The Institute is a cooperative program between the New York Times Company and various organizations for the benefit of their student members. Candidates must be student members of either the National Association of Hispanic Journalists or the National Association of Black Journalists or may be enrolled at a historically black college or university.

The next Institute in 2010 will be held May 16 to 31 at Dillard University in New Orleans for students who are members of the National Association of Black Journalists, or who are enrolled at a historically black college or university that is represented by the Black College Communication Association. The postmark deadline to apply for the May Institute is Feb. 27, 2010, and students will be notified whether they have been selected no later than March 27, 2010.

The next Institute for student members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists will be held in January 2011 in Miami. (The January Institute alternates between Miami and Tucson.)

(For either Institute, students who wish to attend but may have academic conflicts should contact the director of the Institute, Don R. Hecker, hecker@nytimes.com, to determine if special arrangements can be made.)

Applications should be sent to PO Box 2690, Times Square Station, New York, NY 10108.

Students are competitively selected by a panel of journalists at The New York Times. Applicants must submit an essay of up to 500 words on why they want to be journalists; six published writing or editing clips, or portfolios of their work if they are submitting visual material; and a completed Institute application form.

Graduates of the Institute have interned at or now work at some of the most prestigious news organizations in the United States, including The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe and, of course, The New York Times itself, along with many other newspapers and news organizations.

Supervised by veteran journalists from The Times, The Boston Globe and the Times Company’s Regional newspapers in a newsroom environment, the students cover events in the cities where the Institutes are held. At previous Institutes, the students’ work has explored issues across the entire spectrum of American life. They have interviewed a Presidential candidate, covered Presidential speeches and explored a variety of national political issues. And they have spotlighted the plight of the homeless in wealthy communities, shown the challenges to immigrants both legal and illegal, and produced dozens of other stories that give voice to both ordinary and extraordinary people.

Application form:

New York Times Student Journalism Institute in New Orleans (May 2010)

Members of the group, Nemesis Car Club, have grown up, and their maturity is reflected in their refined rides. Now, with their children, they’re bringing new life to a car culture that began when Latinos in California transformed an American tradition into an expression of identity.

Talena Brown and her mother have an unusual trait in common: They were both once addicted to methamphetamines. Talena, who started using meth at age 13 and has been sober since 2008, speaks candidly about her experiences and the emotional toll.

Sierra Jiminez

Drivers and produce distributors must get fresh food from Mexico onto grocery shelves in the United States quickly, before perishable items can go bad. But those stuck in the produce caravan say long delays at the border have made the process much more arduous.

Sara J. Martinez

UA grad to Grinnell sophomore: “They took you to dinner tonight and not me because you’re kicked out of the Institute.” (Long pause. Laughter erupts in the newsroom.)

“I went down there to capture the human element and ended up finding myself. And then we ate mariscos.” — Daniel Woolfolk on a trip to Nogales, Mexico, to find deportees with Dalina Castellanos

“Anything for Selena.” — Salvador Rodriguez

(To a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department): “Come on, Chuck. … You know me.” — Stephen Ceasar

“Diego, a car is coming. Hide.” — Mando Montaño

“If I stick out like a sore thumb, you stick out like Dr. Manhattan.” — Diego James Robles to a very white Matt Lewis while they were walking in Nogales, Mexico

“I’m an international [chess] master.” — Luciana Morales to Daniel Woolfolk after he said she was pretty good at chess

“Daniel has Chipotle eyes.” — Diego James Robles after Daniel Woolfolk had Chipotle for dinner and then joined the photographers for dinner

“Om nom nom nom.” — Lauri Valerio

“Hey, Salt, where’s Pepper?” — Derrick Henry to Jamie Klein, referring to Salvador Rodriguez.
“I’m not his keeper!” — Jamie Klein

“I’ve learned that there is beauty even in the ugly.” — Luciana Morales, while pointing to Cindy Von Quednow
“Hey, Sal, nice job on that picture you took of Luciana. I mean, it’s really hard to make her look nice.” — Cindy Von Quednow

Cindy Von Quednow: “I love the Golden Corral.”
Mando Montaño: “That’s because you’re ghetto.”
Cindy: “Hey, Mando, you smell like the Golden Corral.”
Dalina Castellanos: “You would know.”

“Can I have my monkey back?” — Jen McDonald to John deDios

“If you really think about it, ‘The Flintstones’ has to be a cartoon about the future; the Jetsons is the FAR future.” — Newsroom philosophy by Troy Griggs

“Tell you the truth? I don’t know the truth! I’m a journalist, I’m always in its pursuit!” — Jessica Flores

Marissa: “This page is smart and beautiful, but I don’t think I’d call it date-able. It’s too difficult.”
Nic: “Oh, god. … It really does work for everything.”

“I’ve got METH!” – CeCe Perry, referring to a story

“Ay du nat juant tu tak tu yu.” — Dalina Castellanos (pronounced as written)

“I get sick pleasure when I see Mando in emotional distress.” — Stephen Ceaser

“Sorry to interrupt your romantic desert fantasy, but I need you for a work-related issue.” — Mando Montaño to Erin Ailworth as she was talking about bringing her date dress to Tucson

“Jamie, I wish I could just put you in my pocket and keep you.” — Veronica Cruz

“It was on Oprah.” — Veronica Cruz, many times this week

“There’s a place down the street called … Mexico.” — Daniel Woolfolk on where to find the best cowboy boots in the area

American patients from Dr. Jose Saturno’s dental office in Mexico share their reasons for heading south of the border for dental care. It’s not just the inexpensive prices that attract patients; the warm character of the border towns and the personal touches from dentists also keep the Americans coming back.

Jessica Flores

We’ll begin by allotting about six hours for sleep (and, let’s face it, that’s generous), a half-hour for wakeup and makeup, and about an hour for breakfast and traveling to the newsroom.

That’s eight hours away from the Institute newsroom a day.

Those eight hours away equal 16-hour workdays. Multiply that by 10 jam-packed days, and everyone at this Institute has spent roughly 160 hours working together. And we still have one night left.

We’ve seen each other stressed, excited, sleep-deprived and nervous. And, admit it, we’re going to miss one another.

So what do 10 days spent with 23 talented student journalists and 18 staff members from The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Lakeland Ledger and the University of Arizona teach you?

The following list comes from e-mail messages and conversations:

1. I learned the most by pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying other things that are related to journalism. Going to Mexico and learning about the border culture has been an amazing experience.

Page designs should be date-able — smart and pretty, that is.
— Marissa Lang

2. Workout routines are near impossible to keep if you’re working long hours, opening the newsroom and enjoying the “occasional overindulgence of alcohol.”
— Diego Ribadeneira

3. I learned, again, how much I love working with really talented people — teaching such incredibly smart and motivated students and learning from peers at The Times.
— Lenore Devore

4. I learned a lot about video editing and time management and stories/projects falling through and just having to deal with it.
— Sara Martinez

5. I learned a great deal about working under pressure in a different country. Most of my energy was placed on a photographic essay about the U.S.-Mexico border. Part of it was photographed in Mexico, a country I was unfamiliar with, and in a border town that is oftentimes dangerous for Americans. In this assignment I was able to use all my previous experience from school, internships and other past assignments to work safely and effectively in Nogales, Mexico. Moreover, the sound advice Jose R. Lopez, a staff photo editor with The New York Times, gave me was invaluable. After I showed him my take each night, Mr. Lopez suggested different approaches and angles to my essay, which ultimately made it more dynamic and cohesive.
— Diego James Robles

6. I’ve learned that even the most ample buffet spreads can get boring if no new fare is offered. I’ve learned that everything is hilarious after being awake and working for 16+ hours. I’ve learned that journalists are tough as nails and I’d be damn proud to be half as good as any of the ones here.
— Margaret Teich

7. I learned that I can spread a new appreciation of Lady Gaga throughout the newsroom.
— Amanda Portillo

8. I learned that I could survive a 16-hour day, 10 times over.

I learned I could be crazy goofy with “V” and Jen at the copy desk right around midnight.
— CeCe Perry

9. I’ve learned to make sure to get names for photo captions, to never assume a writer got it.
— Daniel Woolfolk

10. With the help of the mentors, I learned how to tackle a complex legal story and compact it into 900 words. The mentors here are some of the best teachers in journalism, and I’m ecstatic that I had the chance to work with them for the past 10 days.
— Mando Montaño

11. Well, John taught me to … focus!
— Salvador Rodriguez

12. I’ve learned that sugar and sleeplessness is a dangerous combination.
I’ve learned to sign out of my Facebook before leaving the newsroom (or, rather, I should have learned to sign out of my Facebook before leaving the newsroom).
— Laurie Valerio

13. Through the Institute I have learned how the best in the business operate and how hard you must work to publish the best product possible. The help that each of the mentors provided to all of us has been truly invaluable. Thank you to all of them.

I have also learned that Troy Griggs and I are hipster posers and that hipster girls really love The New York Times, that a conversation during a Sonoran Hot Dog dinner can go terribly awry, that Daniel Woolfolk is a very, uh, free roommate, that Mando Montaño is terribly gullible (or caring), and that I have met some of the coolest people I have ever met here.
— Stephen Ceaser

14. Aside from an album full of Facebook photos and some trial-size bottles of Crabtree & Evelyn lotion from my Hilton Hotel room, I will take away two “mantras” I learned at the Institute that I think can be applied to aspects of life even outside the newsroom: “Never make assumptions,” and “Is it date-able?”

While copy-editing, don’t make assumptions about what you think you know, and instead always double-check with the reporter. And when designing pages, make sure they are smart and attractive, like every worthwhile date should be.
— Veronica M. Cruz

15. I’ve learned that the best strategy is to put a whole bunch of the brightest people around in a room, and then claim credit for all the good things they do.

I’ve learned what good work people can do under ridiculous pressure.

And I’ve learned 11 days goes way too fast.
— Don Hecker, director of the Institute

16. Cat Cards don’t work everywhere.
— Elvia Malagon

17. I’ve learned that there are two kinds of people in Tucson: The ones who do not give you one call back, even if you call them 10 times. And then there are the ones who will go on and on about what you aren’t writing about.
— Cindy Von Quednow

18. I learned how to write a legitimate blog.
— Matt Lewis

19. I learned how to really, really, really pursue a source.
— Regina Garcia Cano

20. And I’ve learned that sometimes all you need to make it through a hectic news-filled day is a good laugh.
— Jamie Klein

La Pilita Museum (Amanda Portillo/NYTI)

While sitting at a picnic table near the entrance of La Pilita Museum in the Barrio Viejo neighborhood of Tucson, Fred Leyva, a museum volunteer, reminisced about a nearby house.

“That belonged to my mother’s godmother,” he said. The house is now a law office. Other homes in this neighborhood have also been turned into businesses. Part of Barrio Viejo is now the location of the Tucson Convention Center.

If people ask where he was born, Leyva replies “the TCC,” he said, chortling.

Leyva’s family has deep roots in Tucson, dating to the 1880s, when his family migrated from Sonora, Mexico. The house he pointed out across from the museum was built in the same era. A retired state worker, he has been volunteering as an oral historian for the museum’s “Barrio Memories” exhibition, one of nine elders from Barrio Viejo who volunteered to share their memories.

La Pilita Museum sits in an old adobe building just southwest of downtown Tucson. The museum’s program director, Joan Daniels, said the “Barrio Memories” exhibition was typical of the museum’s programming. The museum’s greater mission is to celebrate and maintain the history of both Barrio Viejo and the city of Tucson, she said.

In addition to oral histories, La Pilita offers historical photographs, showcases artwork and has a self-guided walking tour.

Fred Leyva inside La Pilita Museum (Amanda Portillo/NYTI)

The tour takes visitors through local landmarks, like the Carrillo Gardens and Elysian Grove park. A shrine, EL Tiradito, on the north side of the museum, is a National Historic Landmark. It honors a folk hero who died bearing the stigma of a sinner, and it is said that those who light a candle in his memory are granted a wish.

After urban renewal planning and development started in the 1960s and 1970s, much of the area Leyva once called home was demolished to make room for places like the Convention Center. Other structures, like La Pilita, now serve as a reminder of the past.

“Even though it was a very poor neighborhood, the people were very, very close, and we looked after each other,” Leyva said.

He recalled a period when landlords came by and told his mother they were raising the rent from $25 to $35, something she could not afford. His family tried to convince the landlords that they couldn’t pay the increase, to no avail. The family eventually had to leave.

Moving day still resonates with him.

“December 23, 1956, just before Christmas,” he said, nearly rising from his seat, and jabbing the air with a pointed finger as he emphasized each word.

Leyva was less angry than nostalgic. His family had lived in the house for over 50 years. He believes the rent increase came because the landlords knew urban renewal plans were in the works for the area.

“They really thought they were going to get big bucks for the property, which of course didn’t happen,” he said. “Most of the homes in the neighborhood were condemned. I don’t think they made that much money.”

La Pilita is situated where the entrance to Carrillo Gardens was before the 1900s. In the last century, Barrio Viejo and other nearby neighborhoods, Barrio El Hoyo and El Jardin, were tight-knit Mexican-American communities.

When people stop by La Pilita, Leyva answers questions and shares his opinions about how the neighborhood’s history has unfolded.

Perhaps the most common question is “What is a barrio?” Leyva said. He describes it as the most familiar areas of one’s neighborhood. He also explains when various homes and buildings were built, based on their styles of architecture.

And what does he think of how the neighborhood has changed?

Leyva said he wished the city had restored older buildings and made the area more of an old town. To him, the Tucson Convention Center is “just one big block of cement.”

“It’s lost a lot of intimacy,” he said.

Leyva does like how some parts of the neighborhood have been gentrified, with offices and upscale homes. He laments that people no long know each other the way they used to but says he is grateful to take part in La Pilita’s exhibition.

“From time to time I just love to just walk through the neighborhoods and just try to remember things,” he said. “Families and friends.”

“Barrio Memories” runs through Jan. 29.

Leyva points out a house in the neighborhood with strong family ties- Audio

Leyva, on he likes to remember his days in the barrio- Audio

Slideshow: The Education of Ian

For much of his life, 8-year-old Ian Lewis has been wrestling with an array of disorders: Asperger syndrome, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, among others. Because of behavioral problems, he has also been shuffled from school to school – he is now enrolled in his fourth, Drachman Montessori Magnet School in southern Tucson. Adrienne Lewis, Ian’s mother, talks about raising her son.

Though tags hang from every chime, they are not for sale.

Each is a “Ben’s Bell,” a token of kindness inspired by a family’s tragic loss.

In March 2002, 5-year-old Matthew Packard and his 2-year-old brother, Ben, were playing with a friend when their mother, Jeanette Mare-Packard, noticed Ben’s cough. Soon after, his airway closed and Ben was unconscious.

“It all happened in the course of a few minutes,” Mare-Packard said. Ben died March 29 of croup, just short of his third birthday.

While running a year later on a river trail in Tucson — where many artists display their mosaic tile work — the idea of making ceramic chimes popped into Mare-Packard’s mind.

“Like many grieving parents, I had an urge to want to do something in honor of my child,” she said.

Hundreds of Ben’s Bells were originally distributed throughout Tucson, waiting in random locations with a note for whoever found the bell to take it home and promote kindness.

Almost seven years later, the project has evolved beyond Mare-Packard’s wildest dreams, shifting from a coping method to a pay-it-forward-style symbol of community and kindness.

The operation moved from the Packard’s garage into a studio near the University of Arizona campus, and the volunteer base expanded from the original group of friends to include college students and other community members who stop by to shape and paint the ceramic pieces.

“The pieces are a symbol of community within itself,” said Colleen Conlin, Ben’s Bells’ studio manager.

Large “belling” distributions happen twice a year — on the anniversary of Ben’s death and on a secret date in the fall. At those times, hundreds of bells are dispersed throughout Tucson for unassuming citizens to find.

The giving doesn’t stop there. Every week, a different Tucsonan is chosen to receive a bell via nomination. Ben’s Bells receives hundreds of letters every week.

Dea Salter, a retired supervisor for the Tucson School District, remembered when a principal she worked with was honored with a bell hung on the school fence. “He was over the moon for the longest time,” she said.

Salter sat in one of the studio rooms painting a ceramic flower red on Sunday afternoon with other members of the Church of the Painted Hills in Tucson. They had come to volunteer as part of a service project with the church, but Salter said it was much more than that.

“There’s nothing like giving back to the community,” she said. “And this is kind of therapeutic.”

New York City recently got belling therapy. On Sept. 11 last year, 600 Ben’s Bells were distributed throughout the five boroughs to help bring joy to a city on the anniversary of a devastating day.

Bells have made it to almost every corner of the world. Argentina, France, Australia and South Africa are few of the other countries that have been “belled.”

For 15-year-old Elizabeth Martinez, the bell-making process is a form of global kinship.

“I’m always happy to hear the bells,” Martinez said. “It’s like the wind carries the kindness all over the world and it connects us all.”