Nathan Lee, fresh off national Hearst win, named 34th Kaplan Fellow
COLUMBIA, Mo. (Nov. 14, 2025) — Nathan Lee, a senior at the Missouri School of Journalism, has been named the 34th David Kaplan Memorial Fellow. In the spring, Lee will undertake a full-time, paid position at the ABC News Washington Bureau, where he will rotate through several different roles and beats. He will also receive a $10,000 stipend.
“Nathan has enthusiastically embraced the Missouri Method of hands-on learning in his time as a student, and this fellowship is an opportunity for him to continue ‘learning by doing’ at the nation’s capital,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School of Journalism. “It’s great to see him take this next step in his professional journey with the help of ABC News.”
The decision to apply for the esteemed fellowship was not a spur-of-the-moment decision for Lee, who has had his eye on the program since his freshman year. While many students find that their priorities and passions shift as they are exposed to different types of reporting and communication at the School of Journalism, Lee has remained focused on political reporting.
As a reporter at KOMU-TV, the School’s NBC-affiliate TV station, he has pitched a steady stream of political stories — one of his first efforts dived into debates around a higher education bill in the Missouri Senate. And at the School’s community newspaper, the Columbia Missourian, he has served as the state capitol correspondent since the beginning of last year and also produces capitol reporting for the Missouri Broadcasters Association.
“The Kaplan Fellowship has been a goal of Nathan’s for several years,” said Professor Amy Simons. “We first started discussing his interest more than a year ago, and every professional experience he’s had since that time has been a warm-up for this. Nathan is ready to jump right in and contribute at the highest levels.”
George Sanchez, senior manager of newsgathering at ABC News, agreed.
“I got the sense that Nathan shows up prepared, and I detected his passion, his smarts, his commitment,” Sanchez said. “I love the Kaplan program because these students are able to write, they’re able to shoot, they’re able to edit. Mizzou definitely prepares students really well based on what I’ve seen.”
Despite Lee’s single-minded focus on building toward a political reporting career, he is not averse to the many pools the Kaplan Fellowship will ask him to dip his toes into. Having flourished within the School of Journalism’s multiplatform curriculum that cross-trains students to work with a variety of tools, mediums and styles — he previously served as the Thursday afternoon news anchor at KBIA-FM, the School’s NPR-member radio station — he said every experience has something to offer.
“I personally love just trying everything and seeing where I fit in,” Lee said. “I think this fellowship is great for getting a really good idea of how ABC News operates and letting me learn from the team.”
That openness comes, in part, from his recognition that every good story has a common core.
“I like making people feel like they’re a part of the conversation, breaking down complex topics to help people understand,” he said. “So anywhere I can use those skills and feel like I’m doing something for people, that’s really what I’m looking for. I just want to do the best I can along the way.”
This won’t be Lee’s first time reporting from Washington, D.C. This past summer, he interned at local D.C. news station WUSA9. Nor will the fellowship be his first exposure to the national stage; his work gained national recognition earlier this year, when he won first place in the Hearst Journalism Awards Television – Features competition for a pair of KOMU stories before going on to win Hearst’s prestigious National Television Championship.
But even a seasoned School of Journalism student can’t help but be excited to work for a national network in one of the country’s media nerve centers.
“It’s going to be fun,” he said. “I’m ready to learn everything I can from these people — the best of the best in the industry.”
About the David Kaplan Fellowship
The David Kaplan Memorial Fellowship honors the memory of David Kaplan, who was a producer for ABC’s Sam Donaldson. Kaplan was killed while on assignment for ABC News in 1992 in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Donaldson, a 40-year veteran reporter, correspondent and anchor for ABC News, created the program with funds that he and his colleagues donated to honor Kaplan.
The Missouri School of Journalism was chosen to award the fellowship due to its renowned reputation for hands-on training of both reporters and producers.
Updated: November 14, 2025