2026 Staff

Gracie Szablewski
Editorial Office Manager
Gracie Szablewski is excited to be joining The Chautauquan Daily staff this season as the editorial office manager. As a native of Westfield, New York, she has spent many summers visiting the grounds and is thrilled to be part of the Daily team this season. She is an alumna of Edinboro University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and culture with a minor in journalism. Outside of work, Gracie enjoys crafting and collecting physical media, particularly vinyl records and old books. She hopes to one day pursue a career in archival and preservation work and looks forward to further developing her writing and organizational skills while serving the Chautauqua community this summer.

Dave Munch
Interim Managing Editor
Dave Munch will be stepping into the role of interim managing editor at The Chautauquan Daily this season, his 11th at Chautauqua. Dave previously served as the Daily’s photo editor. Outside the summer season, Dave works in the marketing department as Chautauqua’s multimedia manager. Prior to his arrival at Chautauqua, Dave worked as a staff photojournalist for the Baltimore Sun Media Group and the Erie Times-News. His work has received local and national recognition and has been featured in publications across the country. Dave lives in Jamestown with his partner and enjoys tending to an increasingly large vegetable garden when the temperature is above freezing.

Julia Weber
Assistant Editor
Julia Weber is assistant editor of The Chautauquan Daily and a three-time alumna of the paper, having previously reported on Chautauqua Theater Company, Chautauqua Visual Arts and Chautauqua’s School of Dance. She is a graduate of Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in journalism, and of its Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts, where she earned her Master of Arts in arts administration. When she isn’t working on the paper, Julia enjoys listening to music, making ceramics and spending time with her cat, Griffin.

Faith Siegel
Copy Editor
Faith Siegel is from New Boston, Michigan, and recently graduated summa cum laude from Pepperdine University with a Bachelor of Arts in English writing and rhetoric. Building on her years of experience at the Pepperdine Graphic and an internship at the Los Angeles Review of Books, she is elated to spend her summer working as The Chautauquan Daily’s copy editor. When she isn’t being an AP style stickler, you can find her enjoying live music, cheering for the Detroit Tigers, researching cryptids and linguistics, exploring the outdoors, using Oxford commas and generally having a great time. She looks forward to meeting a variety of Chautauquans, having meaningful conversations and learning all she can. 

Samantha Jankowski
Design Editor
Samantha Jankowski is a designer from Buffalo, New York. She is a rising senior at Rochester Institute of Technology, where she has a major in graphic design and a minor in photography. It is her first summer at Chautauqua Institution, where she is a designer for The Chautauquan Daily, and she looks forward to learning about the life and culture of Chautauqua while gaining new design experience. In her (very rare) free time, she enjoys drawing, reading and listening to ABBA. Her favorite ABBA song is Fernando. 

Laura Quisenberry
Design Editor
Laura Quisenberry recently graduated from Houghton University with majors in mathematics and applied design & visual communication. She is from nearby Westfield, New York, and this is her third year working as a design editor for The Chautauquan Daily. When she has free time, you can find her somewhere reading a fiction book, listening to music or (re)watching “Pride & Prejudice” (2005). She hopes to travel the world someday and scrapbook her adventures along the way.

Ben Stavnezer
Design Editor
Ben Stavnezer is from Wooster, Ohio, and is thrilled to be a part of The Chautauquan Daily staff for his first summer at Chautauqua. He is entering his senior year at Allegheny College as a communication and media studies major with a creative writing minor. He is excited to develop his visual design skills this summer. Ben is the co-editor-in-chief of Allegheny’s student newspaper, The Campus, which also celebrated its 150th year of publication, and is also a senior editor of The Allegheny Review literary journal. When he isn’t rummaging through InDesign’s endless menus, you’ll find him crafting mountains of pottery, cooking and baking, hiking the forests of the Midwest or relaxing outside with a good book and warm cup of tea. 

Skylar Seavey
Staff Photographer
Skylar Seavey is a Kentucky native raised in the Bluegrass region, nestled between a growing urban city scene and rolling horse farms. Currently, Skylar is a rising senior at Ohio University, studying photojournalism with minors in commercial photography and history. At OU, she is the photo director of Backdrop magazine as well as a freelance photographer for the university’s Communications and Marketing department. This summer, Skylar will be a staff photographer at The Chautauquan Daily and is ecstatic to explore and capture the culture of Chautauqua Institution. When she’s not covering photo stories and wielding a camera, you can find Skylar playing cards and the daily sudoku, taking long walks or visiting the horse farms in her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky.

Sam Huffman
Staff Photographer
Sam Huffman is a visual journalist born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a photo intern for The Chautauquan Daily’s 2026 Summer Season and is a current senior visual journalism and photography major at Western Kentucky University. He is interested in a variety of topics, including community stories, art and culture, politics and human rights. He is always seeking new experiences and opportunities to document everyday people and to share their stories with the wider public. As a current staff photographer for WKU’s College Heights Herald, he has been lead to political protests, demolition derbies, Kentucky Supreme Court hearings and even the second inauguration of President Donald J. Trump. When he is not on the streets taking photos, you can find him out reading in the park, taking long evening walks, listening to CDs in his car or sorting through his never-ending watchlist of Hong Kong action movies. If you manage to track him down, feel free to give him some movie recommendations and talk his ear off on any topics you are passionate about, for he is always eager to learn new things. 

Gabriel Milby
Staff Photographer
Gabriel Milby is a photojournalist from Louisville, Kentucky, and is going into his senior year at  Western Kentucky University. This is Gabriel’s first summer at The Chautauquan Daily as a photo intern. While at WKU, Gabriel does photojournalism for both WKU’s College Heights Herald and WKU’s Talisman magazine. Gabriel loves to find unique and interesting communities that people may not know much about and give those communities a voice to share  their different perspectives on life. If you don’t see him with his camera, Gabriel is most likely rock climbing or trying new foods.

Guinevere MacLowry
Multimedia Journalist
Guinevere MacLowry is a photographer, videographer, journalist and multimedia artist from Chicago, Illinois. She recently graduated magna cum laude from The George Washington University with two degrees in photojournalism and journalism. She served as the communication and outreach intern at Planet Forward, an environmental journalism platform, where she designed merchandise, wrote newsletters, produced videos and edited stories. She also served as the publicist for her a cappella group, the GW Sirens. This summer, she is serving as Planet Forward’s multimedia climate reporting fellow in conjunction with The Chautauquan Daily. When she’s not behind a camera, you can find her singing, dancing, crafting and exploring the great outdoors whenever possible. 

Cody Englander
Staff Writer
Cody Englander is from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and is spending his second summer at The Chautauquan Daily. He is a recent graduate of Ohio University with a Bachelor of Science in journalism and Bachelor of Science in communication. When he isn’t writing about the School of Music, he can be found on a run or indulging in his favorite movies: “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps” and “Ikiru” (1952).

Arianna Nevarez
Staff Writer
Arianna Nevarez is from San Antonio, Texas, and is spending her first summer in Chautauqua covering the lecture series. She is a rising junior studying journalism at The University of Texas at Austin and has been part of the event world since her freshman year, starting at The Texas Tribune as an events fellow. Arianna writes for her student paper, The Daily Texan, where she focuses on politics, and recently discovered an interest in business journalism through a Bloomberg Summer program this May. When she’s not reporting, Arianna loves to read, watch sports and go to concerts.

Jenna Outcalt
Staff Writer
Jenna Outcalt is a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and minors in environmental studies and sociology. She was a staff writer and the news editor at The Daily Campus. During college, Jenna reported on issues such as offshore wind energy and fighting food insecurity. She will be covering climate and the environment at Chautauqua Institution. She is also a correspondent for Planet Forward, an environmental journalism forum hosted by The George Washington University. Jenna lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where she enjoys nature walks, podcasts and attempting to play volleyball.

Jenell Taylor
Staff Writer
Jenell Taylor is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and will be entering her senior year at Ohio University where she will serve as managing editor of the All-Campus Radio Network in the fall. She is majoring in journalism with a minor in screenwriting in hopes to carry her passion for writing into her career. As the Youth & Family and Chautauqua Visual Arts reporter for The Chautauquan Daily, she is excited to have meaningful conversations with interesting people and to immerse herself in the rich artistic and community-driven culture of Chautauqua. In her time here, along with writing for her beat, she plans to explore the region and experience the joy of becoming a Chautauquan. Jenell enjoys live music, good books, horror movies and the sweet company of her lovely cats, Gary and Autumn. 

Rocco Prioletti
Staff Writer
Rocco Prioletti is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and is spending his first summer in Chautauqua. He recently graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in journalism. He is a reporter covering Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and Chautauqua Chamber Music. When he’s not writing for The Chautauquan Daily, Rocco enjoys playing the guitar and drums.

Nora Smith
Staff Writer
Nora Smith is from Plaistow, New Hampshire, and is excited to cover Chautauqua Literary Arts and Dance for The Chautauquan Daily this season. She recently graduated from Coastal Carolina University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in journalism, where she worked as the culture editor and most recently the managing print editor for her university’s newspaper, The Chanticleer. In addition to journalism, she has several publications in literary magazines, including poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction in both on and off campus publications. Having danced for 14 years of her life — yet not in recent years — she is thankful to have a summer immersed in the art she’s missed so dearly, in addition to literary arts. She is currently in the works of a novel and in her free time enjoys finding a sunny bench outside to do some reading or writing. She also adores any and all dogs and will always stop to say hi to those furry friends walking around Chautauqua this summer. 

Sophia Rooksberry
Staff Writer
Sophia Rooksberry is a recent graduate of the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism with minors in German and music, as well as a certificate in museum studies. This summer, she will be reporting on Chautauqua Theater Company for The Chautauquan Daily. Her past work has been published by The Post (Athens, Ohio), Cincinnati CityBeat (Cincinnati, Ohio), Den of Geek (New York, New York), Wild Side Media (Washington, D.C.) and the Athens County Independent (Athens, Ohio). In the fall, she will be moving to Innsbruck, Austria, for the Fulbright Austria US Teaching Assistantship program. 

Mary Lee Talbot
Staff Writer
Mary Lee Talbot writes the preview and recap for morning worship and the preview for the Sacred Song service. She is a Presbyterian minister and a life-long Chautauquan. She is the author of Chautauqua’s Heart and 100 Years of Beauty. A year-round resident of Chautauqua, she lives with her dog Sammi, a Stabyhoun.

Lily Reslink
Staff Writer
Lily Reslink is an intellectually-curious, professionally-driven hippie child dedicated to journalism, community building and environmental communication. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, she has trudged and stumbled through 22 years of life. She recently graduated from Virginia Wesleyan University (to be Batten University July 1, 2026) and concluded a collegiate journalism career as editor-in-chief of The Marlin Chronicle. This summer, she is covering the Religion beat. As a researcher of overconsumption and individualistic thinking, Lily sees connected and informed communities like Chautauqua Institution as advantageous to the well-being of people and the planet.

Layla Vinson
Staff Writer
Layla Vinson is a rising senior at Ohio University majoring in journalism and English – creative writing. During her time at Ohio University, she enjoys writing for the on-campus paper, The Post, and has done some copy editing for the Athena yearbook. Layla thoroughly enjoys any format of journalism in which she can immerse herself within tightly-knit communities and give a voice to those passionate about their area of interest. She will be covering the Chautauqua Opera Company and Conservatory through the season, alongside varying lectures — both of which are great sources of excitement. In her free time, Layla enjoys hiking, reading, creative writing and waterskiing.

Deborah Trefts
Staff Writer
Deb Trefts is a policy scientist with extensive United States, Canadian and additional international experience in conservation. She focuses on the resolution of ocean and freshwater-related challenges and the art and science of deciphering and developing public policy at all levels from global to local.

Patricia Beagle
Contributing Writer
Patricia Beagle has been a Chautauquan since 1980 and feels privileged to write about Chautauquans making exceptional contributions to improve Chautauqua. A retired senior vice president of human resources, Trish enjoys travel, skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, kayaking, needlework, quilting, tatting, volunteering and playing the piano. An active member of the Holiday Valley Ski Patrol, she has been a ski patroller for 48 years. Trish has traveled to more than 100 countries, and Chautauqua remains her favorite place.