2026 Outstanding Grads and KTA inductees announced

The Outstanding Graduate Award is a way for Western’s community to recognize graduating students for their exceptional work. The journalism department’s outstanding grads this year are

Ayden Sweat (visual journalism), Sophie Cadran (public relations), Brenna Witchey (news-editorial) and Tori Lehman (environmental journalism).

Up until just a few years ago, only one student from the journalism department could earn an Outstanding Graduate Award each year. Now, one student from each of the four tracks is eligible for the award. Brian J. Bowe, a professor at Western and the journalism department’s chair, said this was simply a change due to a shift in the university’s regulations.

“We have so many talented students across our different tracks, and these students do different works, so they excel in different ways,” Bowe said. “It was really wonderful for us to be able to acknowledge these different kinds of student works in this way.”

Ayden Sweat – Visual Journalism

Ayden Sweat, a visual journalism major graduating this spring, said he’s taken a multifaceted approach to his degree; with plenty of writing, and a few documentaries too. Sweat has made documentaries about LARPers, the Society for Creative Anachronism and the local jazz scene during his time at Western.

“I’ve always been into filmmaking, but you know, making stuff with your friends doesn’t really mean much, with like no budget,” Sweat said. “But doing it here [Western], it has been gratifying to take on a more journalistic approach, making documentaries with different groups of people around town.”

In addition to his documentaries, Sweat is also proud of getting to know his cohort better and contributing to the newsroom at The Front. Sweat said it’s difficult to make a lasting difference in the short period of a quarter at The Front since there’s so much work to be done. But over the quarters, Sweat and his peers tried to improve the way The Front operated. One of the things they did was making the website more consistent over quarter-to-quarter transitions, so it feels like the staff never left.

“Because when there’s a quarter-to-quarter switch and new people come in, it can be like a drought period,” Sweat said. “So, we try to create evergreen stories now where we release them in that interim period and whatnot.”

Photography and videography are Sweat’s favorite mediums, but he said he’s gotten more comfortable with writing over time while earning his degree.

“The first newswriting class I took here was not very difficult, but when I took Betsy’s reporting class, that class put hair on my chest,” Sweat said.

He said that his reporting class was challenging because he just wasn’t used to doing so much rigorous writing. Sweat said there wasn’t much time to second-guess himself with reporting compared to when he’s writing a short story or something personal. In those cases, he has time to word vomit first and then slave away editing it.

“But with the newswriting, you have to be like, really concise, confident, but also keep so many different things in mind,” Sweat said.

Once he finished his reporting class and took The Front, Sweat said writing felt easy at that point. Being more comfortable made him willing to seek out niche story ideas.

“One of my favorites from The Front was an EDM club story, only because those guys [he interviewed for the story] were just strange, they were so funny,” Sweat said.

Sweat recalls going to a bunch of different house parties and just sitting there with his notepad and recorder, trying to talk to people while subwoofers thumped out the music.

Sophie Cadran – Public Relations

Sophie Cadran is graduating this spring with a degree in public relations and heading off to Seattle in July to start working at a boutique PR agency called Firmani + Associates. Cadran said she found out that she had won her Outstanding Grad Award in a funny way. She was in office hours with Sheila Webb, a professor in the journalism department.

“I think it was right after they had had their department meeting, and she was like, ‘you should check your email,’” Cadran said. “And I was like, ‘why are you sending me something?’ She’s like, ‘no, you should check your email.’” 

Cadran worked as Klipsun magazine’s editor-in-chief for their recently released issue, “Language.” Cadran described this issue as her passion project – her little baby. In a lot of ways, Cadran said this issue was the culmination of her college experience. She also said the theme (language) lended itself to a lot of really important stories.

“I think all of the writers took it in, you know, that theme in a really incredible direction,” Cadran said.

A lot of people were involved in this edition of Klipsun, including journalism professor Betsy O’Donovan, people involved in the printing stage and more.

“So it’s not just me, it’s not just Peggy [Watt]. It’s not just the writers; it’s not just the editors. There’s a lot of people that put their soul into this edition and deserve to be recognized,” Cadran said.

In addition to her work on Klipsun, Cadran is also the president of Western’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter. There, Cadran said she did a lot of mentoring, mainly connecting chapter members with off-campus resources. She also mentored other students on the PRSSA executive board.

After learning that she won an Outstanding Graduate Award, Cadran said she’s very grateful for the recognition.

“I’ve worked hard to get here for sure and sometimes it doesn’t feel like you can say that because you’re told to be humble and all that kind of stuff,” Cadran said. “It’s just been so much fun being in college and trying all of these different things, all the publications, extracurriculars and things like that.”

Brenna Witchey – News-Editorial

Brenna Witchey, a news/editorial major, is moving to Oklahoma after spring quarter ends to start an investigative internship with Oklahoma Watch. The internship, which will last until November, will also count toward her internship credits for her degree.

“I was applying, applying, applying, basically to like 100 frickin internships – like so many – and then this was the last internship I applied to,” Witchey said.

This internship is through the Scripps Howard Fund, which helps provide smaller publications with interns. After applying, Witchey spoke to her advisor at Oklahoma Watch, who taught her a bit about what to expect.

“She was like, ‘If you like to do boots on the ground journalism, where you’re going out and talking to people and meeting them where they’re at, then this is the place for you; this is where you’re going to be doing hard work,’” Witchey said. “And I was like, ‘oh, I love that.’”

Witchey said the internship will be quite the adventure because she doesn’t have any direct connection to Oklahoma. While working for Oklahoma Watch, Witchey said she will mostly be covering education, which spans the whole state. However, she’ll be staying in Oklahoma City.

Last month, Witchey placed as a finalist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2025 regional Mark of Excellence Awards. Witchey, along with Western student Molly Shoffner, were recognized for their article in the Front, “WWU admits to overcharging student fees.”

Having won two awards in such a short period of time, Witchey said that she definitely has a bit of imposter syndrome. This entire time, Witchey said she’s felt like there’s no way she did all this work. This has all happened so fast, she said she’s asked herself if she really did it.

“I was stressed out the whole time, so maybe I blacked out, but it is real,” Witchey said. “I’ve just been kind of like, ‘I did work hard, this is great, I’m really happy that I dedicated so much time to this because it’s a great program and it means a lot to me.’”

Tori Lehman – Environmental Journalism

Tori Lehman, an environmental journalism major, said she thinks her time and leadership at The Planet helped make her stand out for this recognition. The Planet is Western’s award-winning, quarterly environmental magazine, which Lehman said has been like her home for the past two years. There, Lehman worked as a reporter for one quarter before moving to the leadership team. As their Editor-in-Chief, Lehman said she’s been trying to make The Planet the best it can be for the journalism department, and Western.

Part of what makes the Planet fun, Lehman said, is that she gets to see students leave with a better understanding of how to communicate issues with their writing. Lehman said she has always loved that The Planet is not limited to the journalism department; a lot of students from different majors take the class.

“They get to leave that having some journalism skills, which I think are valuable to any career path,” Lehman said. “I’d like to think that there’s students on campus that in my work on The Planet has left a mark on them, but only time will tell.”

While editing for The Planet, Lehman said she’s strengthened her ability to work with people from different backgrounds, with different levels of writing experience. Lehman said she learned how to meet people where they’re at and help them learn without being too critical, or too soft. She said she wishes more people knew about the editorships offered through the journalism department, like her position at The Planet.

“It [an editorship] teaches you a lot about how to work with people and how – it’s kind of weird to say it this way – but like how to get what you need out of people while still maintaining a good professional relationship with them,” Lehman said. 

Jeff Shaw, an instructor at Western, is also the Planet’s advisor. Lehman said that Shaw brings so much optimism to any room he’s in.

“I think he’s been a good balance for me in my time on The Planet because I am very busy, and I can be quite the pessimist,” Lehman said.

Even when she’s at her wit’s end, Lehman said Jeff is a seasoned professional who can always have a bright outlook on things. She also said he’s always willing to put 120% of his energy into anything he cares about.

“And he cares a lot about The Planet, so I think he’s balanced out my ethics well,” Lehman said.

2026 Kappa Tau Alpha inductees

In addition to the Outstanding Graduate Awards, this year, Western’s Journalism Department will be inducting seven of its students into Kappa Tau Alpha (KTA): Sophie Cadran (public relations), Joshua Grambo (news-editorial), Rosalie Johnson (news-editorial), Olivia Marty (public relations), Ava Nicholas (public relations), Franny Vollert (news-editorial) and Brenna Witchey (news-editorial).

KTA is a national mass communication honors society, and Western has had a chapter since 2024. Annual KTA inductions are another way of honoring students who are doing great work in the journalism program.

Membership in KTA is limited to the top 10% of seniors by GPA. Vollert was already an active member of KTA after having been inducted last year. However, she’s being inducted this year as well after placing in the top 10% again. Nichols, one of this year’s new KTA inductees, won the KTA Top Scholar Award, which goes to the senior with the highest GPA.