It may be easy for some people to become discouraged when they are met with failure. However, for Shaka Lias her drive to succeed is only fueled by the gloom of adversity.

“I get more motivated when I try to do something and don’t succeed. It makes me work that much harder,” said Lias, a senior at Clark-Atlanta University. She is one of 30 students selected to attend the New York Times Student Journalism Institute for two weeks during the summer of 2005.

The road to the institute has not been an easy one for Lias. After not being accepted for the program last year, Lias remained confident.

“I wasn’t discouraged,” said Lias, who was one of at least four students from her university who applied for this year’s institute. This year she made the cut.

Lias began writing as a way to articulate her emotions, after her stepfather died in 1995. Through poetry, she discovered her voice and found an audience.

It did not take long for Lias to find her way to news writing. Joining the VOX Teen Newspaper at 15, Lias used her writing skills as a way to reach out to others.

“I saw that I was good, and people liked my writing. It was a way for me to connect with people since I can’t sing or anything,” Lias said.

At 25, Lias is already accomplished. She has interned with the Crossroads News newspaper and worked as a researcher with the Ryan Cameron Morning Show in Atlanta. After her time at the New York Times Student Journalism Institute, she will intern with the Star-Banner in Ocala, Fla.

Lias calls her parents her greatest incentive, although not in the most positive way.

“Since neither of my parents went to college, it was really important that I went. I don’t want a job; I want a career,” Lias said.

Her love for writing overpowers any need for her to be in the spotlight.

“People ask me if I want to be the next Jacque Reid, but I don’t want to be on TV. Maybe I’d write for the televised news, but it’s writing that is my passion.”

MALACHI DARAJA