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A taste of the Big Apple

By Sophie Caldwell, age 16 | August 1, 2017

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NEWS IN NEW YORK Sophie Caldwell, a rising junior at St. John’s School, spent a week at Columbia University this summer for a journalism program.

The taxi driver dropped us off on the curb, waiting patiently as we hauled our suitcases out of the trunk before peeling off and vanishing around the corner. My friend and I looked around, mystified, before finally locating the gates of Columbia University just down the street.

This summer, I and three other journalists on my school newspaper, The Review, headed to NYC for a weeklong journalism program at Columbia. As a rising junior, I had never visited any colleges, and so the idea of living in dorms on a college campus was exciting.

Due to a last-minute location change, we were housed in single rooms in the John Jay dormitory. I was delighted to have a room to myself, but less so to discover that there were only seven bathrooms per floor.

Nevertheless, I was in heaven. Class began at 9:30 a.m., but I rose at 7 a.m. in order to make a morning coffee run, often with several friends on my floor. We watched the city grind to life from our favorite café, Samad’s, and explored Morningside Heights’ myriad restaurants and coffeehouses.

As an aspiring journalist, I was determined to make the most of my classes. We were instructed to start a blog on the first day, and I posted each assignment religiously. As someone used to more generous deadlines, the 24-hour turnaround on 800-word assignments was initially difficult, but I became accustomed to producing quality work on short notice.

My favorite piece was a group project for which we were allowed to choose our own subject. My group decided to interview street vendors in the area. I knew exactly which vendor I wanted to interview, a used-book seller who had a table in front of a restaurant I liked. He was absolutely fascinating. He had attended Columbia, played in a band in the ’70s (he knew the Ramones!), written for Circus magazine and published two books.

At the end of my stay, I was sad to leave the beautiful campus and my brilliant friends, but I loved the experience so much that I will definitely return next year.

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