The following article was published on February 4, 2021, via the Las Cruces Bulletin (lascrucesbulletin.com). It was reprinted with permission from Richard Coltharp, the Publisher of the Las Cruces Bulletin. The article highlights Gamma Nu/New Mexico State Colony member Xavier Dominguez.

Bulletin report

PBS Newshour Student Reporting Labs (SRL) have named New Mexico State University student Xavier Dominguez as one of 20 under 20 storytellers of the year.

Students chosen for the honor produced poignant video pieces in 2020, and many hope to go into journalism-related careers, PBS said in an email.

Dominguez, 19, is a freshman at NMSU studying journalism and mass communications. He is a 2020 Gwen Ifill Legacy Fellow who began working with KRWG during his sophomore year of high school. He is a graduate of Las Cruces High.

Dominguez’s work with SRL inspired him to continue with journalism in college, PBS said. As a Gwen Ifill Fellow, he produced a piece for KRWG on the rising unemployment rates in New Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dominguez also was chosen as a 2019 SRL journalist of the year. His story about youth groups organizing to lower the voting age to 16 in Washington, D.C. was featured in Teen Vogue, and he also was featured in KQED’s Election Challenge sizzle.

Since 2009, SRL has reached more than 30,000 students, according to https://studentreportinglabs.org/blog-posts/srl20/.