Month: July 2026

Macaroni salad, mac ‘n cheese, and a salad with balsamic vinaigrette were the three non-dessert items I could eat at the buffet-style dinner tonight. Not to say they were bad at all, they were not.

This is just how it tends to be as a vegetarian, not to mention how I’m a super picky eater. Dinner and lunch tend to be harder. Breakfast is easy, since most buffet styles have some type of pancake/waffle maker, or cereal.

Mostly, I can’t complain about food. Mac n’ Cheese is in fact, one of my favorite foods. Salad is always good, obviously. The balsamic vinaigrette I make is obviously better than theirs, but you know. They had a good amount of options at the salad bar, actually. Including red onion, which is a option I don’t see a lot.

I am quite excited for breakfast tomorrow. I did see a waffle maker and cereal bar! Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day during the summer. During school years I eat two half frozen Uncrustables for breakfast every single day. It’s bad. But during summer, I wake up late and get to make my own breakfast, or I wake up late enough that it’s already lunch time, so breakfast becomes lunch, which means I can eat microwave ramen for breakfast. It’s really healthy and all that jazz.

(Pictures by Briana Dworsak and Haru Dukanac)

Today was an interesting first day at the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute! New atmosphere, different people, and a week full of activities! The drive to Stony Brook University was easygoing, and meeting my roommate was even better. Getting settled in moved along quickly. The newsroom was a sight to behold, I felt like I was in the right place. The array of computers, and the occasional sound of the air conditioning weirdly excited me for the next few days I would be spending there. Later in the evening, my new friends and I walked to the dining hall for dinner. Soon after, we spent the rest of this exciting night dedicated to making bonds with the other students in the program. This first day definitely made me ecstatic for the next five days ahead!

– Briana Dworsak, Baldwin High School

Monday, Day 2, was the first real day of the Greene Institute.

After waking up and getting treated with some glorious breakfast, the rest of the Greene Team and I were shuffled to the newsroom again.

There, we got introduced to and briefed on a whole bunch of different concepts: podcasting, how to write a good lede, how to shoot b-roll for TV news, etc. It gave us a great primer on how to write, record, and film in the best possible way to keep and attract an audience.

I got grouped up with three girls: Angie, May, and Yasmin. We got a camera and for a couple minutes, we strolled outside the building where the newsroom is and took some photos of the trees and a fountain, learning from what we were taught.

After eating dinner and spending some more time in the newsroom, my group mates and I went to the lounge in our dorm building, and were introduced to our two assignments by our group leader, whose name is Joie Tyrrell.

They’re pretty cool. The first one is for Able News, a news source for disabled people in the NYC area, and it’s a Q&A for a sort of AirBNB service for disabled people. And the second is a video package about an exhibit at the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery, an art gallery on the Stony Brook campus.

Can’t wait to get started with making a proper journalistic piece of work! See you tomorrow, God Bless, Greg.

— Gregory Valestin, Brooklyn Technical High School

Tuesday, July 28th — the third day of the Greene Institute. I can confidently say that this has been my favorite day so far. We started off the lesson with a special guest, Maya Brown. Maya Brown is a new journalist who dedicated 10 years of her life to get to her goals, sharing her stories. And afterwards, even if we were focusing on our stressful, and hard to organize work in the beginning — the same work due this Friday — we ended the stressful work just by getting on the Stony Brook bus.

On the bus, we headed to the Newsday headquarters in Melville, New York. The ride was about forty minutes. And it was like a whole other world when we stepped inside. There were many televisions, broadcasting the different work that the journalists working at Newsday accomplish. I learned that Newsday is the most successful, local news in Long Island. And after hearing advice, thoughts, and opinions of each different workers there, we headed to different places inside Newsday. There was a podcast room, generated by Chat GPT; and the room even had the infamous Joe Mele, a TikTok star. Afterwards, we headed to where reporters, and weather forecasters, sit or stand. It felt like a lucid dream just standing in the room. After the Newsday headquarters, we packed up our stuff after taking a group photo, and headed off to Central Islip for the Ducks game.

After making it to the stadium, my other teammates and I walked around inside the stadium for a little while. We we grabbed our delicious food, and watched the game. I ate a hotdog, popcorn, and an iced Coca Cola. The best thing wasn’t that the Ducks were winning this game, but it was that I spent it with my teammates.

— Heily Sandoval, Northport High School

Today, the Greene Team toured the Newsday headquarters in Melville. To be honest, I wouldn’t consider Newsday one of my main sources of news since I usually rely on outlets like CNN, The New York Times, AP News, and NPR. However, this visit made me realize how important local journalism really is.

While national news covers major events that affect the country, local news focuses on the issues that directly impact our own communities. Seeing how much work goes into reporting, editing, and publishing stories gave me a greater appreciation for the role local journalists play in keeping people informed.

The tour showed me that local news is an essential part of helping communities stay connected and aware of what is happening around them.

—Allie Butuc, Northport High School

Throughout the morning of Tuesday, July 28, my group and I conducted our research and planned our interview questions for our article about the Keep Long Island Beautiful campaign. We met with our team leader, Emily Sauchelli, on a Google Meet and emailed each of the four people we plan to interview — and we even scheduled two interviews, both for tomorrow, July 29.

In the afternoon, the Greene Team went on a field trip to visit Newsday. Clad in our Greene Team t-shirts, we listened to three journalists talk about their work, toured the building, and even went into the filming room where meteorologists report the weather in front of a green screen. Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and it made me even more excited to pursue journalism as a career in the future.

—Allie Harrison, Ward Melville 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!

—Briana Dworsak, Baldwin High School

Today was move-in day at the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute For High School Journalists and here was my experience. Once my family and I found the right building, I checked in and went to my dorm.

At first I was nervous about sharing a room with someone I didn’t know, but luckily my roommate is very nice. The dorming experience is new to me so I’m excited, but I have to say I am hesitant about communal showers. After I got all unpacked and settled in, the Greene Team had a meeting in the common area where we all introduced ourselves. But before I had to say goodbye to my family, of course my mom had to take many pictures. It was bittersweet, but I was eager to start this journey.

After the meeting we all headed towards the newsroom where we will be doing most of our work. It was very exciting being in there and it made me feel like a professional journalist! In the newsroom we had our first lesson, which was very insightful.

Afterwards it was time for dinner, and I have to say I was a little nervous about what the food would be like. Thankfully I was surprised by the amount of options available in the dining hall and the food was actually pretty good! The dining hall even has an ice cream machine, so you know I had to get some.

After dinner we all went back to the dorms and as I sat to write my first blog for the Greene Gazette, I realized my nerves about this new experience were actually just excitement in disguise. I was nervous because this opportunity matters to me, and when you’re nervous about something, it usually means you care. And I can’t wait for all the knowledge I will gain, all the friends I will make, and the memories that will be created at the Greene summer institute.

—Alexandra Butuc, Northport High School

On Wednesday, July 29, the Greene Team had the chance to experience what it’s like to be live on television.

I started out as the control room director. That role involved cuing the anchors and reporters, as well as letting the video controller know when to cut to a different camera. Although that was fun, I enjoyed being a reporter even more.

I was a reporter in the next show, and this was the most exciting part for me. The camera had a teleprompter built in, so I could read my lines about the Greene Team’s activities yesterday and later today while also looking at the camera. Although I aspire to be a writer in my career, I know I would enjoy television reporting as well.

I may be somewhat of a quiet person in general, but talking to a camera or an audience feels comfortable for me nonetheless. I hope to get a similar experience in the future, and I am grateful to have had this one. 

—Allie Harrison, Ward Melville High School