Silvana Ordoñez

Florida International University

Silvana Ordoñez was just 10 years old, living in her native Colombia, when her mother received a late call that changed their lives.

Her mother, visibly shaken, learned that Ordoñez’s father, a pilot, had flown into a civil war zone, where a rebel organization had shot his plane down. He was killed.

Ordoñez and her mother were left to fend for themselves.

“I remember seeing a dad and two girls on the street, and I just felt like crying,” said Ordoñez, now 22.

She said growing up as an only child and going through that event has shaped who she is today.

“I think his departure has made me a stronger and more mature person,” she said of her father.

Soon after her father’s death, Ordoñez immigrated to Miami with her mother, who was seeking safety and new career opportunities.

At first, her mother was protective of her, especially when Ordoñez decided before college to go to France for a year. “I took that opportunity to learn and grow and be by my own,” Ordoñez said.

She returned to Miami to study at Broward College for a year and a half, then went to Spain in 2010. While there, she taught English for almost six months.

Ordoñez returned to Miami in the summer of 2010 and is now a senior studying journalism and foreign relations at Florida International University. She has worked for the South Florida News Service and was a summer intern at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She’s now an intern for The Miami Herald.

She said she’s thankful for the opportunity to participate in The New York Times Student Journalism Institute.

“To me this is the best paper worldwide,” Ordoñez said. “I want to absorb everything, every criticism. I can sense this is going to be a life-changing experience.”

- Audris Ponce