One of our very own students, Vanessa Peña, a senior here at Hawthorne High School attended the Summer Journalism Workshop program at Montclair State University over her summer break. This program is the start of her future in college and for the rest of her life, so The Clarion just had to get the scoop on her experience.

Clarion: We heard you went to a journalism program at Montclair State University this summer. What did you do in the program?

Vanessa: We did many things. We got to introduce ourselves to the other people in the program and we also got paired up to interview each other. We went to ABC studios and met a couple of reporters; like Juju Chang. Also, we went to a radio station that they have on campus and learned about radio and what goes on behind the scenes. This actually lead me into wanting to study radio too. Also, throughout the program, we had classes on ethics and writing.

Clarion: What do you feel you learned while at the program?

Vanessa: I learned how to write, what journalism is all about, how to communicate and one thing specifically was how to take a picture. We were told, “It’s better to take the picture and ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission and ruin the moment.”

Clarion: Did you make any friends in your time there?

Vanessa: I made many friends. There were about 18 people and we were paired up a lot. So, I became friends with a few people.

Clarion: How long was the program for?

Vanessa: The program was four days and three nights.

Clarion: Where did you stay?

Vanessa: We stayed over at Montclair State in dorms with one other person.

Clarion: What is your favorite memory of the program?

Vanessa: Uh, that’s hard! Mine would probably be when we went to the baseball game. On the second day, we went to a game and could interview anyone to make an article. It was really fun and the atmosphere felt nice.

Clarion: Would you go again?

Vanessa: I would love to go again. At the end, the woman who was in charge asked what would you do differently about this program. Of course, everyone responded with, “We want to stay longer!”