Nic Rowan ’18 holds a Collegian mug in A.J.’s as a student. Courtesy | Evan Carter

A Collegian couple will pursue reporting projects on assisted suicide and Ozempic after earning yearlong fellowships to fund their research.

Nic Rowan ’18 and Hannah Rowan ’18 are among eight young journalists receiving Robert Novak Journalism Fellowships from The Fund for American Studies this year. Nic is managing editor of The Lamp, a Catholic literary journal, and Hannah is managing editor of Modern Age, a journal of conservative thought published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

The Novak Fellowship provides $35,000 in grant money and expense assistance for young writers to dive into longer or more costly reporting projects. For his project, “The New American Way of Death,” Nic will research the spread of assisted suicide and recent shifts in how death is viewed in the United States.

“When you’re a professional writer, you feel a lot of pressure all the time to be constantly churning,” Nic said. “There are some ideas that deserve more in depth looks at a longer length of time and from a balanced viewpoint.”

Hannah will explore what’s behind the increasing popularity of Ozempic and how Americans view weight loss.

“America, for a lot of reasons, is really messed up in the way it eats and moves and sees itself,” Hannah said. “There is also a huge new weight loss drug exploding in popularity, and there’s a lot that’s not yet known about it.”

The Rowans both studied journalism as a minor at Hillsdale and wrote for The Collegian. Hannah transformed the “Arts” section into the “Culture” section, and Nic served as the City News editor. 

“Nic and Hannah Rowan are two of the best writers I’ve seen on campus,” said John Miller, director of the Dow Journalism Program. “It’s good to see their success at The Collegian turn into professional success. I’m interested to watch where their careers go next.”

Nic started writing for The Collegian his first week at school and stuck with the paper through senior year. When Matthew Continetti, then-editor of the Washington Free Beacon, read Nic’s Collegian reporting on the Conservative Political Action Conference, he gave him a job.

“The Collegian can help you in that way,” Nic said.

Hannah said her classes in the journalism program helped her realize the importance of cultural journalism. Most Collegian reporters were focused on politics and hard news, she said. But her classes in the journalism program helped expose her to journalists who were focused on cultural topics.

“As an English major, I did a lot of music and book reviews,” Hannah said. “I really enjoyed that, and I feel like I’m still working off of that in my freelance work.”

Nic said his time at The Collegian and studying under Miller taught him the importance of reporting.

“Picking up the phone or going to the event — that’s a valuable skill that a lot of young people are not taught,” Rowan said. “That’s something that I think about constantly, first, as an actual reporter, but now as an editor, when working with other people’s pieces. I seek out people who have that ability.”

Hannah said she is now more motivated to help mentor young journalists as Miller had done for her. One piece of Miller’s advice that she remembered was to start an article with the word “when” if she was having trouble with the opening.

“I was working on a piece today and instinctively started with ‘When,’” Hannah said. “I didn’t even think about it. That one is deeply, deeply ingrained.”