A collage: 1. A women working at a desk with recording equipment; 2. Two journalism students working on computer monitors.

When I first came to NYU, I never dreamed I would study journalism. But, before I knew it, I fell in love with storytelling. Now I get to find and tell stories in one of the greatest cities for journalism in the world. 

I started at NYU in the Liberal Studies program, where I studied broad topics from philosophy to economics. After my second year, I intended to transition to Stern’s economics program, but my first-year writing course quickly changed my mind. My writing professor was a nonfiction writer. She taught us how to write journalistically and find the heart of a story in the world around us. I decided to take another course with her the second semester of my first year. By that May, I knew I wanted to write stories myself.

I enrolled in NYU Journalism Institute courses and found that studying journalism at NYU is more exciting than I could have ever imagined. Through rigorous and thrilling classes, I covered new and interesting stories about all different types of people in New York City.

One course in particular, Journalistic Inquiry: The Written Word (one of the five core courses for the Journalism major), challenged me to write a story every week. We were assigned to cover just about every topic you can imagine. From small New York businesses surviving during the COVID-19 pandemic to Tax Day in the United States. 

A profile on Hannah Rimm, Refinery29 associate editor of Money Diaries, was one of my favorite pieces. Rimm joined our class so we could conduct a live, group interview with her. Interviewing an editor of such a famous media platform blew my mind. Yet, that was simply another day in an NYU Journalism class. 

Getting Involved in Journalism on Campus
Washington Square Park near NYU.

Out of the hundreds of clubs at NYU, many journalism students join school publications where they can write and publish stories of their own. I joined NYU Local, where I started to cover stories weekly on top of my journalism class assignments. 

Soon enough I was writing stories about the New York City mayoral race, interviewing New York public school teachers on new COVID-19 restrictions, and creating visitor guides for all the city’s different art museums. In one article, I interviewed the owner of the oldest pub in New York City for St. Patrick’s Day and peered into the city’s wild history.

To put it lightly, studying journalism at NYU has been an amazing, wild ride! Whether it is interacting with the top-notch faculty or discovering the infinite amount of unbelievable stories, studying journalism at NYU has shown me so much about the storytelling world while also making me a stronger writer.

The NYU Journalism Institute encourages students to immerse themselves in the city and get their work out there. And although I am only in my third year, I can confidently say I have experienced just that. For example, I am now the breaking news editor for the school publication I write for. And I often pitch stories to CooperSquared, an NYU online publication for undergraduate students.

Although I still have two more years left of my academic journey, I feel like I have already learned so much as a writer and reporter. From photographing protests to interviewing celebrities, studying journalism at NYU helped me grow tenfold in my capability as a journalist. Looking ahead, I can’t wait to see what future stories are to come and how my classes will develop in the ever-changing New York City. But it probably won’t take too long. After all, in New York City, there is a story around every corner.

Jaden is a senior at NYU studying Public Policy with a minor in Economics. During his time at NYU he has been involved in multiple on-campus roles such as breaking news editor for NYU Local and Head of Marketing for the NYU Economics Society. After graduation he wishes to pursue a career in in policy or finance. In his free time, Jaden loves to hike, explore new food spots around the city, and catch the latest A24 movie