Two KOSU reporters — Kateleigh Mills and Graycen Wheeler — have been named to NextGen Under 30 list for 2023.

The program recognizes and encourages the next generation of innovative, creative, and inspiring individuals who push the boundaries in their respective fields. The two reporters were named in the Media, Public Relations, Marketing, and Advertising category

Kateleigh Mills directs KOSU's engagement with the community as the station's special projects reporter.

She responds to more than 1,000 questions a month through text message, which have included why it was taking so long to get a car title back from the state, how communities could cope with abandoned marijuana farms, and what Oklahoma law says about catalytic converter theft.

In the past few years, Kateleigh has spearheaded the production of dozens of answer guides, including who and what's on the next election ballot, contraceptive access following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and multilingual guides on COVID-19 vaccines in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

As a reporting fellow for The Education Writers Association, Kateleigh conducted listening sessions with Oklahoma teenagers. From Stilwell to Minco, teens shared their thoughts on the politicization of social issues. One student told us it was the first time anyone had asked her what she thought.

Graycen Wheeler reports on water issues in Oklahoma as a corps member with Report for America.

KOSU frequently hears from listeners about water quality and water availability, especially in rural areas that have old and often failing water systems and infrastructure. Graycen's reporting has centered on these issues, as well as the state's historic drought, private water well testing, and toxic blue-green algal blooms.

In August 2022, an Altus man sent KOSU pictures of his water that was a dark yellow color, but the city was reporting it was safe to drink. All the stores were sold out of bottled water because of the problem, and he wasn’t sure what to do. Graycen went to Tom Steed Lake, the Altus water supply and used test strips for manganese, the trace mineral that was causing the dark yellow color, to better understand whether the dark color was actually harmful for people to drink. Her story was shared with and printed by The Altus Times. Because of a shortage of journalists in Altus, they didn’t have anyone who had the time to find out what was really happening.

Award winners will be honored at a ceremony in November.