It was the summer of 2013. The St. Thomas journalism student was interning at the Telegraph-Journal in Saint John. She was the only intern to come into the office early that day, and so Cherise Letson was the one they sent to cover a body found in the Saint John harbour.
“I saw them lift it from the dock. It was all wrapped up.”
At the time, there was a missing woman in the city. Letson’s editor made her call the missing woman’s husband to see if he had heard from the police.
“It was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do to that date. I remember I went and cried in the bathroom afterwards,” said the fourth-year student.
The missing woman’s husband hung up after Letson called three times and the next day. She never reached him.
“But that experience, although it totally sucked at the time, it made me a better reporter. I’m lucky to have experienced that this early in my career.”
Letson recently received the John H. McDonald Award for Investigative Reporting at the Canadian University Press National conference, also known as NASH.
Her investigative piece was something she wrote last year for the Brunswickan. The piece resulted from a Right to Information Request about what companies the University of New Brunswick has investments in. The list they received back had some questionable companies, including fossil fuel companies.
The article was submitted by her editor-in-chief, Nick Pilon-Murray.
“It was my baby. I thought it was one of my best pieces.”
When Letson heard her name being called at the ceremony, she was in shock.
“I got up and I was shaking and gushing. I couldn’t believe it. To be recognized like that was really amazing.”
Letson has been the news editor of the Brunswickan for two years. She has been writing for the news section of the paper since her first year of university.
“Being the news editor is really rewarding and probably the section with the most work. A certain kind of person has to be able to do news and handle news,” she said.
This year, Letson is also the Atlantic Bureau Chief for the Canadian University Press news wire.
Her interest in journalism began before she came to STU.
“In high school I always wanted to be a writer but I realized that it wasn’t really a lucrative career. So someone suggested I try journalism.”
Letson knew she chose the right career when she did her grade 12 co-op at CBC radio in Saint John.
“I fell in love with radio. That helped me realize: I didn’t know if I was going to do it forever but I knew this was the path I should go down. And so I came to STU.”
This past couple of weeks, Letson has been covering the UNB strike intensely.
“It’s been really exciting. There is never any shortage of news stories. There is always something going on. I’ve invested myself completely in it. And we’ve been breaking all of the stories,” she said. “I’m really proud of the work that we’re doing and that I’m doing.”
After university, Letson hopes to get a job in either radio or print journalism.
