Staff Writer

Maria Trovato will graduate from the University of Maryland, College Park campus, in spring 2021 with two bachelors degrees: one in Journalism and the other in Government and Politics. She plans to study abroad at some point.

With her degrees, Maria wants to become an investigative journalist who focuses on social issues. “I want to expose the stories that go unnoticed by the mainstream media,” she said. Working for a news organization like Propublica or The Marshall Project would be her dream job. She is also interested in civil rights law.

The University of Maryland’s Phillip Merrill College of Journalism offers many opportunities for students, and Maria takes advantage of that by being a volunteer researcher for the Investigative Bureau of the Capital News Service. She also writes for the campus newspaper, Stories Beneath the Shell, as well as for the Beltway Bulletin, the school’s political newspaper.

Maria served as the Community Outreach Chair for the Domestic Abuse and Homelessness Campaign, a project of the Maryland Public Interest Research Group.

When she’s not writing or researching or doing school work, Maria can be found relaxing and having fun with friends and family, exploring new places, and listening to music.

Her friends describe her as the person who is passionate but goofy.

Maria said this about her goals for Writing Wrongs 2018:

I hope to shed light on the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault and demonstrate how widespread and damaging these issues are. I want to make victims feel comfortable to share their own stories in the way they want them to be heard. I want to understand what solutions could be implemented to fight this problem. Overall, I hope to give a voice and platform to this group that has been so silenced and learn as much as I can in the process.