Ali Sullivan, a University of Virginia graduate with a bachelors degree in both Media Studies and Government, returns this week as Charlottesville Tomorrow’s first intern of 2021. Ali, a recipient of a Cavalier Daily Alumni Association scholarship, previously interned with Charlottesville Tomorrow in the summer of 2019.
“My experiences at Charlottesville Tomorrow taught me to think about the city in an entirely new way,” said Ali during an interview with the Cavalier Daily Alumni Association. “Not only did my reporting improve, but I developed a deeper understanding of Charlottesville, its history and the future it hopes to achieve.”
Ali spent her 2019 summer internship with another UVA student Norah Mulinda. “ Over the summer, Norah and I both worked on individual summer-long projects. I focused on housing choice voucher discrimination – a nationwide problem to which Charlottesville is no exception,” said Ali in an interview for UVA Today. “Throughout the summer, I had the opportunity to talk with local nonprofit leaders and those experiencing housing difficulties themselves.”
Ali, who also served as the news editor of UVA’s independent student newspaper The Cavalier Daily, was a 2020 recipient of $5,000 from the Boston Globe Foundation for her winning essay in the National Student Essay Competition. Hardball host Chris Matthews and former CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Bill Plante were among the distinguished jurists who reviewed and ranked the essays.
Ali’s paid internship with Charlottesville Tomorrow will run through early June. She plans to pursue a career in journalism.
