music, and mulling over the purposes of life (usually in a rant to someone else).
Jeanette Wallis
Assistant Copy EditorJeanette Wallis is an Assistant Copy Editor for the 2024-2025 school year. She joined New U as a copy intern in spring 2023. Outside of New U, she is a fourth-year ChemE major. In her free time, she can most likely be found doing the Wordle or trying to convince people the letter J looks better without the line across the top.
Annabelle Aguirre
Assistant Copy EditorAnnabelle Aguirre is a Copy Assistant for the 2024-2025 school year. She joined as a copy intern in fall 2023. Outside of New U, she is a third-year Korean Literature and Culture major. She also is a copy editor for a publishing house located in Laguna. In her free time she enjoys reading fiction books and spending time with her friends and family.
Mia Noergaard
Assistant Copy EditorMia Noergaard is an Assistant Copy Editor for the 2024-2025 school year. She joined New U as a copy intern in summer 2024. Outside of New U, Mia is a fourth-year Criminology, Law, & Society and Psychological Science double major. In her free time, she enjoys reading and watching baking shows with her cat.
Karen Wang
News EditorKaren Wang is a second year Public Health Sciences major and is the News Editor for the 2024-2025 school year. She previously was a City News Intern and City News Apprentice in the 2023-2024 school year. In her free time, she likes to play with her cat, watch documentaries and cook new things!
Victoria Le
Assistant News EditorVictoria Le is an Assistant News Editor for the 2024-25 academic year. She joined New University in 2023 as a City News Writer, eventually becoming a Campus News Apprentice Editor. Victoria is in her fourth year, majoring in Literary Journalism and English, and minoring in Creative Writing.
Jeralynn Querubin
Assistant News EditorJeralynn Querubin is a third-year transfer student majoring in Literary Journalism. She is a Assistant News Editor for New University. Jeralynn was a staff writer for American River College's student-run newspaper, the The Current, in 2023. She was also a fellow for the California Humanities Emerging Journalist Fellowship in Spring of 2024.
Lillian Beatrice Dunn
Arts & Entertainment Editorentertainment@newuniversity.org
Lillian Beatrice Dunn is an Arts & Entertainment Editor for New University, double majoring in literary journalism and gender & sexuality studies and minoring in creative writing. She has over 50 published pieces, including interviews with indie band Small Crush, dark-pop princess Ashley Sienna, and jewelry designer Lisa Sahakian of Ian Charms. She has freelanced for OUT FRONT Magazine and the LA Dance Chronicle and has previously held staff writer positions at Her Campus UCI and Fever Dreams Magazine.
Alaina Retodo
Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editorentertainment@newuniversity.org
Alaina Retodo is one of the Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editors for the 2024-2025 school year. Majoring in English with a minor in Film & Media Studies, this is Alaina's second year working with New U to share the latest pop-culture updates and takes on music, film, TV, and more. Fueled by their passion as a diehard SEVENTEEN fan, they are eager to continue writing about the things they love and helping other writers do the same.
Drew Askeland
Assistant Arts and Entertainment Editorentertainment@newuniversity.org
Drew Askeland is an Assistant Arts and Entertainment editor for the 2024-2025 school year. He joined New University in the summer of 2024 as an Arts and Entertainment intern. He is a fourth-year Cognitive Sciences major with a minor in Film and Media Studies.
Corinna Chin
Assistant Arts and Entertainment Editorentertainment@newuniversity.org
Corinna Chin is an assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor majoring in Literary Journalism and Social Policy and Public Service. This is her second year with New U. She enjoys covering entertainment events that allow her to explore the UCI and Irvine community.
Benjamin Flores
Sports EditorBenjamin enjoys all things storytelling, from books, verbal storytelling, and everything in between. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Benjamin was able to grow up with multiple views of the world - especially with that of his Mexican heritage. Attending UCI for his BA in Literary Journalism, Benjamin hopes to one day enter the journalism field - either in the sports reporting department, or entertainment department (while still having a focus on storytelling).
Jack Fedor
Assistant Sports EditorJack has been writing for various publications for the past six years and he has covered a variety of topics such as campus life, news, features, politics, education, community news and most recently sports. He enjoys almost all aspects of UC Irvine and has a particular interest in the athletics at UC Irvine, whether intercollegiate, club or intramural. His favorite UC Irvine game to this point has been the Men's Soccer vs UC Davis Big West Championship in 2023. You can usually find Jack on campus at a variety of events, but almost always at UC Irvine intercollegiate athletic events.
Zahira Vasquez
Opinion EditorZahira Vasquez serves as the Opinion Editor for the 2024-2025 school year. As a first-generation political science student, she plans to pursue a career in the legal field after graduation. Having been involved with the newspaper since spring 2023, Zahira looks forward to focusing on Chicano/Latinx topics in the coming year to deepen her connection to her Latinidad through writing 🙂
Isabella Ehring
Assistant Opinion EditorIsabella Ehring is the Assistant Opinion Editor for the 2024-2025 school year. She joined New U as an opinion intern in Fall 2024. She is a double major in Political Science and Literary Journalism.
Avery Huffer
Graphic Design Managergraphicdesign@newuniversity.org
Avery Huffer is a Graphic Design Manager at New University for the 2024-2025 school year, and has been with the publication since her freshman year in 2021. Her work embraces the creative aspects of the publication, and enjoys the opportunity to get more involved in the UCI community. Avery is a fourth year Criminology, Law, and Society and Psychological Sciences double major, and in her spare time she enjoys going on runs, making trips to the beach, and creating Pinterest boards for any and every occasion she comes across.
Natalie Yu
Graphic Design Managergraphicdesign@newuniversity.org
Natalie Yu is a New University Graphic Design Manager for the 2024-2025 school year. She is currently a fourth-year Art major and Digital Arts minor interested in storytelling through visuals. Since joining in spring 2023 as a Graphic Design Intern, she has created graphics for numerous New U articles – particularly interested in Arts and Entertainment topics. Outside of the publication, Natalie works as the Director at Large of Conceptual Collective Plus and a curator at the Catalyst UAG. During her free time, Natalie is an avid Splatoon 3 player and enjoys experimenting with various traditional and digital art mediums.
Sarah Millington
Photo Editor & Social Media Managerphoto@newuniversity.org publicrelations@newuniversity.org
Sarah Millington is a third year Psychological Sciences and Criminology, Law and society major. She is the New University Photo Manager and one of the Social Media Managers for the 2024-2025 school year. Sarah has a passion for media and publicity, and feels strongly about capturing photos to facilitate journalism. She is also an avid writer and loves all things creative so she is especially excited to continue working with New University in a leadership role. In her personal time, she loves spending time with her cat, Bambi and baking sweet treats!
Kaelyn Kwon
Features EditorCurrently studying public health sciences at UC Irvine, Kaelyn graduated from Troy High School, Fullerton, where she first learned about journalism as a news writer and editor for the school’s newspaper. In summer 2024, Kaelyn joined New University’s editorial staff as an assistant news editor. When she isn’t editing, Kaelyn enjoys reading fantasy novels and webtoons.
Alyssa Villagonzalo
Assistant Features EditorAlyssa is a third year English major with minors in Humanities and Law, Literary Journalism, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In addition to being Assistant Features Editor, she also works as a Features Staff Writer. Since joining New University as an intern in the fall of 2024, she has found a passion for journalism which she had never known existed. When she isn't writing or editing, Alyssa enjoys listening to R&B and pop artists SZA, Daniel Caesar, and Dominic Fike.
Diana Juarez
Video ManagerDiana is a first-generation transfer student and fifth-year Literary Journalism and Film and Media Studies double major with a love for storytelling. On top of being Video Editor at New University she is also an audio intern with KUCI News where she hosts the KUCI News podcast. While at community college Diana held various editorial positions for the student run print and digital newspaper as well as the summer magazine. When she isn’t working on assignments Diana enjoys hanging out and cooking with friends.
Sarah Murdaah
Assistant Video ManagerSarah is a second year political science major with a minor in literary journalism. She also has a passion for filmmaking and broadcast journalism and has been involved in video production since high school. During her time in the newspaper, she has focused on covering cultural events and fostering diversity on campus through a creative visual format. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with friends, hiking and going to the beach.
Deanna Palafox
Assistant Video ManagerDiana is a first-generation transfer student and fifth-year Literary Journalism and Film and Media Studies double major with a love for storytelling. On top of being Video Editor at New University she is also an audio intern with KUCI News where she hosts the KUCI News podcast. While at community college Diana held various editorial positions for the student run print and digital newspaper as well as the summer magazine. When she isn’t working on assignments Diana enjoys hanging out and cooking with friends.
Privacy Disclaimer
After submitting content for publication in the New University, in print or online, contributors relinquish the right to remove or alter contributions as they appear in publication. Contributors also give their ownership rights to the New University.
Site Usage and Copyright
All articles, staff photos and other content on our website are copyrighted by the New University. By viewing our website, you agree not to reproduce or republish our content without express written permission.
Editorial Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by the New University or UC Regents.