By Ianna Banfield
Park Slope Collegiate
Camila Rojas sees journalism as a path to a successful law career. A stop on that path is the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalists.
“Journalism interests me because it’s a great outlet to learn about current world problems and about all different types of people,” the Hempstead High School rising junior said. “As my dream is to become a lawyer, I think that it’s important to know what’s going on in the world in order to know how to fix the problems that our world is currently facing. I am not extremely familiar with the field of journalism yet. I just want to learn more about it.”
Camila, 16, who lives in Hempstead, manages her school’s social media and is active in after-school programs and community service,
In her free time, she reads, watches videos on Netflix and YouTube, and takes care of her little sister, but it is painting that captures her imagination.
She sketches out her ideas — an object, a person or beautiful scenery — and lets her imagination go. “I’ve always been into art whether it was drawing or coloring,” Camila said. “My mom tells me that when I was little, I was always coloring and that I hardly ever played with my toys because I was always doing something art related.”
Her art pieces are a reflection of her imagination, and her words are a reflection of her passion for the arts, “I love painting because it’s the one thing that brings me peace while at the same time creating something beautiful. I find it to be an outlet for my feelings and in ways it helps me express myself.”
In addition to her artistic skills, Camila has a writing skill that can help with word use — poetry. Her sister, Fiorella, 9, said, “The poems that Camila writes are really in-depth. She’s also very bubbly, intelligent, open-minded, and confident.”
For Camila, journalism is a way to project her voice and help solve the world’s issues. “What I like about journalism is how you are essentially talking and informing others about real life problems. I think it’s very important to know and understand what’s happening in the world around them, which is why journalism is a great way to do so.”
One powerful motivation to study journalism and law is the need for justice, Camila said. “I don’t ever like to see others suffer, and I try my best to do the best I can to help someone, no matter how big or small it is.”
Camila follows the news regularly, mostly watching Telemundo and Unavision. She admires Spanish language journalists that she sees on those channels for sharing information with native Spanish speakers like her.
Attending the Greene boot camp, she said, was part of her plan to learn more about journalism. “I want to get pushed out of my comfort zone and learn more about it.”