Jackie Mader

Jackie Mader covers the Kingsborough Houses in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She attended college at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she majored in screenwriting and minored in elementary education. She pursued both interests by student teaching and interning at New Regency Productions on the 20th Century Fox lot.

Jackie graduated a year early after she was accepted to Teach for America. She was placed in a middle school in Charlotte, North Carolina where she taught 7th and 8th grade special education. As a teacher, she was shocked by the poverty and achievement gap she saw, but soon realized this was the reality for many low-income schools. She decided that the best way for her to contribute to educational reform was through journalism, by informing the general public about the issues facing the American school system.

Jackie decided to pursue a master’s in journalism, which led her to Columbia. When she is not reporting, Jackie is an avid soccer player and violinist.

You can follow Jackie @jackiemader.