Arek Sarkissian II earned a writing position with Poynter�s 2007 Summer Fellowship for Young Journalists after designing two weekly newspapers for more than two years.

Since he graduated from the University of Arizona in 2003, Arek handled several stringer assignments for the Associated Press Phoenix and Washington, DC bureaus, and wrote for several weeklies and magazines across the country. He also penned many enterprise stories for the Tucson Weekly, one receiving high honors.

He got his start in 2001 as the public safety reporter for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, which led to an internship at the Arizona Daily Star.

So far, the Poynter fellowship has introduced Arek to techniques in reporting, writing and beat coverage used by leaders from newsrooms around the country. He�s excited to incorporate his understanding of page design and video production into his writing to create outstanding journalism.

Arek hopes the fellowship will help land a writing position at a newsroom in the Southeast, Arizona or Michigan.