I’m in! Yes! Ahhh!

After applying a couple months ago, I got a call from The New York Times at school. Just moments earlier, I was stressing from finals week in class. I was on break when I got the call.

The phone rang and I looked down at it to see who it was. The area code was outside the 415.

(Now, I normally don’t answer calls outside San Francisco as I tend to be the dummy who signs up for everything at marketer’s tables for the free samples - mostly branded pens and goody bags of, well, more pens. I have a constant stream of calls of people urging to buy, buy, buy!)

But, my gut said “answer.”

It was the best decision I’ve made that day.

The program director called to let me know I’ve been accepted into the institute. My stressful day completely turned right-side up. The director could hear it in my voice how excited I was and he laughed.

I thought I was dreaming. The New York Times. THE NEW YORK TIMES!

The all-expenses paid two-week program begins in mid-May in scorching hot Tucson, Arizona.

My skin is somewhat lighter than most, but I do tan well!

I’m incredibly honored to be among a couple dozen journalists, among those a few photographers, accepted into the New York Times Student Journalism Institute.

During the institute, I’ll have the opportunity to photograph newsworthy events and be supervised by reporters and editors from The New York Times as I learn to produce material that meets the standards of the most prestigious and demanding news organizations in the nation.

Here’s the images I submitted in my application. The maximum was six and it was damn hard to select those six from my entire portfolio.

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