Giving back to the next generation

(the 2009 class of NEHSJC)

I recently took some time off the campaign trail to go back to my home state of Massachusetts.

I was the keynote speaker for the New England High School Journalism Collaborative (NEHSJC) on Tuesday, June 30. The ceremony was held at Regis College in Weston, Mass.

In 1996, when I was a bright-eyed, bushy-head high school junior at Brockton High, I participated in what was then the UMASS-Boston High School Journalism workshop. The program grew and was later renamed as the New England High School Journalism Collaborative. Even with a name change, the NEHSJC has one constant characteristic and that is the leadership of Carole Remick, the program's director.



(myself and Carole Remick)

Founded in 1987 the New England High School Journalism Collaborative (NEHSJC) is a non-profit organization that provides educational opportunities to high school students wishing to improve their writing skills and learn journalism techniques from professional writers. In collaboration with the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, Regis College, the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Partners in Print, and professional journalists, the NEHSJC is able to offer an annual summer workshop, free of charge, to qualified high school students. The week long workshop provides an opportunity for these students to improve their writing and learn journalism techniques.

Since 1987, Remick has directed the program and when she asked me to come back and speak to the high school students...I immediately said "Yes" forgetting for a second that I was 1) on vacation and 2) I had planned to make a couple of NABJ campaign stops on the East Coast.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for the work Remick has done and I don't know if I can ever repay her for accepting me into the program in 1996. Nevertheless, I couldn't change my RSVP to Remick. I have always been a man of word...so for this one time vacation, NABJ and the NABJ Elections had to wait. I took a 4-hour bus ride from the Port Authority in New York City to South Station in Boston, Mass. I then had my best friend pick me up and bring me to my mother's house in Brockton, Mass. I then drove my mother's car to Weston, Mass. So, after 6 hours and 30 minutes on the road, I finally reached my destination.

I told Remick I would do it all over again...all she has to do is ask me.


(Milton Valencia, former NEHSJC participant, Carole Remick, Mannie Fernandez, former NEHSJC participant and myself)