ABC New Canaan Scholar, Class of 2011
Quinnipiac University 2016
Host Family: Wendy and Richard Hurst
Elijah Westbrook is a three-time Emmy award-winning journalist. He joined CBS News New York in January 2022. Elijah was raised in Harlem, NY, and became an ABC New Canaan Scholar in 2007. After graduating from New Canaan High School in 2011, he attended Quinnipiac University, earning his bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism with a minor in marketing. His first job out of college was a news associate at “CBS This Morning”. A year later, he landed his first on-air job as a reporter for WROC News 8 in Rochester, New York, covering high-profile court cases, politics, and major weather events. In 2019, Elijah was hired as a morning news reporter and fill-in anchor for WBFF Fox45 in Baltimore, Maryland. There, he exposed political corruption inside city hall, including being one of the first to break the news about a scandal that eventually led to criminal charges for former Mayor Catherine Pugh. Elijah also won an Emmy for his live in-depth reporting on a Black Lives Matter protest in the summer of 2020.
Elijah credits much of his success to ABC New Canaan. This includes, the outpouring of support from board members, his host family (The Hursts), NCHS, the comradery of the guys at the house, and the community of New Canaan who supported and believed in the vision of the program.
As an alumnus of ABC New Canaan, Elijah said, “it’s his personal charge to see this program succeed and grow. I want to help other guys like me do well and show them that there is a support system out there. It’s my responsibility and my personal investment to move ceilings for people of color and plant those seeds I’m making now, to create a difference in this world.”