Rojas '10 bound for NYT Institute in January

Rick Rojas '10, a sophomore political science major from Beaumont and the Battalion's enterprise editor, is one of 20 students selected for the January 2008 New York Times Institute on Student Journalism, Jan. 2-12 at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He said he applied after hearing about the program from Kathleen McElroy '81.

Rick, who's also served as city editor for the Batt, will be focusing on reporting while he's there. I asked him to tell me a little about the program and he kindly did so:

The New York Times Institute on Student Journalism is a program offered twice a year — once for student members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the other for students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The one in January, which I am attending, is for NAHJ.

From what I understand, the participants work with editors and reporters from The Times and The Boston Globe, and we put out a publication of some sort for the sake of clips. I'm not sure if it's daily or weekly or just one for the entire two weeks.

Ms. McElroy told me about the program.

I'm really looking forward to going because having such talented people teach me and critically review my writing will be extremely helpful. Plus, I would love to work for someplace like the Times...and meeting people there may help me get my foot in the door for the future!