By Zeydi Guerra
Hempstead High School
Keren Philippe’s love for journalism started in middle school with a Peter Rabbit-themed journal.
Soon after that one filled up she moved onto a new notebook and hasn’t stopped since.
Keren, a 17-year-old senior from Central Islip, was born in the United States to Phanol and Wilrodia Phillippe. She lived here for eight months until the family moved back to Haiti. She returned with her mother and brother when she was 14, four years ago.
They moved from Haiti due to conditions being, as she described them, “shaky” and “corrupt.” But those conditions had the positive result of sparking her love of journalism.
She recalled a moment in Haiti at a teen center based on Christian values where her mother worked. A missionary named Miss Vicky grew attached to Keren and praised her for her constant note-taking. Keren said, “I would always pay attention, with a notebook and a wooden pencil in hand.” The missionary took note of this and bought Keren a small Peter-Rabbit-themed journal. Keren said, “She told me to write away, to journal anything I thought of.”
“It helped me be better,” Keren said.
She began to write about everything and anything, especially the violence around her. She wanted future generations to see what had happened in her world. When she finished the journal, which was quite small, she decided to start a new one.
She wrote about her experiences dealing with American stereotypes of the home she loves so much. “People need to understand what’s happening before they try to add their opinion to it,” Keren said. “Many tend to believe that Haiti is underprivileged and that we live in huts.”
“People need to understand what’s happening before they try to add their opinion to it,” Keren said. “Many tend to believe that Haiti is underprivileged and that we live in huts.”
– Keren Philippe
Keren said she found solace in her school’s newspaper club, where she enjoys writing about all sorts of topics. Her favorite thing to write about is art. She said, “art isn’t something you look at; art imitates life. There’s all different kinds of arts, and I want to be the one covering it.”
Keren speaks French, Haitian creole and English, and she is learning Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Greek.
She said she was ecstatic about being included in the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalists. She said she hopes to become a better writer through the program and to get to a level where she can use her talents to help others.
“My biggest problem in my writing is that I always felt as if I was doing it wrong. Now I’m hoping to learn better ways to plan out my ideas and write them.”
Her mother, Wilrodia Philippe, said she is very proud of Keren. “She’s accomplished a lot. The steps she’s taking are all building towards something meaningful.”