Marie Cusick

• video

Student activists help divert millions in funding away from law enforcement in schools

The role of police officers in schools has come under increasing scrutiny, as communities across the U.S. respond to calls for racial justice and re-evaluate student safety. In Los Angeles, student activists played a major role in getting the school district to move away from funding police in schools.

• Things I did: Remotely produced and edited a story on police in schools with two high school student journalists based in Los Angeles
• Tools I used: Adobe Premiere, Zoom

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Teen missed school to work through the pandemic, then caught COVID-19

It’s been an incredibly difficult year for millions of teachers and students whose lives have been completely upended by the pandemic. Some teens, like 17-year-old Tiffany Rodriguez from Philadelphia had to become the family breadwinner– putting their education on hold and their health at risk.

• Things I did: Remotely produced and edited story, conducted all interviews and research. Coached the Philadelphia interview subject, Tiffany, to gather her own video for the story and share it with us. Coached San Diego-based student narrator to do the voiceover for the story
• Tools I used: Adobe Premiere and Zoom

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A youth choir's message on police violence, has fresh relevance

In 2016, the Chester Children’s Chorus, a Pennsylvania group based near Philadelphia, recorded an original song called “I Still Can’t Breathe.” It was their response to the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and other Black Americans. Now teenagers and young adults, the former chorus members see their song as tragically relevant in the wake of George Floyd’s death and Black Lives Matter.

• Things I did: Remotely produced and edited story, conducted all interviews, research
• Tools I used: Adobe Premiere, Zoom

• video

Three Mile Island: The New Nuclear Dilemma

Forty years after the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island, there’s a growing debate over the role nuclear energy plays in addressing climate change. This 30-minute documentary explores the plant’s fraught history and the new fight to keep it open.

• Things I did: Produced and narrated public television documentary
• Tools I used: Final Cut Pro X

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Generations Yet to Come: Environmental Rights in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania was among the first governments in the world to guarantee environmental quality as a basic civil right—much like the U.S. Constitution protects the right to free speech and freedom of religion. Article 1, Section 27 was added to the state’s constitution in 1971, but its powerful language was ignored for decades. That’s starting to change.

• Things I did: Produced a 30 minute television documentary
• Tools I used: Final Cut Pro X, DGI Phantom 3 Professional drone, iPhone

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Why are so many gas pipelines being built?

• Things I did: Shot, edited, and wrote short video explainer about why the U.S. is experiencing a building boom of natural gas pipelines
• Tools I used: Final Cut Pro X, DGI Phantom 3 Professional drone, iPhone

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After the Boom

In 2012 StateImpact Pennsylvania visited Towanda to see how the Marcellus Shale natural gas boom was changing the pace of life. We returned four years later to see what happened after the rigs left town. This story was honored with a 2016 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.   

• Things I did: Reported and produced audio slideshow. Worked with a freelance photographer and graphic designer
• Tools I used: Adobe Audition

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On public land, a gas company takes private control

People who live near natural gas drilling operations in rural parts of Pennsylvania have been denied access to public land and public roads by industry security guards.