heart for hermosa

"Why do you want to be a journalist?"

Yesterday, I finally had the first meeting with the fifth and sixth graders at Casa Central for the newspaper club that I'm running there. I'm going to teach them some basics for a couple of weeks and then they're going to produce a newspaper for the other students and their parents there. I spent the first part getting to know them and their interests and also taught them the importance of spelling names right.

Then to gauge of how well they would do in asking questions, I told them to ask me questions. This was also done so they could get to know me better too. I mean, it is kind of random that some Asian girl would come and spend an hour a week doing this for a group of Latino children.

They asked really great questions. Sure there were the "what's your favorite colour," kind of questions, but there were also some amazing questions. Lissette asked some really interesting questions: "Who have you inspired with your writing?" and "Does your family support you being in journalism?" Jaime asked some good follow up questions. Once she found out who the "queen bee" of my middle school was, she proceeded to ask a million questions about why she was, how she treated me and if I knew where she was now.

Later on, Jaime said, "You lead an interesting life."

Which made me more excited for this project. I am excited about the aspect of opening career possibilities for children like Jaime. Also in terms of the industry, this is a great way of nuturing future journalists that could add to the diversity of the newsroom.

So I have a vision: that this newspaper will exist long after I'm done with Mission Year. That will either mean I end up staying in Chicago cause I have a job, or find someone in the industry who will take over. I can see this being more than a one-time thing that exists because I'm around. This is where my passion for this year will go. This is where I will invest the most time, money and strength. I think about the inner greatness that all these kids have and I want the chance to show a way they can tap into such greatness and using a skill that God has certainly blessed me with.

I'm not quite sure of the entire plan, but I'm getting there. I'm thinking of applying for a grant and have possible people I can bring in to help.

posted by mai @ 1:07 PM