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She began her journey in
fourth grade, signing up to
do the school’s televised
morning announcements
and becoming captain of
the news team. She continued her journalism training
through middle school and
high school, honing her
filming, editing, reporting,
photography, and radio skills.
While she loved being a journalist, she was also considering becoming an elementary
school teacher. Tapia said any
doubts she had were quickly
erased after attending the
Journalism in July Workshop
at the University of Texas at
El Paso.
She wrote in her essay,
“After putting together my
video story and seeing the
final result, I knew that this
is definitely my passion. I
absolutely love researching,
interviewing, filming, editing,
writing, and informing people about what is
going on in their community.”
Tapia used her bilingual skills to produce
her video report about a soccer club in the
Segundo Barrio section of El Paso in Spanish.
Tapia wrote, “I am especially interested in
reporting bilingual stories. I grew up in a
Spanish-speaking household and enjoy
speaking the Spanish
language. Especially
because I live in a town
close to the border,
believe that it is
important to also provide
news for those who do
not yet speak English.”
I
XIMENA TAPIA