Millions of thoughts crowd the mind of the average pedestrian strolling through New York City: ?It?s so cold out here?Don?t make eye contact with the bums?Oops, I think I just missed my subway station!? The thought process was much the same for the journalism students who traveled to New York City from March 13-19.

Understandably, choosing which class to attend was the last thought on their minds when the students arrived for the first morning of the Annual Scholastic Convention held at Columbia University. Class choices proved difficult, with an eclectic assortment of over twenty classes offered by esteemed guest speakers.

However, there was one class that easily attracted a large attendance of students due to the famous name of its speaker: Gideon Yago. Yago, who graduated from Columbia University, is well known by teens everywhere for his occupation as News Correspondent for MTV [Music Television].

?I was really excited when I saw that Gideon was going to speak! ? Rachel Whipple, ’08, said. ?It was cool because I knew him from TV, so I knew the class would be good because he is young enough to relate to our age group.?

Yago left more with the students than simply a feeling of ?star struck?. Although most of the session was filled with Q&A time, he also shared the inspiring story of how he made his debut into the field of journalistic reporting.

During his time as an undergraduate at Columbia, Yago saw a sign-up sheet for a contest with MTV and decided to enter, simply because he had previously entered another contest where he received a backpack. Little did he know that this simple act would land him the opportunity of a lifetime.

For the contest, MTV gave Yago and the other competing students video cameras and orders to cover a section of the presidential debates and conventions of 2000, which were currently in session.

However, when Yago got word that alongside one of the conventions there was going to be a rally for Klu Klux Klan members in the New York area, he followed his instincts by reporting on the life of a teenage boy who was a member of the hate group. This daring and unique approach to journalism won him the contest with MTV and landed him the job that would make him famous.

?Gideon?s story was really encouraging,? Melissa Jimenez, ?05, said. ?It proves that any young person can actually make it in reporting.?

Since his career launch with MTV, Yago has demonstrated his commitment for his job numerous times, most notably when he traveled overseas to report on the forefront of the war in Iraq.

Yago believes that youth should be up to date with worldwide news and understands his responsibility to deliver it to them. He is quoted as saying in an article on www.Columbia.edu, ?Our job is not to indoctrinate, our job is to inform. We take that very seriously.?

It is because of this diligence and his commitment to spreading the news that Yago has become a role model to aspiring youth everywhere.

For more information on Yago, visit the following websites:
www.college.columbia.edu/cct/sep03/profiles2.php, www.mtv.com or www.columbia.edu/cu/cspa/.