La DePaulia celebrates its sixth year this month. I find it incredible that during a time when people needed to stay apart due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a new student-run publication brought many together.
When I joined La DePaulia a year ago, I hardly knew anything about the publication’s history.
Our founder, Hillary Flores, created a Spanish section of The DePaulia to make sure coverage of the Latine community was done thoroughly, through times of happiness or distress. By 2022, La DePaulia shifted from a Spanish-language publication to a bilingual one to reach a wider audience.
This was no easy feat. Around that time, the Chicago Tribune shuttered their Spanish publication, Hoy. Hoy served as a voice for the Spanish-speaking community in Chicago for about 16 years. Other Spanish publications, like New York Times en Español, Buzzfeed News México and Huffpost México, also shut down in 2019.
But those Latine DePaul journalists made sure to surmount the disappointment.
The founders of La DePaulia pushed the section into the weekly print newspaper after starting off only online. In 2022, La DePaulia teamed up with DePaul’s National Association of Hispanic Journalists chapter to write an op-ed and give a speech demanding the university to hire bilingual journalism professors.
Since then, La DePaulia has continued to pave the way for journalists who look like me.
Cary Robbins and Alyssa Salcedo, both former La DePaulia managers, won a 2025 Peter Lisagor award in the Best Student Feature category for their story about a DePaul professor opening her home to a Venezuelan family in search of a place to call home. Former La DePaulia content managing editor Nupur Bosmiya and Salcedo were also part of the group that won a Lisagor award for DePaulia’s 17-day student encampment coverage in 2024.
“Amplifying Vulnerable Voices: Border,” an editorial illustration created by The DePaulia’s illustration editor Preciosa Ríos received an honorable mention at the College Media Association Pinnacle Awards last October.
La DePaulia staff members won multiple awards at the 2024 Illinois Catholic Press Association Awards. Moreover, some of our writers had their work republished on NBC and Telemundo through a partnership with their digital news team.
This year, many of our stories were in regard to ICE raids in the Chicagoland area and the Latine community’s response. We collaborated with The DePaulia to create a Know Your Rights guide in an effort to oust fear and instead focus on facts. La DePaulia balanced those stories with those about perseverance and excellency among our community — we know that our vast culture is more than what meets the eye.
I am grateful to be part of such an important legacy. To our predecessors: thank you for your determination in making our voices heard. To our readers and Latine community: thank you for trusting us to share your stories. La DePaulia would not exist without you.
With great joy, I introduce La DePaulia’s 2025-2026 team.
Sofia Joseph — Editor-in-Chief
Sofia is in her final year at DePaul studying journalism. From the Chicagoland area, she enjoys covering local news. She began writing at The DePaulia a year ago and has formed a passion for reporting through her work for the publication. She can’t wait to continue learning more about the people that make up the city of Chicago and sharing their stories.
Laura S. Vázquez David — Content managing editor
Laura is a second year graduate student majoring in sports journalism and Latino communication and media. She began writing for La DePaulia last year as a contributing writer and then as social media editor. Her highlight was covering the Sueños Festival for La DePaulia creating content and writing features. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and you will find her listening to Bad Bunny and telling you she is Puerto Rican.
Isabella Siemaszko — News and Arts & Life editor
Isabella is a junior majoring in journalism and minoring in political science and Spanish. She has been in and around Chicago her whole life and loves the city. She began writing as a contributor for The DePaulia last year and is super excited to be joining La DePaulia. Isabella enjoys writing, photography and is getting into multimedia. Her favorite stories to cover relate to sports, politics and cultural events.
Cris Salas — Social media editor
Cris is a junior majoring in sports communication. He is also doing a minor in PR and advertising. He is from Mundelein, one of Chicago’s northern suburbs. His passion for sports and Latine media led him to La DePaulia this fall. He is excited to kick off his journey with the team.
Cristian Nuñez — Contributing writer
Cristian transferred from Harper College and is studying journalism and communication and media at DePaul. Having lived in the Hermosa Park neighborhood, as well as the west suburbs of Chicago, he is passionate when it comes to watching and talking sports as well as enjoying the different foods that Chicago has to offer. This is his first year at La DePaulia and is excited to continue learning and providing content for the newspaper.
