Broadcasting.

It’s my life.

Actually, it really isn’t my whole life—family, school, and sports do make up a lot of my daily routine—but, as I look back at all of my experiences from Middle School until today, broadcasting makes up a lot of what I am today.

Or, at the very least, broadcasting feels like it saved my life.

As a middle school student, I was your run-of-the-mill Dominican story: a kid who had lived his whole life on an island finally gets his opportunity to live in the United States as his parents try to fulfill the American Dream.

All the symptoms of Welcome-to-America Syndrome were there: a hard time interacting with students, the struggle to get used to the different kinds of music and attitudes, and being constantly reminded that “what you did there is not the same here”. In fact, I still occasionally get startled by the school bell—something my old school never even considered to implement.

The only catch: this was already my culture to begin with.

Even though my parents are Hispanic and I lived in the Dominican Republic for six years, I am, in fact, a first generation American.

I had lived in the state of New Jersey from my birth until I was three, when my parents decided to obtain medical degrees overseas, which called for an early cultural transition period in my life. Despite my experiences on the island, I was later forced to be Americanized again and enter yet another period of cultural adoption. When I finally came back to my country of birth, I entered this middle state—a struggle to find my identity: a green-eyed, white faced Hispanic with the mannerisms and accent of a third world country boy that has lived on a field his whole life. What culture do I identify with? What kind of friends should I have? Should I be in ESL classes? What language should I have my TV set to? Should I keep writing in script? Or should I learn how to type instead?

The dilemma made me feel lonely, as if I was the only one who didn’t belong anywhere, until I shy-fully avoided both my new american classmates and my fellow Spanish speaking friends, whom I hardly came in contact with. In fact, my isolation was so bad, I had better relations and friendships with teachers than I did with actual classmates throughout 6th grade, even through the school’s annual “6th Grade Camp”.

My character changed, however, once I discovered the school’s TV studio in seventh grade.

At first becoming a part of the school’s Morning Report team for the sake of joining a club, I slowly began to become more open and receptive of the people around me. I worked with cameras, then prepared slide shows, and eventually learned all of the audio visual components to the Morning Report. I was so skilled, in fact, that I eventually became the Friday announcer, and made a name for myself not only in the Studio, but in the whole school as the TV Guy.

I will never forget such a lively and complete experience like the one I had making a name for myself in school after starting so enclosed and to myself. I came off a plane from a third world country, worked hard, and stayed diligent. Now, many years later, now I a professional, doing what I love and, hopefully, starting what is going to be an amazing broadcasting career.

It’s like I’m living the American Dream.

Ever since I entered that first TV studio during middle school, I knew that I wanted to be a part of producing live content that influences hundreds, if not thousands, of people that live around me. But more importantly, though, journalism—more specifically broadcasting—is able to help me with my biggest personal hurdle: getting to speak to people.

The newsroom is a place where ideas come together and people are able to express themselves the way that they should. This was—and still is—the best place where I can contribute my mixed experience of living in the Dominican Republic, living in the United States, and learning to both give and take two of the most polar-opposite moments of my life.

Even better? I was finally able to open up to other people my age. Broadcasting and my experience as an anchor became a common thread for discussion with many of my new friends, and my continued appreciation for the news helped me to further understand the culture and actions around me that used to seem, ironically, so foreign and far-apart. Now, as of today, I’m more social, more aware, and, most of all, more grateful than ever of all the things that broadcasting has done to change my life for the better and open it up for the world to see.

Journalism is all about getting to know the people in one’s surroundings, their situations, and what keeps them going through hard times. That way, his society can become more harmonic and aware of the situations around him. With every person, there is a story, and it is my goal to find them and share them…

..con todos.