Michael Novinson - Summer 2009

Michael NovinsonMy friends and family often complain that I excessively play the devil’s advocate, questioning assumptions and opinions that they’ve taken to be conventional wisdom. Although it might get on their nerves, I have found the perfect venue to unleash my skepticism on the world – journalism.

I have been interested in the profession for as long as I remember and have found my limited time in the media to be an effective means for quenching my insatiable curiosity regarding the world around me. I have questioned school administrators and public officials, written profiles on professional triathletes and Elvis impersonators and covered everything from human rights for Baha’is in Egypt to the rodeo.  

I was born and raised in Farmington Hills, Mich., and am a rising senior at Haverford College just outside of Philadelphia. I am majoring in political science and minoring in education. I have sold my soul to The Bi-College News, my campus newspaper, where I worked as news editor for two years and will be managing editor in the fall. I have previously worked as a metro and sports intern at The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind., and general assignment intern at The Dalles Chronicle, in a small town in Oregon along the Columbia River.

After I graduate, I plan to spend a couple of years in Palestine learning Arabic and working as a foreign correspondent. I hope my words and my work will shine light on a region of the world that is all too often underreported and misunderstood. In time, I would like my tenacity and willingness to ask the tough question to change the world, or at least my small piece of it.   

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