“My name is Reese Nicolls. My parents named me Reese because my grandmother's last name was Savareese, and my mom originally wanted that to be my full name. But my dad thought it was a little too out there, so he suggested, 'I think we should just shorten it to Reese,'” she says, quoting her father.

“My full name is actually Reese Ann Nicolls, and Ann is my mom's and grandma’s middle name as well.”

Nice combination of everyone. What school do you attend, and what's your favorite part about school?

“I went to high school at Fayetteville-Manlius, which is about 20 minutes away from Syracuse. My favorite part about FM is probably senior year. Every year, we have a student council who picks a group of students, and since I was on the student council, I got to help pick that group. They spend the year raising money for a local camp for kids with cancer, and I think it's a really great cause. It really pulls the whole school together, everyone pitches in with school spirit, a lot of my best friends were a part of the team, and I got to help out.”

What's a fun fact about your school?

“My school mascot is the Hornets, and that's for my whole school district. The middle school I went to had an oak tree with a hornet's nest behind the school. It's a really, really old tree. On our school logo everywhere, it has a big, beautiful oak tree. All the kids know about it and play with the younger kids around the tree.”

Has anyone gotten hurt by the Hornets?

We both laugh at the question.

“No one has gotten hurt by hornets from that specific tree, from what I know of yet. I am personally very afraid of bees, so it was always kind of funny to me that the school I went to was the Hornets. But I think it makes us look tough, especially in sports.”

Two hard-working students pursuing their master's degrees, Jaden Arlant and Chadi Tolaiante, come from different backgrounds and colleges. They met through the Syracuse one-year program, both agreeing that it is a fun experience to meet new people and that the experience they have gained is very impressive and eye-opening.

According to Jaden, their time at Syracuse University “has been pretty good; you get a lot of experience, and you can create content and write stories.”                                                                  Chadi agrees and adds that “it's been a lot of work, but it's also very hands-on, so it's very nice. We write articles and make so many videos. We have news writing classes, and we also have a multimedia class.”

Though both students take the same classes, they each want to gain something different and come from different places.

Jaden majored in Journalism at Howard University. He “wants to get more experience in the field. Going to a top-ranked communication school in the country (aka Syracuse) is definitely going to help me.”

Chadi must be a huge fan of Duke because he not only graduated from Duke Kunshan in China but also traveled to North Carolina and graduated from Duke University. Because of this, he has a dual degree. Although Chadi did not major in journalism during his undergraduate journey—he majored in Media Studies—he always knew what he wanted and came to Syracuse to reach his goal.        “I've always wanted to key in on sports journalism at some point, and the program here enables me to do that. Also, the ability to be in the U.S., which is the biggest sports industry in the world, and get to learn from some of the professionals in the industry—and some of them teach us in our classes it's been very good and insightful.” It is great to know that Syracuse is changing these two lives and giving these talented young men the support they worked hard for.

Two different cultures and backgrounds, one university. Everyone has a reason for doing what they do; everyone has a goal and a passion.

To end the interview, I asked, "Can you explain to me why you chose this? What was the idea when you said (hypothetically), 'Yes! I want to choose this major'?"

Jaden answered first, “I love telling stories about Black athletes, away from being just sports figures.”

Chadi's final answer was, “I grew up around sports a lot, and I know that there are amazing stories that are worth the time to tell. My goal in life is to tell those stories to the best of my abilities.”

On August 3rd around midnight, a mass shooting occurred in front of Little Haiti International Cuisine in Hyde Park. The suspect, Oliver C. Derima, was arraigned in court for shooting five victims, including 26-year-old Ky'Mani Reynolds, who was tragically pronounced dead.

Oliver Derima pleaded not guilty alongside his defense attorney, Anthony Ellison. Speaking to reporters outside the Boston Municipal Court, Mr. Ellison claimed, “They’ve got the wrong guy.” Ellison insisted that Derima is not the offender but is actually a victim himself, pointing out that Derima was shot twice during the outbreak of gunfire.

Derima is currently being held without bail. His court case is scheduled to continue on September 4, 2026. At West Roxbury Division of Boston Municipal Court.