Mari Fagel

Why Northwestern?

The following is an excerpt from Mari Fagel’s application in response to the question: What are your reasons for wanting to attend Northwestern?

An aspiring broadcast journalist, she framed her response as a news story.

Senior Exonerates Death Row Convict and Raises Money for the Environment

Northwestern senior Mari Fagel arrived in Joliet one wintry Friday morning to pick up Gerard Jones for a tour of Evanston. Jones had never seen Lake Michigan before. In fact, he hadn’t seen anything but the walls of his prison cell for the past 18 years.

Until recently Jones was wrongly convicted of murder. Working with her classmates in Professor David Protess’ course, Investigative Journalism, Fagel helped exonerate Jones. …

A broadcast journalism major, Fagel reported on the story for the Northwestern News Network; she also writes for the Daily Northwestern and the Northwestern Chronicle. …

To give back to Northwestern, Fagel has been an active member of her community. As president of Students for Ecological and Environmental Development, she raised $10,000 for the environment at the annual Dance Marathon. …

Fagel also participates in Students for Israel and campus Hillel. She represented Israel in last year’s Model UN competition and organized a Northwestern Quiz Bowl to benefit Jewish refugees.

With that, Fagel excused herself to get to work on plans for Dillo Day, one of her favorite Northwestern traditions.