At State Conferences last January and February, YMCA Texas Youth and Government students elected a new slate of officers to serve them during the 2018-2019 program year. We’ll be featuring an interview with each officer on our blog in upcoming weeks. Next up: Print Editor-in-Chief Gloria Ogunlade! Earlier this month, Gloria represented Texas YG and Duncanville High School at the Conference on National Affairs in North Carolina. Above, she is pictured with her fellow media delegates (far right, bottom row).
Share a little about your experience providing media coverage at CONA. What stands out about the experience?
Being a part of the media team at CONA, I got to experience all the life-changing spirit of the Blue Ridge Mountains while also participating in the most realistic coverage I’ve ever been a part of. I had the opportunity to work with facilitators with years of experience in the field that shared the same love of politics and story-telling news. The content we were able to put out at CONA was extremely professional, so it was great for me personally because I was able to learn and take away many tools from my week on the Mountain. Spending the majority of the day with other media delegates, I was able to learn about other YG media programs and make lifelong friendships. While there are countless things that made CONA such a unique experience for me, I’d say these new relationships and strong bonds I made with delegates I’d spent less than a week with are what stand out the most.
What draws you to print media over other forms?
To me, print media allows for the most in-depth coverage– stories can be as long and detailed as necessary. Print media can also present more of a challenge because it is more difficult to get people to be engaged with longer articles or blogs, but being able to present a good story from all angles makes it worth it and makes me proud of the final product.
What is your favorite content that you have created for YG media thus far and why?
My favorite content I’ve created for YG media would have to be a delegate profile I wrote for CONA on my friend and fellow delegate (Jariah Cole — read here!). It was fun and interesting for me to construct because it was a story that was somewhat personal for me, and it was important to me to highlight my friend and shine light on her achievements.
Besides CONA, what else is keeping you busy this summer?
Following CONA, I went on a roadtrip and was able to tour some out-of-state colleges. For the rest of my summer, I plan on hanging out with my friends, participating in as much community service as possible, and also doing a lot of studying for my SAT and ACT to prepare for a very busy senior year right around the corner.