The last thing I imagined when I’d begin my adventures in journalism through my high school program would be that I’d become a subject expert in student journalism.
Well, being a speaker in a panel about the transition between high school journalism to college journalism for the 2023 New York City High School Journalism Conference at Baruch College was a start.
I’d say my participation in that is rooted in my experience as an attendee myself in the November 2019 conference — plus my high school newspaper advisers as well as grade-school social studies teachers and English teachers over the years emphasizing the importance of the freedom of press and information.
That conference also played a big role in me choosing Baruch over other colleges to study journalism — e.g. the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and Fordham University. No offense to those college, but certainly, I probably would not have pursued business journalism had it not been for certain circumstances at Baruch.
Anyway, I’ve been asked by Chatwan Mongkol to be a speaker in his first panel for The Nutgraf, which is a student journalism-focused newsletter penned by him. Register for that here.
I do wonder what’s to come for me, in terms of where I want to go and what I want to do. I may be one of two people in my journalism department’s 2023 graduating cohort that’s still doing journalism — in the sense that I haven’t defected to the publishing industry.
That’s depressing, isn’t it? But that’s the reality.
We’ll be going into personal struggles in this panel, and I’ll be blunt about an internship the canceled due to financial constraints — but good to see that organization reopen its program after about two years of not running it.
Personally, I’d love to talk about diversity within the journalism industry — particularly racial and ethnic diversity. I’d also like to talk about fun moments with interviewees I’ve spoken with.
I could also talk about the stark difference between news meant for general, local community-based audiences vs. a very specific, trade-based audience.
And on a lighter note, I’d like to talk about working with student journalists who are younger than me — and not necessarily itching to pursue the same career path as me. Engaging with younger writers is still a big part of what I do.
Well, if you’d like, feel free to attend this Sept. 18 video call.
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Dearest Reverie 