Benjamin Herold has spent the last ten years focusing on the experiences of children and families in Philadelphia public schools as a researcher, freelance journalist, and award-winning documentary filmmaker.
His independent documentary film First Person, which followed six Philadelphia public high school students trying to make it to college, won Best Documentary and Best New Filmmaker awards at the 2008 Philadelphia Film Festival and was broadcast on WHYY-Philadelphia.
Herold has been involved with The Notebook since 2002 as a volunteer, editorial board member, and writer. For the past year, he has covered Philadelphia's Renaissance School initiative, culminating in Herold being named a Columbia University/New York Times Institute Education Reporting Fellow in September 2010.
After twelve years living in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia, Herold's still not sure if he loves how beautiful this city is more than he hates how busted it is. He plans to keep writing about it til he decides.
