Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Howard University student journalist honored at White House Correspondents' Dinner

Transcript

Howard University student journalist honored at White House Correspondents' Dinner · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the takeout. I know this is a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: program that usually excuse neck times, but you see, it's
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: time to get ready to go to dinner because tonight,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the White House Correspondence Dinner is set to honor student
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: journalists and reporters from across the country, and one of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: those students is already dressed and ready to go, she
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: joins me. Now Howard University's Sonja Lukoma. She is Press
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: secretary of Howard's Student Association student government, right president of
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: their speech and debate team, the founder of the nonprofit
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Brown Kids Read. And they just told me she also
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: happens to be Miss Howard. So you're busy. Yeah right,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: It's a great treat to meet you. Thank you for
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: stopping by before the dinner, because you really embody what
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a big part of what this dinner is about, and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: that is honoring rewarding student journalists and others who are
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: studying journalism in various ways from across the country. And
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: you all had to come back to town if you
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: weren't already here given what happened back in April. I
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: know you were there, and it's funny because I remember
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: that night thinking and I think several of us thought,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, those poor students who were here expecting
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest moments of their young lives, and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: instead they got thrust into something that's sadly too common
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: across the country, but totally unexpected in this setting. What
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: was that night like for you?
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Well, first, when I found out that I won the scholarship,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I was gagged. I did not expect to but I
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: was so honored and excited for the opportunity. And then
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: once we got to the dinner, I was excited because
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I was getting to enjoy my friends along with the
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: honor of being a scholar. My friend's Tati and Madison.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: They're also the scholars from Howard University. So we were vlogging,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: we were taking pictures, and when we went to the dinner,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: we expected to be eating dinner. We didn't expect to
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: be hiding under tables. That ended up being the case.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: But I think overall, but I took away from that
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: night was beyond the politics and the fear. It was
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: really the fact that journalists come together. Because as soon
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: as we got up and we understood what was going on,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: we started doing stand ups and recording the area and
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: trying to document what was actually happening, which I thought
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: was insane, but it was the root of what journalism
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: truly we do.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Right Yeah, in sticks kicked in. What the heck's going on?
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: We better figure out and start telling people right now.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: You're also the executive director of the nonprofit Brown Kids
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Read Yes, which else with child childhood literacy? And you
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: started this when you were a teenager.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I started when I was thirteen.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I was in the seventh grade. And what
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: compelled you to do that?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: I had a conversation when I was twelve with a
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: friend who told me that he didn't like to read
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: books anymore because none of the books in our school
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: district represented young Puerto Rican boys like him. And that
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: broke my heart because my parents were very intentional about
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: providing me with books that were mirrors and windows when
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I was younger, so I was seeing people that represented
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: my life, but I also got exposed to different cultures.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: And when I recognized that his experience was ubiquitous across
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the country, I knew I wanted to do something about it,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: and I wanted to make sure that students not only
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: had books in their hands, but reflected in the stories
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: that they were reading too.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: And I understand you're trying to expand this and open
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: a chapter at Howard.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Yes, So we're opening university chapter applications this fall. We're
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: starting with ten chapters, our ten founding presidents. Howard is
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: going to be one of those schools. So I am
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: so excited because we are multiplying the impact. Right now,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: we've given away over sixteen thousand books, but I really
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: want to Yes, I want to amplify that number. I
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: want to give away a million books over the next
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: five years. So that's the goal. That's what our chapters
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: are going to be working towards.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: And I'm really excited what other universities anticipating will be chapters.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: We haven't accepted applications if.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: You're looking for a couple of weeks.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: But I want to make sure that we're getting a
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: diverse selection of schools. So I want pwys HBCUs, HSIs, PBIS,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: whatever type of school it is. I want those students
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to apply because the bottom line is kids need books,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: kids can't read, and college students are the ones who
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: can do something about it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: And right now, what in your view appears to be
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the biggest barrier to childhood literacy. Is it AI, is
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: it exposure to screens an earlier age.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: I think it's a combination of all those things. So
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: at Bround Kids we do focus. Had a few different issues.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Number one, the representation aspect in the publishing industry right now,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: only about twenty five percent of children's books future main
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: characters of color. That's a problem because seventy five percent
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: is huge, like, it's huge disparity. The second part is
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: making sure that children actually have books in their hands.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: So in lower income communities, parents can't afford to build
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: a bookshelf at home full of books for their kids
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: to read, they don't have time to take them to
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: the library as often as other families do. And then
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: in the schools, we're having less of a focus on
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: literacy on books, and we're moving into more digital forms
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: of learning, and humans don't learn like that. We have
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: to have physical books. So across all those fronts we
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: have an issue. I'm just working to try and solve it.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Well, you're already doing so much, but what is the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: goal Once you're out of Howard oh I, oh my gosh.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: My dream grad program is the HBCU Fellowship at Columbia University,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: so I would really love to go there for grad
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: school to study strategic communications, but I also want to
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: be a talk show host ultimately, so this
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Is really ironic, perfect