Our next coming chapter has latino based news organization

The reason they are joining:

Raymond Ruiz said: “We believe that creating a strong NAHJ chapter at the University of
Houston campus is critical to developing the talented student journalists
UHELGATO.com needs to be an elite publication.  By working togetherand
enlisting local support, we will make UH the top Hispanic Journalism
program in the country”.

Here’s an article about their news organization and website by Sinai Tirado

Making Headway in the Journalism World

 El Gato, a Latino based news organization developed by UH students, seeks to make headway in the journalism world through its concerns of Latino issues and other ongoing current events. It recently launched its website-www.uhelgato.com-by providing articles and columns on matters of politics, literature, sports, romance, and culture thanks to a handful of staff members.

El Gato has come a long way from its initial publication of newsletters. Its members have built an organization that works along side the community and other media outlets to provide a wide range of publications and improve media coverage of Latinos while sustaining high journalism standards.

Members are guided to effectively deliver interviews and use proper article formats. This facilitates each member’s ability to follow a concise structure which they can build upon. According to El Gato Director Ray Ruiz, “we want to get the fundamentals down; then, be able to manipulate them to create something new that can be effective.”

One of the aspects that make the organization effective is its close ties with the community. In fact, many of El Gato member credit their success to the community. As one of the creators of El Gato, Edgar Veliz, sustains an important role in community events for he says, “we would not be here without other people having helped us.” Not only that, El Gato wants to be involved with the people and events it covers to better understand their mission and perspectives.

Members have also kept close ties with other media organizations. Some of these organizations include The Daily Cougar, Houston Association of Hispanic Media Professionals (H.A.H.M.P.), the D.R.E.A.M. Act Coalition, and Arte Público Press.

Although some students view El Gato as a competitor to the Daily Cougar, El Gato collaborates with the university newspaper and respects its accomplishments. “We hope to gain the number of hits that the Daily Cougar sustains on a daily basis,” mentions Ruiz “their following acts as a benchmark for what we want our numbers to reach.”

To ensure its success, members want to increase the number of events covered, involve students from other universities, aid high school students with an interest in journalism, and build on staff members. Ideas are constantly welcomed, whether they are from readers or members.

You can see more at www.uhelgato.com

Soy latino y después comunicador

Por: Jose Antonio Acevedo-Cuevas

Más allá de una simple letra que simboliza la unión de los latinos, la Asociación Nacional de Periodistas Hispanos (NAHJ) tiene el propósito de unir a estudiantes interesados en las distintas áreas de las comunicaciones con su símbolo de la ñ. Quedó comprobado cuando muchos de nosotros pudimos participar como testigos y cómplices para envolver, abrazar y reinventar el periodismo a través del Internet y los nuevos portales cibernéticos para juntos atravesar esta nueva era mediática. Todo esto, gracias a la vigesimoséptima  convención anual de la Organización celebrada en San Juan, Puerto Rico.  

Como una de las mejores experiencias obtenidas, puedo relatar que me siento muy orgulloso de ser parte de esta Asociación que ayuda a los estudiantes en su formación profesional como periodistas en prensa, televisión, radio e incluso como productores y directores. Desde el 21 hasta el 29 de junio de 2009 pude ser partícipe de los seminarios especializados, la feria de empleo y el  “Student Campus” cuya misión es introducir a los estudiantes en esta disciplina con distintos talleres, conferencias con profesionales, entrenamientos y trabajos especiales como reportajes escritos y proyectos audiovisuales. Fuimos nosotros, un grupo seleccionado de 23 estudiantes de distintas nacionalidades, quienes dimos la talla para trabajar en este proyecto gracias a la ayuda indiscutible de cinco mentores: George Ramos, Rosa Morales, Lourdes Lugo Ortíz, Jeannie Claudio y Nadesha Karina González. 

Fue a través de esta experiencia cuando pude volver a identificarme primero como latino porque es parte de mi identidad, de mi patria y de quién soy; es a través del periodismo y la producción audiovisual donde puedo forjarme como profesional, comunicador y humanista. Es ahora cuando cada uno de nosotros tenemos que preguntarnos sobre el futuro que le depara al periodismo, indagar posibles soluciones para continuar hacia adelante este quehacer y echar a un lado las incertidumbres. Son los periodistas, escritores, editores, directores y productores quienes tienen en sus manos el presente y futuro; y somos nosotros, toda una nueva generación, la encargada en mantener la vida del periodismo de ahora en adelante. 

Muchas gracias a todos los que colaboraron para que esta experiencia fuera de aprovechamiento académico estudiantil y profesional. Fue la fuerza hispana la que nos unió en un solo lugar y es la gratitud la que nos une como seres humanos.  

Totalmente agradecido,  

José Antonio Acevedo-Cuevas 
Estudiante 
Universidad de Puerto Rico 
Recinto de Río Piedras

Volunteers Go Abroad to Help Children in Need

By: Juliana Jimenez

Pablo could have had anything he wanted for Christmas – toys, clothes, money.

But he didn’t want any of it.

Angelica Suarez, 25, told 8-year-old Pablo, a boy from the slums of Medellín, Colombia, to ask for whatever he wanted, and his “friends” from the University of Florida would do anything to get it for him.



“I want a hug,” Pablo said.



Pablo’s answer changed Suarez’s life.



A year before Suarez met Pablo, when she was vice president at UF’s Colombian Student Association (COLSA) in 2003, she found she “had a very big problem,” she said. “I didn’t like throwing parties for no reason.”



COLSA was renowned for its parties, which attracted scores of people and raised hundreds of dollars. 



She decided to use this money for a good cause, and Children Beyond Our Borders (CBOB) was born.



CBOB started as a small committee. 


It then developed into a UF student organization. 



Now, six years later, it is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) planning its sixth trip to Colombia from August 8-22, 2009. 



Suarez, founder and now vice-president of CBOB, said in her first trip with CBOB she found the inspiration to keep working hard for the organization.



“It changed my life,” she said. “Pablo made me understand my reason for living.”



CBOB’s first trip was in the summer of 2004. 



Five UF students took 300 pounds of clothes and 200 pounds of toys to Medellín, Colombia, which they had raised during the school year.



The NGO carries out two annual projects in Colombia: one to Medellin, in August, and another in Cartagena, in May.



“I am debating who has more fun, the kids or the volunteers,” she said. “The kids teach us more things than we can teach them.” 



Musician and singer Sandra Esmeralda Rivera also started her own not-for-profit initiative. 



She created Más Allá de las Fronteras, or Beyond Frontiers, a traveling musical workshop in towns around Colombia’s borders for children who have been displaced by civil war. 



In 2003, Rivera traveled with her husband, John Triana, and other members of her band, to Puerto Obaldía, a Panamanian fishing town that can only be accessed by boat. 



The town was a ramshackle collection of about 50 huts, with no water or electricity, Rivera said.



“Many of the kids couldn’t read or write -some of them could barely speak right,” she said.

 

“These children were basically growing in the wild.” 



For two weeks, Beyond Frontiers taught children how to play different instruments, Rivera said. 



These instruments- guitars, flutes, tambourines, maracas, and others – they gave to the children as a present at the end of the workshop. 



            Though Rivera gives these instruments to the children, the effects of volunteering many times “are not tangible,” said Rew Woodruff, life skills coordinator and career counselor for University Athletic Association (UAA) student athletes at UF. 



Woodruff helps coordinate activities between student athletes and children from local schools.



“It’s more of an emotional thing,” Woodruff said. “You can always say you’re too busy, but in reality, there’s always time.”



Students who want to volunteer helping children abroad can register with CBOB in November for the May 2010 trip to Cartagena. 



Volunteer service can also complement students’ careers. 



At CBOB, students can work in public relations, marketing, program development and grant writing.



The level of involvement depends on the student’s enthusiasm, Suarez said.



“We try to see the person’s individual skills,” she said. “The experience is not only to go outside the country and see places; it also allows you to expand your creativity.”



Suarez said volunteers who travel undergo a transformation. Sometimes, the effect is more amazing in the volunteers than in the children.



This is especially true of Suarez, who decided to do her master’s degree in public administration because she understood this was the way to help children like Pablo.



“I know I can die in peace now,” Suarez said. “I know someone will continue helping these children.”

 Juliana Jimenez was born in Bogotá, Colombia, 22 years ago. She moved to South Florida in 2000, and is now a journalism senior at the University of Florida in Gainesville. There she works as a photographer for the Florida Independent Alligator, the largest student-run newspaper in the nation, and as a Spanish writer and photographer for UF’s multi-lingual magazine The Anole.