By LORINDA TOLEDO

Today is the first day of the 2009 New York Times Student Journalism Institute. In the next week, my fellow students and I will be working in a functional newsroom run by staff of the New York Times Company.

We will cover a community that many of us have never even been to before. And did I mention that we are expected to start right this minute?

I was born and raised in an agricultural community in Albuquerque, N.M., so it goes without saying that Miami is certainly a change for me. Although I’ve lived in Los Angeles before and visited cities all over the U.S., this is a new part of the country for me. Miami has about four times the population of my hometown.

I have to confess, it’s a bit overwhelming. I was literally shaking in my high-heeled boots when I arrived last night.

The anticipation steadily mounted this morning as the staff detailed their expectations.

My colleagues and I will be posting stories to the Web while also developing a more in-depth project. We will have the opportunity to work as wire editors and copy editors. Many of us will create videos, podcasts and slide shows, perhaps for the first time. And we will be responsible for page design and Web production.

Wow.

I came to the institute prepared to gain practical experience from some of the best journalists in the world. So when Don Hecker, who organizes the Institute, said that his staff fully expects to learn from the students as well, I was initially shocked.

Don talked about reciprocation of knowledge; about having a relationship with one another that is very much like family. And he’s right.

Just like a family, I expect that over the next week we will share our fair share of joy and tears. But I am confident that each of us will leave the Institute changed for the better. We will not only have improved our working skills, we will have strengthened the bonds of our relationships within the journalism community.

It is from our fellow journalists that students like me can take heart and have faith in what we are doing.

I can’t wait to get started.