Sydney Boles - Profile and Journalist Details

Beats

Biography

I became a journalist the day I picked my way through the sweltering heat of a Dole banana plantation in Costa Rica to get the story no one wanted told. Bright blue pesticide bags covered each bunch of bananas; I could feel the chemicals in the air. I had come to interview a public relations executive, but he was injured in a car crash, so I explored alone. I interviewed plantation workers, visited their homes, and discovered unsafe living conditions, a lack of medical care and little access to food or water. There was a story there, and I don’t think the PR exec would have led me to it. That one experience back in 2011 came to shape the passions, morals and judgment that guide me as a journalist. As a Master’s student at Medill School of Journalism, I work every day to marry evocative narratives with rigorous reporting to deliver content that tells a different story. For instance, I recently covered the dissolution of a homeless encampment the neighborhood of Uptown. Rather than chasing the same angle as every other reporter, I focused on the tents that made the encampment what it was. It turns out that the same people who donated the tents were using their residents as pawns in a lawsuit the homeless themselves hadn’t signed onto. It raised a question no other reporter considered: Was the disbanding of Tent City a violation of their First Amendment right to protest? What if those protesting didn’t intend to do so? My journalism skills include breaking news and investigative coverage, video and audio production, HTML/CSS, jQuery.

Content

Total articles 1783

• What are the odds of picking a perfect NCAA bracket? — Harvard Gazette

  By Sydney Boles Verified

  Mar. 24, 2025

• Is sugar addictive? — Harvard Gazette

  By Sydney Boles Verified

  Mar. 18, 2025

As seen in

Company Info

Burlington Cable Access Television

Burlington Cable Access Television (BCAT) is a nonprofit access television facility that was formed in 1987. BCAT is committed to fostering a welcoming environment where residents can obtain hands-on training in video production. Free access to professional television equipment gives volunteer producers and organizations the opportunity to create community programming that is unique and locally relevant. BCAT provides an invaluable opportunity to utilize television production equipment and a medium to share ideas, information, and creative expressions.