She grabbed her favorite sparkling lime green scarf from Brazil, checked the closet for her Indian-influenced high-waisted pants and then opened her refrigerator with the almost 20 magnets she grabbed on her travels.

“I pick up a knickknack anywhere I go,” Bolanle Omisore, 26, said. “I try to stay grounded equally in the present, past and future; so whenever I travel, I like to find something vintage as well as something new.”

Omisore’s enthusiasm for travel extends through her education.

She is a master’s candidate at New York University’s journalism school in the Reporting New York Program, but she didn’t always know she had a passion for meeting hard deadlines and chasing down the story.

“I was working for BET, managing digital content,” Omisore said. “I always knew I had to be on the other side of it all.”

Omisore has wasted no time breaking into the industry by snagging two internships in only two semesters of study. In the fall she worked for Giant magazine, and she now interns for ABC’s “Nightline.” She has a zeal for broadcast journalism and enjoys covering stories of underground culture; her latest was on the increasing popularity of extreme tattoos.

“I met some interesting characters and produced an audio slideshow I am very proud of,” she said.

Omisore is also very proud of her Nigerian background. She always tries to find an excuse to go back and visit family and friends, often pushing to go when news breaks. After she receives her degree in December, she plans to head to Nigeria to do the year of youth service that is required to work in the country.

“My dream is to become a foreign correspondent in Nigeria for an American outlet,” she said.

Omisore hopes the Student Journalism Institute will put her on the right track to not only sharpen her skills, but also do some networking.

“I’m really excited to have found my greater purpose in life,” she said. “I want to be the best, and this institute provides access to the best and the brightest.”

– Amanda VanAllen

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