LIFE SINCE SINGAPORE 2010

I have to admit, getting on that Vancouver-bound plane back from Singapore following the Youth Olympic Games last summer was – at the risk of sounding soft – difficult.

Would I ever get a chance to report on Olympic Games again? Would I ever get to work alongside my Young Reporter Programme peers? Would I ever again get to learn from the mentors and incredibly talented journalists that I aspire to become?

Yes!

I'm incredibly excited to return to the program to expand my sports writing skill set at the Innsbruck Winter Youth Olympic Games. Safe to assume –I'm heading straight to the hockey events!

Since returning to Vancouver, I've had the incredible opportunity to work as the official blogger in Sochi, Russia, covering Generations For Peace, a programme that teaches activists from conflict zones how to resolve large-scale issues using sports.

In between studies for my Bachelor of Journalism (set to graduate inApril 2012), I've worked for Metro News Vancouver and freelanced for the Vancouver Sun and the International Sports Press Association (AIPS). I spent the summer vacation reporting for the Vancouver Courier, where I'm heading an eight-part series on the new sports vying for a spot at the 2020 Olympics.

And, some very exciting news, this fall I'll be entering the gripping realms of North America's National Hockey League, as an NHL beat reporter, covering the Vancouver Canucks 2011-12 season.

YOUNG REPORTER – KIMIYA SHOKOOHI (Canada)

Kimiya Shokoohi, 21, began her journalism career at 16 with a reporting stint at a community newspaper in Vancouver, Canada. She credits her passion for journalism to her aunt, an activist in Iran, who was captured and killed during the Shah revolution – at the age of 19. Kimiya has worked as a web reporter for CTV (Canadian Television) and Metro News Vancouver, as well as working freelance for the Vancouver Sun. In 2010 Kimiya became the first Young Reporter covering the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, then the Singapore Youth Olympic Games, which was followed by work as the official blogger in Sochi, Russia, covering Generations For Peace.​