In this month’s issue, our student in the spotlight tells her own story. Michelle Dominique, a former journalist from the Virgin Islands now studying court reporting at Plaza College in Forest Hills, N.Y., is NCRA’s 2025 winner of the Sue Shelton White Scholarship.
From a very young age my hobbies have always been reading and writing. During my high school years, I became drawn to the field of journalism after taking an Intro to Journalism course. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Abilene Christian University in 2001, I returned home to the U.S. Virgin Islands to work in that field. While working as a freelance news reporter for the V.I. Source, I would cover meetings of the legislative and executive branches of the local government. I was always fascinated in seeing the stenographers take down the notes on their shorthand machine while I would write my notes on a notepad. I had learned to write fast and develop my own form of written shorthand, if you will, for writing my news article as a reporter.
After one particular meeting of the Public Finance Authority, I decided to talk to the stenographer about what it was like being a stenographer. In 2004 I began working at the V.I. Legislature and worked there for 13 years in various capacities, my last position being legislative researcher for one of the senators. In 2021 the chief legislative reporter, who was about to retire, came to see me in my office. She noticed how fast I typed on the computer and asked me if I wouldn’t be interested in becoming a legislative reporter. She introduced me to the National Court Reporters Association website and encouraged me to take the NCRA A to Z® Intro to Steno Machine Shorthand program, which I did with Plaza College, and passed successfully.
I thoroughly enjoyed the class and I enrolled at Plaza College as a part-time student for the winter semester of 2022 at age 42. In 2004 my family moved to Philadelphia, Pa., due to a work opportunity my husband received, so I quit my job and became a full-time student. I have made much more progress since then in working to accomplish the required speed level of 225 wpm for graduation, and I began my exit speed class this semester. I have currently passed one of my 160 LIT tests and one of my 180 JC tests. I am grateful that NCRA has decided to reduce the exit speed classes to two tests as opposed to the previous three required tests because it makes my goal of completing this year more realistic.
I am grateful to God for this opportunity that has been afforded me to work towards this career change. I am thankful for my family and friends who have been very supportive of me throughout my educational journey. I have been blessed to receive scholarships from NCRA and the Pennsylvania Court Reporters Association, both of which I am a member of, and from the U.S. Virgin Islands Board of Education to help me financially in this journey. I am also a member of the New York State Court Reporters Association, which provides beneficial programs for students through its StudentsNow! Program.
I would like to encourage young people who are trying to decide on a career choice, and even more established adults like myself who may be seeking a career change to consider the field of court reporting. It is a field in high demand with so many options that you can veer into once you’ve trained. Yes, training for this field is challenging, like learning a new language, but once you learn it so much opportunity awaits. I look forward to where my education will lead me.
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