If you asked Charlie Roth how his summer was, he\u2019ll probably tell you he was manually inputting property tax records of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood, one number at a time.<\/p>\n
A college student\u2019s summer break is a precious thing. Charlie was surrounded by the splashes of his younger brother in the pool as he drummed his fingers away at the kitchen counter, gazing into rows of excel spreadsheet cells. \u201cI could have been miserable, sitting in my house while everyone\u2019s at the beach or at an a cappella tour,\u201d Charlie said. \u201cBut I\u2019m typing numbers into a spreadsheet and having a blast\u2014making the find that 20 houses doubled in property tax overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Charlie was taking classes as a public policy major at Princeton University, he oftentimes found himself off campus grounds. He served as Head Data Editor and Senior News Writer for The Daily Princetonian, the university\u2019s student-run newspaper, and was regularly reporting on local government meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the very, very first meeting, I asked the editor if I could report on the Princeton town council because that wasn’t something that we did,\u201d Charlie said.<\/p>\n
In one of his interviews with a town council member, representatives directed him towards a blaring property issue that rested just north of Princeton University: the tax revaluation that had hurt the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood, a historically Black, low-income community.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few years ago, there had been a tax revaluation that like hit that neighborhood really hard, because their property taxes hadn’t gone up in a while. Then in one year, it went up 25% on average, in which he said, \u2018You should look into it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That summer, far from beachy waters, Charlie has been finding a key slice of information that allowed him to solve this economic housing puzzle. Helping elucidate local and national issues through journalism rests at the core of his studies at Princeton and his career aspirations of becoming an investigative journalist.<\/p>\n
This fortunate moment got Charlie hooked on journalism, and led into the opportunity of the property taxes investigation which would end up as an award-winning piece titled: \u201c\u2018Our community has become a commodity\u2019: How Princeton\u2019s historically Black community is fading.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie grew up in Baton Rouge, La. Despite being born in New York City and then moving to the New Jersey suburbs, he became stationed in Baton Rouge very young. His parents moved from cushy PR jobs in New York to support the family business, a dental and vision insurance company named Goudchaux.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom, before she was in PR, was a producer at CBS News. Growing up, I watched a lot of news because, you know, she couldn’t help it, and I loved it,\u201d Charlie said.<\/p>\n
Notably, he was drawn to political satire\u2014something that contrasted from his mother\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis passion, at least at the beginning was the writing gig, to write for the amazing Stephen Colbert, right? That was not my passion,\u201d Deborah Roth, Charlie\u2019s mother said.<\/p>\n
To Charlie, these shows incorporated an element of the theatrical, the funny, and the political: all wrapped in a neat broadcasting-media package. Shows like \u201cThe Colbert Report,\u201d \u201cThe Daily Show,\u201d and \u201cLast Week Tonight\u201d were central to forming his media and writing voice.<\/p>\n
Perhaps this was because Charlie grew up in a household that analyzed showtunes during minivan rides.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharlie and his father, who’s also musically inclined, would ride in the car and put on Phantom of the Opera<\/em>and go through and stop and pause and explain the show,\u201d Deborah said.<\/p>\n However, from this first taste of musical theatre, Charlie was fully aware of the operations of the theatrical world. \u201cMy mom was in the car with us during \u2018A Heart Full of Love\u2019 and she turned to my dad and said, \u2018There\u2019s no way they understand what this is about.\u201d My dad motioned to me and I explained what a love triangle is. I was no older than eight,\u201d Charlie said.<\/p>\n From there, Charlie has become involved in on-campus theatre through Princeton\u2019s comedy musical troupe Triangle and the theatre production club Princeton University Players. He is also pursuing a musical theater minor in which will produce a political satire thesis project, titled \u201cWhat\u2019s the Issue with Charlie Roth?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI’m like, \u2018Holy cow, you’re like an encyclopedia of this!\u2019 But it’s so cool. He loves it,\u201d Deborah said.<\/p>\n The people around Charlie see him as someone who is generously curious. Take his girlfriend, Madeline LeBeau who he first met before even stepping foot on campus. Charlie had called the university\u2019s Center for Jewish Life to learn more about the reformed community at Princeton, and by luck, Madeline ended up answering.<\/p>\n \u201cI was dazzled that he reached out to the Center for Jewish Life before choosing the school and to weigh his options,\u201d Madeline said. \u201cHe\u2019s inquisitive and hardworking, and just a really great person to be around.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlie\u2019s inquisitive nature permeates his experiences, relationships, and fine tunes the way he approaches challenges and questions in his life. During a trip to Newport Beach, R.I. with Madeline, while she was writing her research paper on the founding brothers of the Newport Jewish community, Charlie\u2019s investigative passion rung out.<\/p>\n \u201cCharlie made an active effort to find everything there was about Jewish Newport. He found this one random tour we went to, random houses that he looked up and found out that they were like related to his family,\u201d Madeline said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe found all of these things that he knew would be really special and interesting and important to me. And, you know, that\u2019s the type of person Charlie is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you asked Charlie Roth how his summer was, he\u2019ll probably tell you he was manually inputting property tax records of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood, one number at a time. A college student\u2019s summer break is a precious thing. Charlie was surrounded by the splashes of his younger brother in the pool as he drummed his<\/p>\n