Alumnus Teddy Rosenbluth ’16 walked up to the podium in the library with nothing more than just a few written thoughts in her notebook. Rosenbluth returned to her alma mater on Friday, Dec. 5 to share her passion and career in journalism and science to a room full of students.
A University of California, Los Angeles Psychobiology graduate, Rosenbluth currently works as a health reporter for the New York Times. She has always been interested in science, but her interest in journalism began outside of high school when it became an attractive career choice while studying at UCLA.
Rosenbluth’s later introduction to the journalism industry has made her journey somewhat unconventional.
“I think it was hard to get my footing in the industry,” Rosenbluth said. “I wasn’t a journalism major. I didn’t really have any connections, and it’s sometimes a connection-based industry.”
She worked her way up the journalism ladder, securing various internships at City & State, Los Angeles Magazine, and reporting for the Santa Monica Daily Press, The News & Observer, and other publications. In May 2024, she was the recipient of a Times Fellowship, where she then became a part of the NYT staff in June 2025.
Her reporting has shown her how strongly people respond to coverage of health systems and policy through stories about the measles outbreak and AI chatbots in healthcare.
“People care so much about this,” Rosenbluth said. “When I would write about the hospital systems, or increases in insurance premiums, people could not get enough of that because that has such a tangible impact on your life.”
Rosenbluth was an AP student, a member of Speech & Debate, Silvertones, and a competitive fencer. But in a school culture at Haven that encourages doing everything, she now sees her own high school experience as something that should have been more focused.
“I feel like the emphasis is outsized. I think it’s way more important to focus on activities that you like and want to do long term,” Rosenbluth said. “When you’re in high school, it’s like you’re just sprinting to the end, but once you’re an adult, you have to live for a long time.”
Social studies teacher and speech and debate adviser Mr. Jeffery Kahn was Rosenbluth’s history teacher and coach. He has seen how Rosenbluth has grown throughout her high school career, especially through her work in oratory events.
“She found her voice and wrote things that she cared about,” Kahn said. “She practiced [the oratories] so much, and we all saw her do it; everybody could basically do the speech with her.”
Oratory, a speech and debate event where students deliver a ten-minute speech on a topic of their choosing that includes an argument using evidence, logic, and emotional appeals, according to the National Speech & Debate Association. Oratories require plenty of research and synthesis, skills that Rosenbluth uses in her career.
“I feel like with her journalistic work, it makes a lot of sense that it transitions really easily from [Haven] to [her career],” Khan said. “I feel like she does that really well. It makes sense to me that she’s gone down this road.”
Rosenbluth agrees that skills learned in Speech & Debate are useful outside of Strath Haven.
“I underestimated how important it was in the real world to communicate your ideas clearly,” she said.
College and Career Counselor Mrs. Kristin Dunning reached out to Rosenbluth after she saw her byline in a New York Times article and recognized her name. Dunning reached out, inquiring about whether she would be interested in coming back to Haven for a visit and presentation.
“Bringing back alumni can be a great reminder that people just like them go on to do really interesting things and their futures are wide open,” Dunning stated in an email. “Teddy is such a great example of that. She is so relatable and also inspirational.”
Alumni visits are an opportunity for students to connect with grads who have similar interests and experiences, and for alumni to talk to interested students about their career paths after high school.
“A Strath Haven education is a really valuable thing, and I’d love for our students to see where it can take them,” Dunning stated. “Who better to show them this than people who have come from the same place?”
Rosenbluth’s visit is one of several alumni engagements this school year. According to Ms. Dunning, Casey Fox ’17 visited the Engineering Essentials class to discuss her career as a welder at the Navy Shipyard, and Marin Lent ’22 came to the Sports Media at Strath Haven club (SMASH) and The Panther Press to talk about her work as a sports broadcaster at Ithaca College.
More alumni are scheduled to attend a healthcare career fair on Dec. 16.
“There will certainly be more alumni visits when I can make them happen,” Dunning stated.
Students from AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, other science classes, Panther Press, and Haven Yearbook were invited during second block on Friday, Dec. 5 to learn more about science, medicine, and journalism fields from Rosenbluth’s presentation.
Senior Ellie Cole, who is interested in political science and health policy, enjoyed the presentation as it related to her intended field of study and interests.
“The way that she talks to people and how she gets her sources, and her kind of writing process was super interesting to me,” Cole said.
For senior Tess Kelly, who is also interested in science, Rosenbluth’s presentation was both helpful and encouraging.
“I thought it was very interesting, her advice on making sure you reach out and like try to do the job you’re gonna do for your life before getting there,” Kelly said. “Her visit piqued my interest, and [health journalism] is definitely something I would want to look at, like a possibility.”
