By Briana Dworsak
Baldwin High School
Today was our third day at the Robert W. Greene Institute, and it was full of great experiences. I never thought I would be standing in the building of Newsday. It was a phenomenal opportunity being able to meet with people with such high expertise in their field. Something I learned today was that Newsday offers internships and is looking for a features writer. This excited me because I dream of working at The New York Times as a features writer for social media in the near future. After a fact-filled tour at Newsday, we boarded the bus to head to the Ducks’ stadium, also known as Fairfield Properties Ballpark.
Once we arrived at the stadium, Parker, Jonnae, and I instantly started to work on our project. The project was to capture B-roll shots and to interview the fans there. We attended a press conference in the press box along with the rest of the Greene Team, questioning Michael Polak, who is the vice president of communications for the Long Island Ducks. He easily and happily answered our questions, and he gave a different answer to each of us.
It was refreshing to be able to relate to him about sports journalism. “I knew I wasn’t going to play baseball professionally after high school, so I wanted to incorporate my knowledge of baseball into my work,” Polak said. As someone who used to have an interest in sports journalism, I was able to understand him, because I had the same thinking, except I wanted to report on women’s softball.
I am so grateful to be a part of these wonderful opportunities, to insert my perspective into other people’s stories, and to know how to put myself in their shoes.
As the night slowed down, some of my teammates and I hung out in the basement to listen to music, eat snacks, and play ping-pong!
