The people who attend the School of Authentic Journalism have brave souls

Maybe your contribution can help point another student in the right direction

By Mariana Rebuá Simoes
School of Authentic Journalism, Class of 2010

February 11, 2016

When I first heard of the School of Authentic Journalism in 2010 I was just a kid. Like any other 19 year old attending liberal arts college, I was looking to change my life and find my place in the world.

I was lost and didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I hoped that if I attended enough classes at my prestigious school, that I would feel my heart skip a beat during a lecture and know exactly what career path I wanted to follow.

My heart did eventually skip a beat in one of my classrooms, but not in the way that I had imagined. My Latin American Politics professor had invited a man by the name of Al Giordano to give a talk on campus. During the lecture Giordano announced that he was running a school for journalists that taught the skills they needed to write people powered stories about social movements around the world. I was intriguied and knew I had to apply to be a student at his school. I spent the next week or so locked up in my room writing what ended up being the most difficult applicationI had written yet. The application was so unique and unlike anything I had done up to that point in life that it took me longer to write than even my college application had.

After being accepted Giordano’s school transported me to a whole new world where I met a wide array of journalists from all over the world who fought to use the media to out the truth about injustices comitted in their home lands. They each taught me something unique about the power of storytelling and how it could change the way people see and understand a conflict. The most powerful thing about the School of Authentic Journalism is that regarldess of who played the role of the teacher and who played the role of the student in the school, everyone was constantly learning all the time.

The people who attend have brave souls. Far braver than I had ever been and it both left me in awe at the stories I had heard, and inspired me to take action.

At the School of Authentic Journalism I had been introduced to a whole new way of looking at the world and I couldn’t bear the tought of spending the rest of the year in another school thousands of miles away where I wouldn’t be learning half as much.

If a week in Mexico was able to change my life, just imagine what it has done for the hundreds of other journalists that attended the school over the years. The school produces a multiplying effect that spreads to those who experience it and beyond.

The catch? Lives can’t be transformed without the us investing our time and energy into this growing project. This program can’t surive without your help. If you want to have this experience and help give life to people powered story-telling then we need your contibution. Help keep this inspiring project going for years to come. Maybe your contribution can help point another student in the right direction.

Join the Kickstarter campaign or go to authenticjournalism.org to learn more about the school.

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