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MIAMI (Dec. 28, 2006)— For FIU print journalism senior Cristela Guerra, few things could be more exciting than adding The New York Times to her resume. She won’t have to wait long for that privilege.
This month Guerra will participate in the first-ever New York Times Hispanic Student Journalism Institute, an intensive week-long training program for Hispanic student journalists under the guidance of award-winning industry professionals.
The program, in conjunction with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, will run from Jan. 3-14 at the FIU Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC), where officials will create a newsroom.
“I’m looking forward to enterprising my own stories,” said Guerra. “I want to show them what I’ve got.”
Guerra, a managing editor for The Beacon newspaper, is among only 20 students hand-picked from a national competition to participate in the prestigious program.
Three other FIU journalism majors—Rochelle Oliver, Joshua Rey and Jonnelle Marte—were also selected. Together the foursome represents the largest group of students selected from any one journalism school throughout the country.
“The fact that four out of the 20 students are from FIU says we must be doing something right,” said Allan Richards, chair of the FIU School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
FIU’s School of Journalism is 69 percent Hispanic and ranks number one in the U.S. for awarding undergraduate degrees to Hispanics. A recent article by Editor and Publisher Magazine cited that “no school in the nation has more experience in teaching bilingual and Spanish-language journalism – a specialty that is urgently needed in the United States to fill the newspaper industry’s demand for journalists fully equipped to cover the exploding and highly diverse Hispanic population.”
When officials at The Times began their search to find a site for the Institute, they turned to regional newspapers in Florida for advice. FIU’s name kept coming up, said Don Hecker, training editor for staff editors at The Times and director of the Institute.
“FIU has an extraordinary journalism program, and its activities in working with Spanish-language journalists, both in the U.S. and abroad, have attracted lots of attention,” he said.
Other universities with top journalism programs, including Columbia, Harvard and Berkley, will be sending students as well. Participating students will be housed at the BBC dorms with all travel expenses paid by The Times.
During the program, students will keep the newsroom flowing day and night, while concentrating on one or more of four specialties, which include reporting, editing, photography and design/graphics.
“On a technical level, we’ll guide them through how reporting, writing, editing and photography are done at the level of a newspaper and website like The New York Times,” said Hecker. “On a personal level we’ll try to guide them through what it’s like to work in a newsroom where the only standard is excellence, the deadline is looming more quickly than they could have imagined, and their fellow students are the smartest people they’ve ever worked with.”
Rey, an aspiring tennis sports writer, wants a taste of a real newsroom.
“I don’t have much experience working on deadline, so it will be a challenge for me,” said Rey. “But I’m looking forward to it.”
Initially a TV production major, Rey turned his focus to print journalism after completing an internship with the Florida Panthers’ in-house broadcasting department. The experience made him realize he wanted to write personal, in-depth sports features.
“I want to tell a side of the story that hasn’t been told,” he said.
Guerra, fresh off an internship with The News-Press in Fort Myers, said she can’t get enough of the adrenaline rush she gets from working in a fast-paced newspaper environment.
“I love breaking news,” said Guerra. “To write a good story on a tight deadline takes real talent.”
The Institute is modeled after a similar program for African-American student journalists that The New York Times has offered at Dillard University in New Orleans for the past four years. School of Journalism officials hope the same could be in store for FIU down the road.
“We’re looking forward to a long-term relationship with FIU,” said Hecker.
—FIU—
- Sue Arrowsmith
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