{"id":8673,"date":"2021-08-10T16:02:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T20:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=8673"},"modified":"2021-08-12T11:02:33","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T15:02:33","slug":"a-part-of-who-i-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2021\/08\/10\/a-part-of-who-i-am\/","title":{"rendered":"A Part of Who I Am"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Journalist Nadia Dreid Grows Up with Georgia Southern<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love being a journalist,\u201d said Nadia Dreid (\u201815), who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism from Georgia Southern. \u201cMy professors at Georgia Southern taught me to truly respect the journalism profession and I fell in love with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dreid was born in Statesboro and grew up surrounded by all things Georgia Southern. There was never a doubt that she would become an Eagle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was homeschooled, so I kind of grew up with the University,\u201d said Dreid. \u201cIt felt like home. I felt good about going to school in such a welcoming environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PROFESSORS HELD THE KEY<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Dreid has been a reporter based in Washington, D.C., for the past four-and-a-half years for Law360<\/em>, a legal news publication. Journalism is a notoriously difficult field to get into, but Dreid\u2019s perseverance and the expertise she gained from her work at The<\/em> George-Anne <\/em>student newspaper plus her internships, prepared her for success as a reporter. Still, she acknowledged it wouldn\u2019t have happened without her professors at Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. Jennifer Kowalewski was just amazing,\u201d said Dreid. \u201cAnd David Simpson, probably more than any other professor, helped shape my career. He’s the one who pushed me in student media. He pushed me to apply for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire internship in Washington, D.C., and I\u2019m really grateful
he did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INTERFAITH <\/strong>OUTREACH<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Dreid is a practicing Muslim who wears a headscarf, also known as a hijab \u2014 a rare sight on Georgia Southern\u2019s campus in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy mother’s family are Southern Baptist and my dad is Muslim,\u201d said Dreid. \u201cOh, what a combination! They divorced when I was young, so I was kind of raised in the middle, but with very little religious upbringing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Dreid got older, she became interested in religion, especially the Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Islam and Christianity. After studying those three religions, she decided that Islam was right for her and started practicing the Muslim faith. She also minored in religion while at Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Dreid\u2019s early years on campus, she helped found a Muslim student association. She was one of only two hijab-wearing women on campus and she said some people really didn\u2019t understand why she wore the head covering. So, she undertook many outreach and interfaith events with the Hillel Jewish student organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was definitely a really big part of my experience at Georgia Southern that I cherish,\u201d said the Statesboro native. \u201cSpeaking at interfaith events gave me a background in talking to people, which I definitely needed as a journalist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dreid doesn\u2019t think her faith stands in the way of her work as a reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes, if you are a different race or religion, visibly different, people think that you can’t write about certain issues because you won\u2019t remain unbiased,\u201d said Dreid. \u201cBut I think the industry has started to open up about that a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ON TOP OF T<\/strong>HE WHALE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Dreid met the man who would become her husband, Jonathan Capriel, during her Scripps Howard internship. Capriel is also a reporter with the Washington Business Journal<\/em>, and a practicing Muslim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capriel and Dreid got married in 2018 at Georgia Southern\u2019s Botanic Garden. But the story of their engagement is what\u2019s most often discussed. Decades ago, Georgia Southern Professor Richard Petkewich, Ph.D., a paleontologist, is reported to have buried a pygmy sperm whale beneath Sweetheart Circle. But nobody is really certain where it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJonathan came to visit me and we were walking on Sweetheart Circle,\u201d said Dreid. \u201cI said \u2018the whale\u2019s right here\u2019, just making something up, and I jumped on the spot. Then suddenly Jonathan proposed. He always tells people he proposed on top of the whale in Sweetheart Circle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AWARD-WINNIN<\/strong>G WRITER<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Dreid\u2019s career at Law360<\/em> has been blossoming. She has written many stories, but said there is one story in particular that gives her great pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI talked to 15 or so Black attorneys about their experiences in the wake of the George Floyd incident\u201d, she said. \u201cI did hours of interviews with them about what they were going through. It was very difficult putting the story together. I was really proud of that and proud of how Law360<\/em> supported me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, out of thousands of stories, Dreid received the \u201cBest Feature of the Year” award from Law360.<\/em> Quite an honor for the young journalist who got her start in reporting at Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGeorgia Southern is a part of who I am,\u201d said Dreid. \u201cIt’s a part of who I was from the time I was two or three years old. And when Law360 <\/em>told me that I could work remotely due to the pandemic, the idea of being able to once again spend time on campus made me very happy.” \u2014<\/em> Li<\/em>z Walker<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI love being a journalist,\u201d said Nadia Dreid (\u201815), who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism from Georgia Southern. \u201cMy professors at Georgia Southern taught me to truly respect the journalism profession and I fell in love with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-8673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-summer-2021"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t