2000

The fi nancial support the IAPA gave me allowed me to begin one of my major academic and professional goals: to earn a graduate degree in the United States.

I studied at the University of Texas, Austin. During the fi rst semester I also received a scholarship to work as a research assistant in the Latin America Network Information Center and later at the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Both jobs helped me fi nish my graduate studies -- specializing in new research topics in journalism -- handle academic English, and broaden my professional opportunities.

I was hired by the OAS’Foundation for the Americas to manage development programs aimed at promoting freedom of expression and access to public information among journalists, media, universities, civil society organizations and governments. I have worked primarily in Central America and currently work with radio journalists in Nicaraguan towns.

The IAPA turned my dreams into reality. I dreamt of studying in the U.S., especially when I thought of  practicing my knowledge of English, and of how happy it would make my parents. The nine months of studies at the University of Missouri, Columbia, were very rewarding. I learned and, modesty aside, I helped with my journalistic experience.

I took theory and practical classes and had the opportunity to be the reporter and editor of a magazine in English and a bilingual magazine called Adelante. I also produced a bilingual radio program La Hora Latina. None of this would have been possible without the help of the scholarship. I returned to Peru very happy with the experiences gained and ready to apply them to in my work.

 I studied at Boston University. The scholarship was a unique opportunity to learn, from the academic perspective, how to cover a story, how sources work, and what the world of a journalists is like in the United States. This period of study not only presented personal challenges but allowed me to learn, in another language, strategies that I have adopted in my career. The scholarship forced me to mature, to be responsible in an America that was foreign to me. I  emember with gratitude those from the IAPA who accompanied me during the process and believe that opportunities are there for other youth. If he perseveres, a student’s own initiative will lead him to discover these opportunities.

Today I work in television, and thanks to the scholarship I learned information strategies, strategic research, and how to be assertive in the newsroom. My work involves mixed media, journalism and public relations. The scholarship was the beginning of the reinvention of a profession that, as technology advances, either faces the challenges and survives with multiple resources, or it disappears.