A Georgetown University master's student built the school's first chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists from scratch in three days, submitting the application on September 30, after NABJ's September 1 deadline for applications considered at the October board meeting. Makayla Gray, who is also president of the chapter as its founder, held the group's first official meeting on Saturday, giving the university a new campus organization at the start of its 237th year.
Gray conceived of the idea while beginning her final fall semester this year, as reported by WUSA9. On the first day of class, she noticed eight Black women among the women entering the room, a contrast to other previous classes, where she had seen only about two or three Black students, according to the same report. That observation, per WUSA9, set off a sprint: Gray drafted the chapter constitution within four days and recruited members in that same window before submitting the application on September 30.
A Three-Day Scramble Before the Deadline
The timeline tracked closely with NABJ's own affiliation rules. A local or regional organization of five or more NABJ members may seek affiliate status as a chapter, according to nabj.org, and the national office requires all application materials by March 1 for the April board meeting or by September 1 for the October meeting. New student chapters must also take a name in the form NABJ-[college or university] or [college or university] Association of Black Journalists, per the same NABJ page, and the board decides whether to grant affiliate status only after a membership committee review and a presentation from the regional director. Affiliated chapters must later complete an annual chapter audit to keep that status, nabj.org notes.
Gray did not build the chapter alone. WUSA9 reports that classmates, along with JC Whittington, a professor in Georgetown's photo and video class, and Phil Lewis helped her establish it. Lewis serves as president of the Washington Association of Black Journalists, a role he described in his own words on the organization's website: “My name is Phil Lewis. I am incredibly excited to serve as president,” he wrote on wabjdc.org.
A Path That Started in High School
Gray's journalism career began in high school, and the daughter of Jamaican immigrants went on to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of Central Florida, according to WUSA9. She started at Georgetown in 2025 and expects to finish her studies in May 2027, with aspirations to cover politics. She is also president of Georgetown's Society of Professional Journalists chapter, the outlet reports.
Gray is a member of the Washington Association of Black Journalists and serves on its early career task force, per WUSA9. WABJ describes its broader mission on its website: “The WABJ is here to uplift your stories, support your endeavors, and function as a community,” the organization states. Gray has said WABJ gave her a sense of community, and WUSA9 reports that Jasper Smith encouraged the idea of starting a new student chapter during WABJ meetings, with WABJ members backing her in the leadership role.
Filling a Gap at a Predominantly White Institution
Georgetown enrolled its first Black student nearly 75 years before this chapter's founding, according to WUSA9's reporting. Gray has said the new chapter provides a community for early-career Black student journalists navigating a predominantly white institution, and that its meetings and events focus on Black journalists supporting one another at a school that is not historically Black. She has said the group connects students facing similar experiences, and she wants it to continue connecting and supporting Black journalists after she graduates.
Chapters elsewhere offer a glimpse of what that continuity can look like. At the Carolina Association of Black Journalists, founded in 1991 by former UNC journalism professor Harry Amana, former members often return after graduation to mentor the students who follow them, according to the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. CABJ students have organized events spanning educational programming, networking and internship opportunities, the school notes. At the University of Houston, the campus NABJ chapter has built a community around mentorship and networking, including meetings with media professionals and ties to other Texas chapters, as reported by The Daily Cougar. That chapter counted five general members and six editorial members, with its president focused on growing the organization and building sustainability, the paper reported, and members have run initiatives like Black Business Week, interviewing and profiling small Black-owned businesses.
Other schools are still getting started. DePaul planned to launch its own NABJ student chapter in the spring quarter, according to The DePaulia, with journalism department chair Jason Martin saying the chapter would give members space to share their experiences and deepen ties with Black faculty. For Gray, the hope is that Georgetown's chapter outlasts her own time on campus, giving future students the same kind of foothold she worked three frantic days to create.
