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While many high school seniors are still undecided about their future career, Nevis senior Josiah Bloom is pursuing his dream of making a difference in the world through law and politics.
He recently returned from a week in Washington, D.C., where he attended the Washington Journalism and Media Conference.
A civics class in 2019 sparked Bloom’s interest in law and politics.
“I hope to make a difference in the area of social justice,” he said. “In 2020, with the death of George Floyd, I thought this is why I need to be in this field, so I can directly help people like that. I come from a racially diverse group of step-family members. They’re not blood related, but they’re family. My grandfather is Mexican and I have black and Native American family members. So we have issues that affect us directly. Seeing that firsthand affected me.”
Bloom is taking college classes while in high school and plans to major in political science when he continues his college education next fall.
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“When I graduate college, I want to go to law school,’ he said. “I want to be a civil rights attorney for a couple of years and then go into politics.”
After receiving an invitation to apply to attend the conference in D.C., he knew this is something he wanted to do. “It cost $2,500 plus tickets and stuff for travel,” he said. “My mom and my grandma, Jodi Rubio, helped so I could go.”
Bloom said learning about journalism will help him in his political career.
“We learned a lot about the inside view of how journalism really works from top-notch reporters,” he said. “Brian Lamb, the founder of C-Span, came to talk to us. As a politician you need to know those things so you can navigate your own career.”
In addition to the sessions and speakers, Bloom said he learned a lot from other students attending the conference.
“The networking and making connections was definitely the most influential part of the conference,” he said. “I met a lot of great people and we’ll be keeping in touch.”
Touring the Holocaust museum was also an impactful part of the tour. “It was a hard experience, especially since we found out I have some Jewish lineage,” he said. “Seeing the shoes, the crematoriums, maybe some of my ancestors went through this.”
