Olga N. Castro

Olga Nicole Castro, 20, is a junior undergraduate student at Florida International University pursuing a bachelor's degree in journalism and international relations. During her time at the university, her interaction with students of different ethnicities and religions allowed her to develop an interest in Middle Eastern affairs and Islam. As a nine-year-old elementary student, the images of September 11 and the impending wars stayed with Castro. Her effort to understand the ethnic and religious implications of the events of the time sparked her curiosity later on in adulthood. She aspires to be a foreign correspondent who will influence the progress towards a consensus between groups who have been at war for long periods of time-- a consensus in which the lines between government and civilian, white and black, Sunni and Shia will blur. Castro joined the South Florida News Service during the summer of 2012 and consequently began her internship with The Miami Herald in the fall. She is one of the SJMC's 2012-2013 Janet Chusmir Memorial Scholarship recipients. During her first two years at FIU, she gained experience as a reporter for The Beacon, the university's newspaper, and was an assistant news director for a semester. She began writing toward the end of her senior year at Coral Gables High School, when she won a Regional Gold Key at the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards for a feature written on Bernardo Villela, a Miami Dentist who was aiding Guatemalans during the drought that hit the country in 2009. After graduating in 2014, she plans on continuing her education by attending graduate school for a master's degree in Middle Eastern Studies.