An eye-opening start

By Karen Oropeza (Fort Worth, TX)

During our group discussions today, our counselor Amanda Cormier (SJP '07) said that one of the beauties of being an undergraduate student was that you oftentimes learn more from your peers than you may from your professors. As this thought sunk in my mind, I quickly began wondering how and in what manner this would happen once I go to college next fall.

It did not take long to affirm Amanda’s statement.

The ethical dilemma discussion at the end of the day opened my eyes, literally to a new world, all because I was able to hear from other students’ perspectives. A lot of my peers raised arguments that would have never occurred to me, and I am completely enamored with the fact that THEY allow me to also view things differently, and that is in fact the duty of a journalist. I learned at the beginning of the Summer Journalism Program that it was established with the goal of diversifying newsrooms in the United States because it was very “white,” and this discussion allowed me to realize its importance.

There is unquestionably a diverse America that I had not experienced in my hometown in Texas, and I am beyond grateful that SJP has removed the blindfold from my eyes, within two days.