(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… Continue reading Move-in day extravaganza!

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… Continue reading Day 2: Seeing through the lens

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… Continue reading Ending the third day with a Ducks game

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… Continue reading The importance of local news

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… Continue reading Field trip!

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… Continue reading Tour of Newsday and interviewing at Ducks’ stadium

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… Continue reading Greene Team move-in day

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,… Continue reading Breaking: Greene Team on TV

Today, for the second of six days here at Stony Brook, we all participated in a full, long day mostly within the newsroom. We had presentations by about topics including ledes, podcasting, shooting video, and using a DSLR camera (which we got to mess around with hands-on outside) Food today was solid. I had some… Continue reading Day 2: Hands-on shooting and an Instagram ‘takeover’

Day two done! Today was a fun intro day where we went over some basics, learned about the importance of local news, and learned all about podcasting. I started my day at 7 when I woke up and quickly showered. I then moved downstairs at around 8 and convened with the rest of the group… Continue reading Day 2: Learning ledes, hanging out

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… Continue reading Day 3: A different view on Black success

The Greene Team began on Monday, July 27, with a captivating lecture by a journalist who reported on the 1970s Watergate scandal and witnessed the field of journalism evolve.  Dini Diskin-Zimmerman, a broadcast journalist who has been in the field for decades, spoke to the group about her wealth of experience in a changing —… Continue reading Journalism: Changes past and present

The start of the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalists program was so fun! As soon as I arrived, I was given a T-shirt, my badge, and a welcome bag. After checking in, I went to the lounge area where I was able to speak to my fellow student journalists. We also… Continue reading The beginning of an exciting journey

Today, I arrived pretty damn late to the scene. We did see some deer when entering, though, which was nice. My mom and dad accompanied me while unpacking my room. They snapped a few photos of me in the dorm room for memories, and hugged me goodbye. I was initially very nervous. I had to… Continue reading First day at Greene: Education and ice cream

Today, July 26, 2026, was the first of my six days at the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalist. Even though I hadn’t packed until the very last minute, I managed to get all my clothing, electronics, snacks, water, bedding, hygiene and bathroom products, and camera set up in my duffel bag… Continue reading The first-day experience: A small start to a big week

Many people get homesick when being away for a period of time. However, I’m not that type of person. Moving-in day at Stony Brook University was exciting for me, as I love experiencing new things. As a student journalist and the editor-in-chief of my school newspaper, I was intrigued when my paper’s advisor sent me… Continue reading The start of an exciting week

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… Continue reading 2026 Greene Institute: El primero día

Today in the afternoon, I arrived at Stony Brook University. Check-in at Hendrix Hall was smooth and orientation was short and sweet. I started talking to other people on the walk to the newsroom, including people who I recognized from the orientation in June. By the time we were in the newsroom, everyone was talking… Continue reading Day 1 at the Greene program

Sunday, July 26, was the first day of the 2026 Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalism program. It was also the first time I’ve visited Stony Brook University’s campus, despite living only 15 minutes away.  My first impression was certainly a positive one. Right next to Hendrix Hall, where the dorms are… Continue reading Stepping onto the Stony Brook campus

The first day here at the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalists was full of information and fun! I started off the day at around 2:30 p.m. by checking into my room in the A dorm. I was lucky enough to get the only single in my suite, so that was a… Continue reading The first day: Full of information and fun

Our first day started with a quick unpacking followed by a longer-than-expected wait. The team took no time to get right into learning. The opening presentations were informative and we learned how to log into the website we’d be using for the next week. The walks back and forth from the buildings were relaxing, and… Continue reading The first day: Unpacking, waiting, walking, and learning