PHOTO BY: EMILY GONÇLAVES

Hi,
I’m Miquéla Thornton
& I'm a storyteller.

Here are some of my favorite pieces.

01_VISUAL PORTFOLIO & CV

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CLIMATE | TECH | BUSINESS | SCIENCE | LOCAL NEWS

FEATURED STORY

Capital Times Cover Story | 8 min read

How southern Wisconsin could become a nuclear fusion mecca.

#1 on site for two weeks straight

SOCIAL JUSTICE | HISTORY | PROFILES | LOCAL NEWS

Capital Times Cover Story | 10 min read

Joe McClain was a reluctant Civil Rights leader. He became a hero.

I write about... climate change + technology, the environment + social justice, & anything else I'm curious about.

ENVIRONMENT | LOCAL NEWS

Capital Times | Most Recent Story

Wisconsin ‘froggers’ search by night for sounds of spring

Capital Times Story
words + photos by me

Artist and climate change activist TetraPAKMAN is ‘doing something’

CLIMATE | PROFILE | ARTS & CULTURE

CLIMATE | TECH | BUSINESS

FootPrint Coalition

How BlocPower and other tech startups are working for a just energy transition

CLIMATE / ENVIRONMENT | SCIENCE | PROFILE

FootPrint Coalition Feature Story | 12 min read

Dr. Alison Criscitiello's expedition to an ancient ice core offers clues on modern climate change

TECH | CLIMATE | BUSINESS | SCIENCE |
LOCAL NEWS

Capital Times

Madison firm aims to revolutionize electronics by replacing silicon

EDUCATION

Graduate: M.A. Candidate @ the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication,
2025

Undergraduate: B.A. Vanderbilt University,
Creative Writing +
Communication of Science & Technology,
2022

ENVIRONMENT | CULTURE | LOCAL NEWS

Capital Times Cover Story | 10 min read

Funeral traditions merge with growth of ‘green burials’ in Wisconsin

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CLIMATE / ENVIRONMENT | TECH | BUSINESS

F

FootPrint Coalition

Meet the startups developing solutions for the world's extinction crisis

Take a walk a few KM’s from your next resort, here is what the beaches of the world really

ENVIRONMENT | INTERNATIONAL NEWS

News Decoder

A treaty on plastic to combat waste colonialism

EDUCATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:

Graduate courses in narrative non-fiction, long-form video storytelling, feature writing, international reporting, news framing & protest coverage, modern protest movements, race & environmental colonialism, history of environmental science, community storytelling, and data analysis & visualization.

CLIMATE | TECH | BUSINESS | LOCAL NEWS

Capital Times

Does this hemp battery company have the energy to replace lithium?

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CLIMATE | TECH | BUSINESS

FootPrint Coalition

Why are companies making CO2 a commodity?

PROFILE | CULTURE |
ENVIRONMENT |

LOCAL NEWS

Capital Times

Naturalist Alex Booker wants to make 'space for everybody to eat'

EXPERIENCE

SUMMER 2024 – PRESENT

Graduate Project Assistant

Office of Sustainability

Every semester I have a grad assistantship to pay tuition for my master's program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the summer, fall, and spring semesters of the 2024-2025 school year I am a project assistant on the communication team at the Office of Sustainability.

Responsibilities + Accomplishments

Wrote and photographed stories as assigned about sustainability initiatives, events, and research studies across campus
Mentored communication intern team and worked closely with six undergraduates to brainstorm and develop stories
Oversaw the annual Sustainability Writing Awards competition and worked with winners to edit pieces for publication

CLIMATE | TECH |
ENVIRONMENT

FootPrint Coalition

Can crypto help mitigate the mass extinction crisis? SimplexDNA wants to find out

ENVIRONMENT | CULTURE | PROFILE | LOCAL NEWS

Capital Times

How to make grief easier, according to a green cemetery gravedigger

ARTS | CULTURE | INTERNATIONAL ISSUES | LOCAL NEWS

Capital Times

Visiting Palestinian textile artist has a message for Madisonians

Awards + Honors

SKIP BAYLESS FELLOWSHIP FOR EXCEPTIONAL GRADUATING SENIORS

May 2022

The Bayless Fellowship is awarded to exceptional graduating seniors who expect to pursue graduate study, internships, volunteer opportunities and/or careers in any media or communications field represented within Vanderbilt Student Communications.

KARA WALKER AWARD IN STUDENT ART

February 2022

Awarded to an outstanding student artist by Vanderbilt's Black Student Association.

JIM LEESON PRIZE FOR JOURNALISTIC FAIRNESS

May 2021

The Jim Leeson Prize is awarded annually to the student journalist at Vanderbilt University who best exemplifies the value of fairness and impartiality in reporting.