Author Keke Grant-Floyd (front left), along with Executive Director and Founder of Press Pass NYC Lara Bergen leading the organization’s signature Student Editor Bootcamp for New York City public high school students this past summer.
If you had told me two months ago that I’d be in another fellowship so soon after completing and graduating from two other fellowships, I wouldn’t have believed you. While those experiences were transformative in their own ways, my experience as a Future Leaders in Action Fellow has helped me grow in so many ways that I didn’t expect to happen over the span of twelve weeks. I was nearing the end of my junior year of college when I realized that I didn’t know myself outside of academics. And that I lacked the confidence of the person I wanted to be.
Future Leaders in Action Fellow has helped me grow in so many ways that I didn’t expect to happen over the span of twelve weeks.
After attending an information session with Milly Seraus-Roache, the Executive Director of FLIA, and learning about FLIA’s mission and emphasis on professional leadership, I knew that this fellowship would be the ideal opportunity for me to define myself as a leader.
I was in a 2-year professional development fellowship that helped me trust myself enough to apply to opportunities like Future Leaders in Action so I could take the next step in my journey as a professional and as a person. Journalism is so important, especially in today’s social and political climate, and I was captivated by the Student Journalism Program Fellow position with Press Pass NYC, an organization that brings student newspapers to under-resourced public schools, and the idea that I could have a role in creating a journalism curriculum that will help high school students become more skilled and informed about journalism.
Planning and supervising a journalism program for NYC high schools is a major step in my leadership journey.
Planning and supervising a journalism program for NYC high schools is a major step in my leadership journey. My responsibilities were finding and reaching out to potential workshop speakers, communicating with high school students and ensuring that they were engaging with my emails and messages, and leading discussions with them.
Finally, my team implemented the boot camp program from July 31-August 4, and it went really well. My main goal was to make it an engaging and interactive experience for the fellows, so, on the first day, I felt at ease when the fellows were enjoying an icebreaker that I created. I was inspired by the FLIA bingo card activity that we had during the onboarding week, and I noticed that the fellows were becoming more comfortable with each other afterwards.
The fellows learned about interviewing, writing, editing, ethics, photojournalism, public speaking, and how to run a staff meeting. This fellowship is trying to support high school journalists on their leadership journeys by giving them access to knowledge that will help them grow. It was a great feeling to see them ask questions and try new things during the short time we had together. I saw how passionate and willing they were to learn and improve, and I hope that this fellowship will continue to be a productive and engaging experience for them.