“‘The voice of the people’” – that’s  what Yamiche Alcindor strives to be.

“I still believe that though some say journalism is a fading industry, we have a job to really serve people and to really impact the world,” she said.

Alcindor’s love affair with journalism began five years ago when she heard the story of Emmett Till’s murder. Alcindor said beyond Till’s actual story, the coverage by the media, particularly photojournalists, helped her to understand the history of the profession and the importance of journalists.

“It’s important for people to feel like they have a voice in the world,” Alcindor said. “We can, if we do our jobs right, make the world a better place.”

A 2009 graduate of Georgetown University and native of Miami, Alcindor, 22, is interested in longer feature pieces that provide insight into different cultures and disadvantaged communities.  As an intern for The Miami Herald in 2007, Alcindor wrote a story about the lack of a community park in Little Haiti. Alcindor said that telling the story of the residents there made her  ”fall in love with journalism even more.”

Despite the current state of the industry, Alcindor is optimistic and sees a future where journalists are less confined by specific media.

“I think there is going to be a merging of different fields,” she said. “I don’t think there is going to be such a thing as a print reporter anymore in the sense of just writing to write.”