Polina Fomina

Founder,
Real Stories Society

Polina Fomina is a 15 year old student and advocate in the areas of freedom of press, climate change and poverty alleviation. She aspires to tell people the truth, and showcase their real life stories through her writing. 

Reflecting on her experiences, the most interesting and important lesson for her came from her journalism courses. It’s helped her to gain hands-on experience in how to write articles properly. These courses also improved her writing skills. One of her most memorable moments in journalism is an in-depth interview about a youth rock band. This article talked about how the group was created, and why they chose such a name for their band. Some questions she raised include: “How did the group manage to combine school and business in a group?” This question was important because the band members still study at school and have a lot of exams. In addition, a key aspect of a group based activity like forming a band is to keep friendly relations, so there was a question, “How do they resolve conflicts?” There were also questions about their goals as a group and how they see their team develop over the next 10 years. It was an interesting experience to know more about these musicians and their daily lives.

In secondary school, she has taken up a wide variety of interests. She has studied abroad, which helped her gain global perspectives. She has engaged in dance, and improved her skills through performances. She has also started a student club on fashion, music and movies, and has built new friendships with more of her peers.  

To further her journalism interest which she started at the age of 14, Polina has completed a university level online certificate-level journalism course and has read books to upskill on her writing skills. Her current projects in this area include writing articles in school about the environment and leading an instagram channel. 

At university, she aims to do more than course work to improve her writing fundamentals. She looks forward to attending and participating in lectures, workshops, conferences and receptions with leaders in journalism to expand her horizons.