Dreaming of journalism
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on May 31, 2018 5:50 AM
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Alexandra "Ali" DeFazio speaks during graduation at the University of San Francisco.
Full SizeA military dependent with Goldsboro ties was recently chosen as student speaker for her graduating class at the University of San Francisco.
Alexandra "Ali" DeFazio was named valedictorian of the College of Arts and sciences, the largest program at USF, officials said.
She formerly lived in Goldsboro while her father was stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, attending Tommy's Road Elementary and St. Mary schools.
"I grew up all over the place," she said. "My dad was in the Air Force, which meant moving every three or so years to places like England and South Korea.
"My heart is in two places, though -- North Carolina, where my grandparents live, and Brussels, Belgium, where I've lived since eighth grade and my family still lives."
Her parents are Alex and Leigh DeFazio, and her grandparents, Tim and Pam Chatagnier, still live here.
"My grandparents were also stationed at SJAFB. After he retired, he taught at Eastern Wayne Middle School, coached basketball and football, and Pam coached cheerleading and track and taught sixth grade math and science at EW Middle School," she said."That's why Goldsboro is really home, because not only did I go back there every summer but I lived there for a while, too."
The most memorable thing about Goldsboro, she said, is what a small and close-knit community it was.
Moving around from base to base can be challenging, she said, but Goldsboro proved to be the exception. Living here from third through eighth grades, she said she still keeps in touch with some friends from middle school.
Most importantly, though, was the connection she was able to have with her grandparents.
"Being an Air Force brat, to be able to live in the same town as your Nana and Papa, that never happens," she said. "It was really special."
During her time at USF, where she studied journalism and political science, she amassed an impressive resume that included spending a semester in Washington, D.C., as part of the McCarthy Center's USF in DC program, interning at the Brookings Institution, D.C.'s top think tank. She also took a class in the Washington Post newsroom with its non-fiction book critic, and did an internship in Sen. Dianne Feinstein's constituent service office.
But the accomplishment of which she was most proud was being editor of the college newspaper, The Foghorn.
She said the experience afforded her the opportunity to listen to her classmates and represent their voices.
"We published hard-hitting stories like the Market Cafe's subpar health score," she said. "We published profiles on inspiring students, like Antonio Reza, a former felon who received a full-ride scholarship at USF. We increased our social media followers by 19 percent and really got the USF community talking about stories we published.
"I'm also proud of starting the podcast Trump 101 with three other dear friends. It was really important for us to show how Trump's policies are affecting the people they go to class with."
Her plan is to attend University of California Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism in the fall, she says, with aspirations of becoming an investigative journalist.
The goal is steeped in the tradition of service to this country she witnessed growing up.
"My whole life I've seen my dad dedicate his life to service and everyone around me, their lives were dedicated to serving our country," she said. "To me, journalism is the same thing as that-- it's serving people, it is a job for other people, a good journalist operates as holding people accountable, people who are powerful, whether it's politicians or CEOs or anyone who is supposed to have trust of the people.
"If I can do anything to make sure that that service, that what these people in leadership are doing is actually for the people it's committed to, my life would feel fulfilled or feel worth it."