Month: July 2026

My second day at this institute was a lot more thrilling than my first, since the only hard part about my day was waking up at around 6:30 a.m., to go get breakfast at 8 a.m. Other than that, we stayed in the Stony Brook newsroom, where we had many guest speakers who were eager to share their history and experience with us.

I’ve learned many interesting things throughout these lessons, like how to operate a high functioning camera, how to make a good lede, listening to other’s stories, and some podcast/interview ideas to do during this week. My breakfast, lunch, and dinner were also pretty good; I ate up scrambled eggs with hash browns in the morning, mashed potatoes with fries and chicken, and finally some fries with a turkey sandwich. My second day at this institute was pretty interesting, since I got to see what the rest of my week would look like, or be similar to; and I got to learn a lot of valuable things I’ll need to use for my journalism career in the future.

— Heily Sandoval, Northport High School

Today, our group sat in the newsroom for a few hours to listen to experienced journalists of many media genres talk to us about themselves and the basics of their own field.

Dini Diskin-Zimmerman described her personal experiences with journalism and reporting in the late 20th to early 21st century, having been through the Watergate scandal and other national events. Other professionals such as George Giokas, JD Allen, and others spoke on podcasts, audio journalism, interviewing tactics, and photo/videography.

We also got sorted into our teams for our report projects that we’ll be working on for the duration of the program. Tomorrow’s going to be a lot of more hands-on work, such as interviewing, reporting, and researching.

— Haru Dukanac, Eastchester High School

The Greene Team received a pep talk from walking history! Dini Diskin-Zimmerman was one of the first women to work in the media. She was the most notable speaker, and discussed her life as a journalist over the past few decades, and how technology has developed. I even got to ask her about what it was like during the Watergate incident and what it was like reporting on a major historical event. Also, it was beautiful hearing a woman discuss her success story.

We were split into teams and taught about news deserts, podcasting, how to use a camera, how to utilize b-roll — all multimedia topics by various experienced instructors. Eventually, we went outside on the pretty campus and took photos with our groups. I get along pretty easily with them. We were all very joyous to have this experience.

The Greene Team learned a lot today through true experience and admirable figures in the field. I’m excited for the next few days with more activities!

— Kayci Guardado, Central Islip High School

From broadcasting to podcasting, today was an exciting experience where I had to chance to learn and understand different perspectives. The day started early, we headed down to the cafeteria at 8:15, where I had waffles and fruit for breakfast. We headed to the newsroom, where we met with brodcaster Dini Diskin-Zimmerman, who told us her experiences as being among the first women anchors, which was such a motivating story to hear. After, we met with J.D. Allen, who worked in podcasting, and ran the Higher Ground podcast. He explained environmental journalism, and how important podcasts are when sharing stories.

Along with podcasting, Frank Posillico and Rick Ricioppo taught us how to use the cameras and how to film. I never used a camera, so learning how to film was such a cool thing to learn. I learned how to use the camera quickly, and it was definitely my favorite part of the day.

— Isabella Davis, Sacred Heart Academy

Photo taken by Isabella Davis

My second day in the program gave me a new outlook on the possibilities and perspectives within media and journalism. The pep talk and lede writing lesson in the morning, and our many guest speakers in the afternoon, such as George Giokas, J.D. Allen, Frank Posillico, and Rick Ricioppo, opened a world of new insights into this dynamic industry.

One particular session that I enjoyed was the podcast with J.D. Allen. J.D. Allen is a podcaster for Higher Ground, and has worked with SBU helping aspiring journalists like me find the connections between journalism and multimedia, and how they work together to create a podcast. I also learned the factors that create an engaging podcast including characters, interviews, and background audio. This allows the audience to imagine the scenes and stories, truly highlighting the power and importance of audio.

Today was packed with valuable information, and I’m eager to put everything I learned today into practice tomorrow!

By Jonnae Greene, Baldwin High School

My first day at the Greene Institute was very confusing, but definitely the most interesting event of this summer. Moving into a dorm that I’ve never seen before is anxiety-inducing and nerve-wracking, but it was really fun in a way.

Finding the dorm was the hardest part. My aunt took at least 10 loops before my friend, Angie, sent me her location. Other than that, everything has been nice. Learning how to type in the Greene Gazette website was nice; the small tutorial Frank gave was easy, and he made a reference to Superman/Clark Kent. That lowkey made my day.

These Apple computers they’re letting us use are really nice and seem very fancy.

Other then that, the food we ate wasn’t the best, but the ice cream was overly good. I accidentally put too much, and my friend Kayci did the same, which ended with us throwing out the ice cream we didn’t get to finish.

When I got to my dorm, I realized I had no roommate. Well, at least in my own room. There’s these two sweet girls who are in the room next to me; my first conversation with them was extremely awkward.

I had to ask if they knew how to turn on the shower. Which to me, was honestly embarrassing in a way. I asked them, then they tried and realized it didn’t work for them either. I asked these three sweet girls and noticed they were also looking for an adult, so right after that I went back and asked my friend Angie.

She tried to turn her own bathrooms shower on and ended up getting herself wet, falling onto the floor along with turning the shower on which was really funny.

Besides that small dilemma, I’m glad I’ve gotten out of my comfort zone to meet new people. Hopefully it’ll get better as the week goes by.

By Yennifer Soriano, Hempstead High School

I woke up at five in the morning with the need to go back to bed, but instead, I decided to stay up for an hour and read what was happening in my community.

I lied. I’d never do that, but today I realized how much journalism is the glue in a community. Newspapers aren’t something you see very often, but inside of Hempstead High School, there is a newspaper club. One of the speakers who came today told us about how newspaper outlets were dying and how some communities don’t have news outlets.

That reminded me of News 12, which tells us literally everything going on inside Hempstead. It reminded me of how lucky I am; having an opportunity like that is necessary to feel some weird connection with your community.

All of that to say the speakers that came in today have actually affected my perspective on journalism.

The first speaker had told us about her life and how she was practically born into the media literacy side of the world. She told us that she had went through several historical moments that needed a journalist, which opened my mind alot.

Imagine if there were no journalists during 9/11, or during wars ongoing today, or so many other historical events. People wouldn’t know ANYTHING.

But either way, my second day was nice. The food was rather average, nothing life-changing. Its nice to have a selection. I don’t have any thoughts besides that, the food wasn’t really something to note.

The fries were really good, but then again you can’t really mess up fries. Same with the pasta.

Other then the food, I’m forever grateful I get to be here and have this opportunity as its extremely fun to meet these new people and meet these journalists.

— Yennifer Soriano, Hempstead High School

During my second day at the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalists, the coordinators of the program had a seemingly endless amount of activities planned for us to do. From learning the structure of an article and how to start a podcast to how to use a professional camera, this day was packed with what I love most about journalism: the range of creativity. Journalism comes in many different forms, such as videography, photography, broadcasting and of course, writing.

We were also given the chance to go outside and snap a few shots of Stony Brook’s campus with our teammates. Sometimes words are not enough to describe nature’s beauty.

— Yasmin Bardales, Hempstead High School

Please. Listen to me. I would be such a good stage manager. I did it today, and it was so awesome, and Marcy McGinnis herself told me I would do good. I know my high school stage manager program doesn’t exactly work like that but it’s FINE. I could do it, let me.

I didn’t actually go on TV. I didn’t really want to. I don’t have a desire to be on TV. I wanted to stage manage because I’m already on Miller Place’s backstage crew. I’m so good at it. Tell them to let me stage manage. Literally everyone that was in the room said I was doing good! Please. New career path just dropped in my life.

I like it! It’s the perfect mix of bossing people around and dealing with technology. I’m good at both of those things! Everyone get in the comments and tell them to let me stage manage.

Also. The cafe had vegetarian pasta today. Alfredo. So, so good. It was beautiful. Pasta is one of my favorite foods. Ask any vegetarian. We’re all constantly eating pasta.

It’s been a good day so far! I’m having fun. Movie night was canceled because of rain. That made me sad, but it’s okay. I’m okay about it now. I got over it.

Also while I have you check out this awesome photo of me Myles took like two days ago.

— Asher Squires, Miller Place High School