Nov. 10, 2023
By Zahara Chowdhury
Editor
During the previous two school years, The Lighthouse’s former editors-in-chief Emilia Calabrese and Adriana Rodriguez spent countless hours authoring articles and laying out monthly issues of The Lighthouse. Now, as college freshmen, they have stepped away from their reporting roles and design responsibilities to focus on another one of their interests: law.
Calabrese is majoring in Interdisciplinary Business with a minor in Law, Politics and Philosophy at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. She said she discovered her passion for this area of study after working at Florio Kenny Raval, a law firm in Lyndhurst, and taking Advanced Placement Comparative Government and Politics and AP U.S. Government and Politics at LHS. She is also a member of TCNJ’s Prelaw Society, a student-run pre-professional club focused on providing information about current events, law and the law school application process.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, Calabrese said she plans to attend law school.
“TCNJ has a partnership program with Villanova Law School that caught my attention, and it is one of the things that factored into my decision to attend TCNJ,” Calabrese said. “Ideally, I would like to participate in the 3+3 program.”
The 3+3 pathway allows TCNJ students to spend three years at TCNJ and three years at Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law in Pennsylvania to earn their bachelor’s and juris doctor degrees.
Calabrese said she misses her high school friends, particularly because her parents no longer live in Lyndhurst. However, she said she enjoys living in a dorm and meeting new people.
“While I loved living in Lyndhurst for basically my entire life, it’s nice to have the opportunity to branch out and put myself in a new environment…. Currently, I am living in the dorm building that houses the most freshmen at TCNJ,” Calabrese said. “Being able to form friendships with the people in my building and on my floor especially has been such a fun experience.”
Calabrese said she encourages members of The Lighthouse staff to make the most of their time in high school.
“Once you reach your senior year and graduation, your life will start moving extremely fast. Do not hold back from trying new things, even if it means you might be a little uncomfortable at first,” Calabrese said. “It is better to try something new and fail than to not try at all.”
“While I loved living in Lyndhurst for basically my entire life, it’s nice to have the opportunity to branch out and put myself in a new environment.”
Calabrese is not on the staff of TCNJ’s weekly newspaper, The Signal, but she plans on joining when she fully adjusts to her workload. Calabrese said compared to high school publications, college publications are more demanding.
She said despite the effort it requires, getting involved in scholastic journalism is worthwhile because conducting interviews and writing professional emails teach students communication skills.
“The Lighthouse has also taught me how to write in a way that I can express ideas clearly and coherently, [which] is important for writing essays in college,” Calabrese said. “I have also learned how to efficiently work in teams. This has been really helpful because I have had a lot of classes that required group assignments.”
Rodriguez attends Montclair State University, where she is majoring in Jurisprudence, Law and Society and minoring in Child Advocacy and Policy. Like Calabrese, Rodriguez said being part of The Lighthouse prepared her for her postsecondary education.
“Revising papers and developing arguments have become second nature to me because of The Lighthouse,” Rodriguez said. “One of my honors classes had assigned an essay, and the professor emphasized how the introduction should capture his attention. Writing a good lead is something [adviser] Ms. Pastor drilled into me, and I was able to write an attention-grabbing introduction, which helped me earn a good grade.”
Rodriguez said she decided to study law because of her interest in history, representation and research. She said after taking the early college course Introduction to Education at LHS last year, she knew she wanted children to be an aspect of her university education.
Rodriguez said her favorite class this semester is an honors seminar called 20th Century Civilization.
“It is an interesting class that I wouldn’t have chosen myself, but I’m glad I was put into it. It talks about adoption in the forms of people adopting cultures, motivations and initiatives from different organizations,” Rodriguez said. “I was able to speak with a director from Italy about his film that was an adaptation of the book ‘A Girl Returned.’ This was an overall great experience, and although he did not know much English, our professor was able to translate our questions.”
While Rodriguez was excited to start college, she said as a commuter, she misses the convenience of attending a school close to her house. Rodriguez also said she misses writing articles and laying out The Lighthouse but has not joined the staff of Montclair State’s weekly news publication, The Montclarion.
“I was planning on writing for the paper, but I was focused on too many things at once. I do plan on writing for the Wonder Girls’ [Girls Guide to Life] blog and others in the future as a way to continue writing articles,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said she plans to take advantage of co-ops, internships and volunteer opportunities Montclair State makes available to its students.
Once she earns her bachelor’s degree, Rodriguez said she intends to get a job at a law firm. After gaining work experience, Rodriguez wants to attend law school.
Rodriguez said her advice to The Lighthouse’s current and future editors-in-chief is to take pride in their position and pursue what they love through journalism.
“Being an editor-in-chief of your high school newspaper is nothing to scoff at…. This is one of the best opportunities for you to gain experience and learn from any mistakes you make,” Rodriguez said. “Take initiative, and take pride in the work you accomplish. You’ll look back and see how far you’ve grown, feeling fulfilled and better than before.”
