Author: Gregory Valestin

It’s the last full day at the Greene Institute already! Dang, it’s gone so fast!

Today was really crunch time for our projects. For almost the entire day, the whole Greene Team were working on the two assigned projects. Angie and I were both working on writing the article on Becoming rentABLE while Yasmin and May were editing our video project on the Zuccaire Gallery. Our work was only interrupted a few times for pep talks and, in one case, a sort of pitch to attend Stony Brook University once you graduate.

We didn’t really go anywhere outside of the newsroom and the dining hall during work hours; it felt like forever in that room.

It’s been bittersweet thinking about the final day here. While I’m glad that I’m here and I learned all these things and made all these memories, it should have been longer. And I likely won’t talk to the friends I’ve made here again (except for Myles because I have his number).

Still, it’s been amazing, as I’ve already said. And I thank Stony Brook so much for this experience.

God bless, Greg.

-Gregory Valestin, Brooklyn Technical High School

On the second to last full day of the Greene Institute, I did a mock TV news anchor segment (that I forgot to take pictures for) with Angie, one of my group-mates. We (the Greene Team) went 2 by 2 with anchoring duties and were able to see how live TV news works behind the scenes.

That was a cool experience. But what we did after that was exceptionally cool. The entire Greene Team did an interview on Tim Glotch, a professor and geologist at Stony Brook who also works for NASA on their Artemis project. That project includes the planned mission to get people back on the moon and to build a whole base there as well.

My group also interviewed Lorraine Woodward, the founder of Becoming rentABLE, a website that lists accessible short term rentals for people with disabilities. We talked with her on how the website works and her own ultra-accessible rental homes.

All in all, it was a unique day here at Stony Brook. This internship’s gone so fast, which is sad because I’m really enjoying it and what it’s giving me.

-Gregory Valestin, Brooklyn Technical 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 is Day 3 of being on the Greene Team, and the first day of actual work. Today we had the amazing task of visiting the Zuccaire art gallery on the Stony Brook campus and interviewing the gallery’s main director, Karen Levitov.

We arrived in the newsroom at around 9 after eating breakfast, but we were only there briefly to iron out the specifics of our video assignment. I had the responsibility of filming most of the b-roll footage that would compliment the narration.

It was a really nice experience at the gallery. There’s an exhibition currently going on at it called Noel Anderson:Black Excellence, which is a series of warped images and tapestries detailing themes of Black labor, success, and occasionally the roadblocks to that success.

I filmed a lot of b-roll. I filmed the tapestries, the pictures, the lead director (Karen Levitov) speaking, and my three group-mates listening to her. There was even a video being projected at the back of that back wall you see in the picture, and I filmed that too.

All that b-roll is now going to be cut and spliced together with interview footage and narration to make a short video package on the gallery.

We’ve also made progress on the print assignment relating to Lorraine Woodward, the creator of Becoming rentABLE, an online source that helps disabled people find vacation rentals that accommodate for their disabilities. We’ve started writing questions and are planning to interview her via e-mail.

So yeah, it’s quite a lot of work, but it’s very empowering because in that work, you’re unveiling voices that haven’t been heard before and showing the public a new topic or perspective. It’s really fulfilling!

God bless, Greg.

So… I packed up a whole ton of stuff and hauled it almost 50 miles east to Stony Brook University to attend the Greene Institute.

Almost immediately after setting up shop in my dorm room and saying goodbye to my mom and siblings, I was shuffled down to a meeting where we all did some icebreakers and learned our schedule. We then headed to the newsroom, where we were introduced to this website where we’ll be posting blogs daily for the rest of our time here.

And after that, we went to the cafeteria and boy were there options. Burgers, rice, mac and cheese. And don’t get me started on the desserts! Cupcakes, crumb cake, and donuts! Man, I’m going to be stoked eating here for five days.

And finally, after we ate, we were given a briefing on how to behave on the campus and were sent back up to our dorms, where I currently am writing this. This is shaping up to be an exciting, educational, and memorable experience, and I’m already hitting it off with my roommates!

See you tomorrow. God bless, Greg.

—Gregory Valestin, Brooklyn Technical High School