Princeton University

Magnet Student Attends Princeton University Summer Journalism Program
Laredo Buzz
September 2009 
Valerie Briseno, a senior at the Vidal M. Trevino School of Communications and Fine Arts and Martin High School attended The Princeton University Summer Journalism Program (PSJP) over the summer. Briseno was among 23 high school juniors nationwide on the Princeton University campus in Princeton, New Jersey. ... Read more.

Summer Journalism Program Alum Viviana Benjumea Wins National Press Club Scholarship
June 2009 
Viviana Benjumea, a 2008 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, has won a scholarship from the National Press Club. Viviana will be a freshman at Williams College this fall. From the National Press Club's press release announcing the award:

Benjumea, who hopes to become a foreign correspondent for a major newspaper or TV network, is awarded $5,000 a year for four years toward her university tuition. Already Benjumea is enthusiastically pursuing journalism opportunities. She has attended the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program, reported for school newspaper and finally served as its managing editor. ... Read more. 

Summer Journalism Program Alum Gladys Reyes Receives Fulbright Fellowship  
June 2009 
Gladys Reyes, a 2003 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, has received a Fulbright fellowship to Madrid. She will be teaching English to high school students, researching immigration and education, and volunteering for an organization, Madrid Puerta Abierta, which provides services to Asian, African and Latin American immigrants. In 2005, Gladys won a $3000 journalism award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. She graduated from Pomona College this year. 

Summer Journalism Program Alum Mariya Ilyas Wins Journalism Award From Washington Post Young Journalist Development Program
June 2009 
Mariya Ilyas, a 2008 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, has won a $2,500 scholarship from the Washington Post Young Journalist Development Program. The judges, in a unanimous decision, selected her essay about the future of journalism as the winner. She will be attending Bowdoin College in the fall. Read Mariya’s essay here.

Summer Journalism Program Alum Sabienne Brutus Featured in New York Daily News 
June 9, 2009
Call them Brooklyn's fantastic five. Among the thousands of 2009 public high school graduates getting ready to don robes and toss their caps in the air are a handful who will get their diplomas despite what some might consider insurmountable odds. ... Read more. 

Summer Journalism Program Prospective AJ Kazlowski featured in Colorado Springs Gazette as a "Great Kid"
May 2009
Phylicia Kecskes wrote in to nominate her friend A.J. as a Great Kid. Phylicia said A.J., who's finishing his junior year, has been writing for The Sentinel, Sierra High School's newspaper, since he was a sophomore. "He found a passion for newspaper. This passion helped him to get accepted to the Princeton Summer Journalism Program,"  Phylicia wrote. ... Read more. 

Summer Journalism Program Alum Andrew Boryga Wins New York Times Scholarship
April 7, 2009
Andrew Boryga, a 2008 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, is one of 12 students to win a New York Times scholarship this year. Andrew is also a member of Cornell's Class of 2013. From The New York Times article announcing the award:
 
Sylvia Boryga, the mother of one of the scholars, Andrew Boryga, came to New York from Puerto Rico when she was 17, becoming the first person in her family to attend college. Two of her five siblings died in drug-related violence. “Now, my own firstborn, he is going to college,” she said in an interview in the family’s Bronx apartment. Andrew Boryga’s father left when Ms. Boryga was pregnant with twins, leaving Andrew at 5 years old with adult-level responsibilities. By age 10, he picked up his younger sisters from school and even attended parent-teacher conferences. “It had its down sides,” Mr. Boryga said, “but I actually, I like it. It helped me because it made me independent. In the long run, it really helped out.” ... Read more.

Admission Rated rises to 9.79 percent for Class of 2013
The Daily Princetonian
April 1, 2008
Fabiola Vega, a student at Sergestrom High School in Orange County, Calif., said she was “completely shocked and excited” to be accepted to the Class of 2013. Vega, who also got into Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth, said her top three choices were currently Princeton, Harvard and Yale. “I went to Princeton last summer for the [Summer] Journalism Program, and I liked the campus, and I liked the undergraduate focus,” she said. “I knew a lot of people who went there from the program, and they all have a lot of good things to say.” ... Read more.

Mount Vernon student attending Princeton University Summer Journalism Program
The Mount Vernon Inquirer
June 8, 2008
Aliyyah Camp, a junior at Thornton High School, will be attending the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program [PSJP] from July 25th to August 4th. The PSJP is an all-expense paid program for aspiring journalists in the 11th and 12th grade. The program lasts for ten days at the Princeton University campus in Princeton, NJ. This program exposes its participants to first-hand journalism. ... Read more.

Summer Journalism Program Alum Ruben Gaytan Wins Journalism Award From Hispanic Heritage Foundation
May 2008
Ruben Gaytan, a 2007 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, has won a journalism award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. As a gold medallion recipient, Ruben will receive a $3,000 scholarship. In September, Ruben will enroll at Yale. Gladys Reyes, a 2003 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program and a junior at Pomona, received the same award in 2005. ... Read more. 
 
Summer Journalism Program Alum Amanda Cormier Wins First Place in Society of Professional Journalists Essay Contest
May 2008
Amanda Cormier, a 2007 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, has won first place in a high school essay contest sponsored by the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In September, Amanda will enroll at Middlebury.
 
Summer Journalism Program Alum Marion Smallwood Wins Al Neuharth Free Spirit Journalism Scholarship
March 2008
Marion Smallwood, a 2007 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, is one of two students from Maryland selected to receive a $1,000 scholarship and attend the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Journalism Conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Freedom Forum. In September, Marion will enroll at the University of Pennsylvania. ... Read more.

Unmuzzling High School Journalists
The Washington Post
January 12, 2008
My own experiences have convinced me that today, the vast majority of students are unable to practice true journalism at their high school papers. For the past six summers, I have directed a program for about 20 high school journalists at Princeton University. All the students are talented writers and thoughtful intellectuals. Yet, by and large, they work for newspapers that are either explicitly censored or restrained by the looming threat of official disapproval -- newspapers that read more like school-sponsored news releases than true journalism. Many have been taught to write fluffy profiles of teachers and to celebrate the achievements of their sports teams; fewer have been encouraged to challenge, to criticize or to investigate. Perhaps the most important part of our program's curriculum is to help students unlearn the instincts they have acquired at their high school newspapers. ... Read more.

Message from the Chair
Princeton University Class of 1969 Community Service Fund: Community Connections
Fall 2007
While we have many nice stories regarding the participants in our program as this newsletter attests, there is a particularly appealing one I'd like to share with you. Around 5 years ago, one of our former interns, Richard Just '01, and three of his classmates started a summer journalism program for economically underprivileged aspiring high school journalists. We helped them get their program started and have provided an intern to them every year. Their program is now part of the University and this year they received over 800 applicants for their 20 or so positions. This past Reunions weekend Richard and his classmates were given the Alumni Award for Community Service. Moreover, this year our intern to the program was Walter Griffin '10. Walter was a high school journalist in that program in 2005 and is now one of the Daily Princetonian's featured columnists. It is extremely gratifying for those of us who have been involved with the CSF to witness outcomes like this. With your support we can have many more of them. ... Read more.

The Racial Politics of College Newspapers: Why College Newsrooms Are Often Neither Diverse Nor Racially Sensitive
Campus Progress (a publication of the Center for American Progress)
September 6, 2007
Richard Just, who was editor-in-chief of The Daily Princetonian in 2001, runs the Princeton Summer Journalism Program, probably the most ambitious program of its kind in the country. After grappling with the familiar racial disparities in staffing and coverage, Just and three Princetonian colleagues resolved to increase the pool of potential minority and low-income student journalists. The result is a 10-day, all-expenses-paid journalism camp for high school students from under-resourced high schools that has met at Princeton for the past six summers. About 20 participants a year hear from a star-studded cast of professional journalists (this year's camp included New Yorker and Washington Post reporters) and produce their own paper. ... Read more.

Journalism Program at University Aimed at Inner-City Youth: Trying to Attract an Under-Represented Group to Journalistic Careers
The Princeton Packet
August 10, 2007
Only genuine commitment and a love for spreading truth could make a group of exhausted teenagers sacrifice even more sleep in order to make deadline. This phenomenon has occurred at Princeton University every summer since 2002. Founded by Richard Just, deputy editor of The New Republic and a 2001 Princeton University graduate, the Princeton Summer Journalism Program is co-directed by Mr. Just and three of his fellow 2001 graduates--Michael Koike, Greg Mancini and Rich Tucker. The program, in its sixth year, took place from July 27 to Monday. ...

Program Coaches Teens in Journalism
The Philadelphia Inquirer
August 9, 2007
Deciding to venture into the shallow waters of the journalism job market is a risky decision to make nowadays. With print media dealing with the steep decline in circulation, and broadcast news battling the fragmenting of its audience, and everyone blaming the Internet, even the well-to-do and well-connected aren't guaranteed success upon entering the biz. But don't tell any of that to Ruben Gaytan. ...

Warren Student Gets a Taste of Princeton: Elite Journalism Workshop Admits Only 22 Students
The Detroit Free Press
August 5, 2007
This past year, Princeton University accepted fewer than 10% of its undergraduate applicants. The university runs a summer journalism program that accepts even fewer. The program takes just 2.6% of its applicants; Angelica Terhune, 16, was one who was accepted. ... Read more.

Zillah Student Attends Princeton Journalism Program
The Yakima Herald-Republic
July 31, 2007
Jordie Ricigliano is at Princeton this week. The Zillah High School senior is attending the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program, a 10-day intensive seminar for high school students. She was the only student from Washington state selected to participate. ...

Lee Student Selected for Journalism Program
The Baytown Sun
July 29, 2007
As Lee High School senior-to-be Stephanie Perez rubs elbows this summer with some of the most prestigious names in journalism, she'll be well on her way to joining that crowd. Perez, 17, is one of 22 high school students from around the country that was selected to attend the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program, which began last week in New Jersey. ... Read more.

Teen Selected for Princeton Program
The San Diego Union-Tribune
July 28, 2007
Amanda Cormier, 17, of Westview High School is one of 22 students nationwide selected to attend the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program. The 10-day, intensive seminar, which started yesterday, is aimed at inspiring young people from low-income backgrounds to pursue careers in journalism. Nearly 900 students applied for the all-expenses-paid seminar, which also is intended to encourage participants to apply to universities they may not have considered. ... Read more.

Summer Journalism Program Alum Tasnim Shamma Wins National Press Club Scholarship
May 2, 2007
Tasnim Shamma, a 2006 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, is one of two students to win a scholarship from the National Press Club this year. Tasnim is also a member of Princeton's Class of 2011. From the National Press Club's press release announcing the award:

The first winner, Tasnim Shamma of Jamaica, N.Y., is the daughter of a cab driver who gave up his career as a journalist in Bangladesh to raise his family in the United States. Shamma, who has been accepted at Princeton University, was editor of the newspaper at Brooklyn Technical High School, where she earned almost all A's. ... Read more.

Summer Journalism Program Alum Feruz Erizku Wins New York Times Scholarship
March 12, 2007
Feruz Erizku, a 2006 graduate of the Summer Journalism Program, is one of 20 students to win a New York Times scholarship this year. Feruz is also a member of Princeton's Class of 2011. From The New York Times article announcing the award:

To Feruz Erizku, the grimness of the Andrew Jackson Houses in the South Bronx has been a source of both despair and drive. In the morning, as she makes her way to school, Ms. Erizku stares at the cigarette butts on the elevator floor, smells the marijuana that wafts from some apartment doors, strolls past young men who seem void of purpose. She wonders: Is this the end of the road? "If I want to get out of this place," Ms. Erizku said one recent morning, "I have to do well in school." Ms. Erizku, 17, moved here from Ethiopia with her mother and two siblings in 1997, unable to speak English but full of expectations for a better life. She has gone on to earn a place in the National Honor Society at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, join a program for aspiring scientists sponsored by the University of Vermont, log 100 hours of community service at the Park Slope Senior Center, where her father works, and earn early admission to Princeton University, which she will attend this fall. She also scored 630, out of a possible 800, on her verbal SAT and earned a 96.1 cumulative grade-point average, the second highest in a graduating class of 763. Ms. Erizku has capped her impressive resume with another achievement: winning a college scholarship from The New York Times. ... Read more.

The Princeton University Summer Journalism Program: Alumni Making a Difference
Princeton University Alumni Association
In 2002, four Daily Princetonian alumni from the Class of 2001 decided to address a need they saw in the world of college journalism. They established the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program to bring students from under-resourced financial backgrounds to Princeton for a 10-day, all-expenses-paid, intensive summer journalism camp. They hoped to open these students to the possibility of attending competitive universities and working for their college newspapers. ... Read more.

Aspiring Journalists Learn the Ropes from Princeton Mentors
The Princeton Weekly Bulletin
August 14, 2006
The four rows of seats in the Blue Room, where New York City mayors hold press conferences at City Hall, were occupied. Spotlights in the corners illuminated the lectern where deputy mayor Edward Skyler stood. He surveyed the outstretched hands in the audience and pointed to Gloria Medina. "I was wondering how old you are and how it feels to be the youngest deputy mayor in history," she asked. "Could you explain what your relationship with Mayor Bloomberg is like?" said Onyebuchi Chilaka when he was called on for the next question. "What political party do you belong to?" Angela Fabunan asked later. Those posing the questions were not members of the New York media. They were students attending the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program, a 10-day camp that offers high school students from underresourced financial backgrounds an opportunity to gain intensive, hands-on experience in journalism. Participants pay nothing to attend. ... Read more.

Student Journalists Grow With Program
The Princeton Weekly Bulletin
August 15, 2005
Born in the summer of 2002, the Daily Princetonian Class of 2001 Summer Journalism Program has diversified and matured into a working partnership between its founders and the former high school students they have helped. "I came back to share my experiences," said Dotan Johnson, an inaugural participant in the program who has returned from college to be a counselor this year. "I'm the first African-American general manager of the Bowdoin Cable Network, and the (Princetonian) program made me believe it was possible, especially at a predominantly white college." ... Read more.

From Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman
Princeton Alumni Weekly
October 20, 2004
It would take an entire issue of the PAW to do justice to all the activities on our campus this summer, so I will limit myself to three that I know well. The first is The Daily Princetonian Class of 2001 Summer Journalism Program. Founded and directed by four former editors of the Prince, Richard Just, Rich Tucker, Michael Koike, and Greg Mancini, all members of '01, the program is designed to encourage gifted high school students from some of the East Coast's and Chicago's poorest neighborhoods to develop their journalistic skills and acquire the mindset and tools they need to apply to selective colleges and universities. In August, 20 young men and women spent 10 intense days producing a newspaper from a temporary newsroom in the Friend Center, attending workshops on journalistic writing and news production, and even taking a practice SAT. I had dinner with these fledgling journalists, whose curiosity about the world was impressive. In the course of one meal we discussed primate evolution, global warming, the war in Iraq, the relative merits of the Yankees and Mets, and how to choose the right college! ... Read more. 

Learning the Ropes of Journalism
The Trenton Times
August 16, 2004
When her high school lost funding for its journalism program, 16-year-old Grace Akinrinade might have lost an early chance to learn about the trade. She didn’t. Over the past two weeks, the young Staten Island writer joined other young urban students at Princeton University for training in the Daily Princetonian Summer Journalism Program. The intensive program brought 20 students from high schools with limited resources for an active, nine-day training program of newspaper production and college preparation. "The overall mission is to get students fired up about journalism and help get them into elite schools," said Richard Just, who thought up the idea for the program as a Princeton senior in 2001. ...

Princetonian Program Offers Insights Into Journalism: Goal is to Inspire Kids from ‘Under-Resourced’ Schools
The Princeton Packet
August 15, 2003
A man, strangely dressed with shorts over his pants and a plastic bag over his head, throws open the door of the Blair Hall seminar room, steals a notebook and says, "Hasta la vista, Davis." And then he leaves as quickly as he came. The 23 high school students sitting around the conference table at Princeton University are stunned. Some giggle, others laugh at the odd occurrence. But the joke is on them. Richard Tucker, a former editor at The Daily Princetonian and a former reporter for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., who is starting law school this fall, gives them their assignment. They are to write a seven-paragraph news story about the incident. Mr. Tucker is a tough editor--he gives the students a 20-minute deadline. This is just one of the rigorous hands-on exercises during The Daily Princetonian Class of 2001 Summer Journalism Program, which began Monday and will end August 20. ...

Daily Princetonian to Host Annual Journalism "Camp"
The Town Topics
July 30, 2003
The Daily Princetonian Summer Journalism Program will hold its second year of educational programming for high school students from under-resourced urban schools, from August 11 to August 20 on the campus of Princeton University. Founded by alumni from the 2001 editorial board of The Daily Princetonian, Princeton University's independent student newspaper, the program invites high school seniors to participate in ten days of writing seminars and reporting workshops. The program also invites guest speakers to describe their experiences in journalism, and sponsors field trips to the offices of leading media outlets in New York City. ...

Budding Journalists Report Successful Experience
The Princeton Weekly Bulletin
September 30, 2002
It was three weeks before the first game of the season for the Princeton men's soccer team, and three young reporters were huddled in coach Jim Barlow's office, peppering him with questions. "How are you preparing for the game against Fairleigh Dickinson?" asked Tamara Fisher. Dotan Johnson was interested in the team's off-season. "What kind of fitness workout do you give the players to stay in shape (over the summer)?" he asked. Celene Sanchez was busy observing the coach's office, taking note of the jerseys pinned to the wall of former players who went on to play for professional teams. The three reporters are not on the staff of The Daily Princetonian. They are high school students who were invited to campus for a week of intensive journalism instruction in the inaugural year of a new program. ... Read more.

Summer Journalism Program Draws Minorities to Campus
The Daily Princetonian
September 12, 2002
Looking around the room at an Ivy League newspaper editors conference at Brown in the spring of his senior year, Richard Just '01 noticed something. "It was a sea of white faces," he said. Just was already familiar with the problems college newspapers had attracting minority writers. As editor-in-chief of The Daily Princetonian, he had run a series on race, including an editorial about the problems with diversity at the 'Prince.' After the conference, Just was inspired to do something about the underrepresentation of black and Latino writers on college papers. With fellow Class of 2001 'Prince' editors Rich Tucker, Michael Koike and Greg Mancini, he discussed the idea of a journalism program for minority high school students. ... Read more.

Program to teach minority students about journalism
The Daily Princetonian
July 3, 2002
This summer, 20 alumni and current staffers of the Daily Princetonian are launching The Daily Princetonian Class of 2001 Summer Journalism Program specifically for minorities. Twenty-two Latino and African-American high school students, mostly juniors, will spend a week at Princeton learning the ins and outs of working at a college newspaper, including reporting stories, taking pictures, and laying out pages, said former Prince editor-in-chief Richard Just '01. ... Read more.