mass comm magazine (december 2013)

8/13/2019 Mass Comm Magazine (December 2013)

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N THIS ISSUE Volume 6 November 20113

FEATURED STORIES

Survivor Story 3 Mass Communications Major Tynisha Hallhelps to raise awareness about Sickle CellDisease.

Winning Ways 3 Adjunct Professor, David Skocik honored withPRSSA award.

2013 Howard Career andInternship Fair 6 Over 40 DSU students attending the 2013Howard University Career and Internship fairwith the hopes of connecting and networkingwith some of the top media conglomerates in thebusiness.

Dr. Raythatha travels to India 7 Dr. Raythatha returns to India every summer toteach, this year, he taught a law course.

Mass Comm Speaker Series 9After a one -year hiatus, the speaker seriesreturns.

NABJ Update

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NABJ membership drive, workshops and moreprepare students for the 2014 convention.

The new breed of PR Practitioners

ON THE COVER

Zac Exume is a senior majoring in TV, Radio, FilmProduction. Hes had an exciting career as a student and

videographer for DSU but this summer Zac opened doorto even more opportunities as budding producer, writerand videographer. (page 4)

Mass Communications Message Volume 6 December, 20


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IN THE NEWS


m a Mass Communications Major on a medical mission; to educated advocate for those living with Sickle Cell. I am the founder of Onemmon Cause a non - profit organization that I launched to raiseareness about sickle cell. I have learned the importance of having ace, and for the last five years I have been advocating and traveling toak about this disease around the country. During the summer, I

veled to Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, Alabama, and Maryland to withmentor. As a result of my work this summer, I landed a fulltimewith another advocacy group.

ve years ago, I reached out to my now mentor, Dominique Friend whorks with the Sickle International Family Coalition. She came to

mpus to speak and weve been working together ever since. Beinge to work with Dominique has enabled me to raise awareness in spitemy own journey with sickle cell crisis. My activism has even takento the White House where I was a part of a roundtable discussion

ut the disease. It is important for me to use my communication skillsreach out to young people living with this dreadful disease becausest of them are afraid to speak out, mostly because of criticism andng labeled by fellow peers.

e of my main goals is to push for patient centered care at local hospi-s for students that are away from home so that they can get medicalention needed when they have episodes. As the college advocacyordinator for Sickle International Family Coalition I am inspiredre than ever to raise awareness on college campuses and beyond.

nisha Hall

Being a Voice for an Invisible Disease

ave Skocik, right, of Doverceived a personalized silverock from Public Relationsociety of America Dela-are Chapter President Spiros

Mantzavinos during the chap-r's 25th anniversary celebra-on at Harry's Savoy Grill andestaurant in Wilmington onctober 24. Past leaders were

cknowledged and Skocik wasted for his service as state

hapter president in 1997hen the PRSSA Studenthapter at Delaware Stateniversity was nationally

hartered. Skocik is presidentf Dover - based PR DelawareLC.

taff Writer

Winning Ways


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MAKING INTERNSHIPS COUNT

Zachary Exume: Capitalizing on a Summer Internship Experience

Zachary Exume is a brand in the making. As a senior, Mass Communicationsmajor with a concentration in Television, Radio and Film he is positioning him-

self to be a successful entrepreneur and producer by taking advantage of everyexperiential opportunity that comes his way. Mass Communications professorVincent Chelli is credited for encouraging Zac to pursue the Barclays Banksummer internship program in 2013. The internship turned out to be a lot biggerthan we both could have imagined, Zac states, Barclays made it seem as if Iwas going to do a testimonial about my college life and get paid for it. But itturned out to be so much more.

Exume described the opportunity at Barclays Bank as more than just anopportunity to experience a paid internship, but a huge intellectual opportunity aswell. Zac was originally hired to go to New Mexico to conduct entrepreneurialworkshops with over 900 kids on a Native American reservation. Zac was hired

to help to student develop, film and edit commercials for their class projects.

While at Barclays, Exume also worked on the company website development, specifi-cally on the Dream Account, which is a program designed for low income middle andhigh school students. Its a social media platform in which college students can uploadvideos talking about time and money management and getting ready for college.Intellectually, Barclay allowed me to see things in a different light. Barclays reallyapplies the work smarter not harder philosophy, and its helped me to do my job as theProgram Director for WDSU -Radio much better.

Exume said so many doors were opened as a result of the Barclays experience; mostexciting is the post -graduation opportunity to work fulltime for Barclays. He was alsointroduced to the Teach for America Program by a fellow peer who he met while intern-ing. I met a teacher who is currently in the program, and was told that I have what ittakes to really make an impact in the classroom as a teacher.

Zac is no stranger to hands -on experience. As a freshman, he worked on a short filmentitled Choice Road about a group of kids who joined a gang. He was able to shadow

producers and videographers, hes done video production work for the DSU footballteam and hes served as a freelance videographer for the News Journal.

When asked if he had any advice for students in the mass communications field lookingto establish themselves, Exume replied, My advice to any mass communicationsstudents is to definitely keep your options open. A lot of students only look into news

productions or things of that nature. They never think about how banks or the corporateindustries use the media. They never think that companies make commercials. Theopportunities are endless.

Zac Exume is ready to dive into the world of television production upon graduation.DSU has the equipment but it was up to me to utilize every aspect of it to hone my craftin both television and radio production. I feel that I have done enough to get a good startand continue to learn even more without having much difficulty.

Jacquaniese A. Washington

Zac Exume at Barclays withfellow interns



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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Catching up with Mass Comm Alumni


Its exciting to serve as the Assis-tant Athletic Media RelationsDirector at DSU. My job is a mixture of what makes up todaysmultimedia environment. Notonly am I the main media contactfor womens soccer, womens

basketball, track & field/crosscountry and softball, Im also incharge of video production andother related aspects of sportsmedia on campus.

What brought me back to DSU was not just having thehance to come back and work for my alma mater, but Ielt that this position gave me the best opportunity torow and develop my craft without any restrictions.

Down the road, I see myself hopefully at the professionalevel working as a member of a professional teams pub-c relations or multimedia department.

I am currently a Ph.D. candidateat the University of Wisconsin,

Milwaukee where I serve as ateaching assistant. I teach Busi-ness and Professional communi-cation courses. Im currently in-volved in research perceptions ofcollegiate coaching style andhave completed research in thearea of interpersonal communica-tion dynamics. I am also a Fac-ulty Developer for the Universityof Phoenix. I am looking for-

ward to securing a tenure track position at a universitypon graduation. I truly enjoy teaching and being in thelassroom environment.

Three months after graduation Ilanded a position as an Adminis-trative Specialist with the Depart-ment of State in Dover, Delaware.Trying to find fulltime employ-ment after graduation was hard. Iwas definitely a struggle but Iworked hard, continued network-ing and I reached out to my careercoach Dr. Roberts who put in agood word for me to someonewho was looking for a qualifiedcandidate to fill a position with thestate.

Since August of 2012, I have been working in the Secre-tary of States office working alongside the Secretary ofState Jeffrey Bullock, Deputy Secretary James Collins andthe Community Relations Coordinator. Working with theCommunity Relations Coordinator has allowed me to gainfirsthand experience with being involved with events,drafting press releases, maintaining the Departmentssocial media page and dealing with Constituent Relationsissues on a daily basis.

In September of 2013, I had the opportunity to coordinatemy first big event for the launch of Delawares VeteransService Directory (VSD) which included GovernorMarkell, Secretary Bullock, legislative officers, represent-atives and many military and veteran organizations. TheVSD is an online, searchable database of public and

private organizations that provide services to Delawaremilitary veterans and their families.

Alumni Contributors Ben Bullock, Megan Lambertz, andDesire Williams

Desiree Williams Ben Bullock

en Bullock was a Convergence Journalism major and graduated in 2010. He received his Masters Degree from the University of Missouriansas City. Megan Lambertz is a 2007 graduate who majored in Public Relations and Advertising. She earned her Master of Arts in Com-unication Studies from Las Vegas University. Desiree is a 2012 Graduate who majored in Public Relations and Advertising. Both Ben andesiree say that the best thing current Mass Communications students can do is to be as diverse and versatile and utilize mentors andetworking opportunities to broaden your career options. Megan, believes that you have to be committed to education in all that you do inrder to be successful.

Megan Lambertz


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THE MASS COMMUNICATIONS

he Mass Communications Speaker Series has always been a way to connect DSU students with prominent practitionersradio, television, journalism and public relations, but the series went on an unexpected hiatus during the 2012 academicear.

he objective of the series is to provide students with a variety of lectures from individuals who have experiences in theeld of mass communications. Not only does the series enhance educational opportunities for students, but its a way ofxtending learning beyond the textbook.

udents from the Mass Communications society, under the guidance of President, Dorian McDonald coordinate the visitscampus and try to bring experts from each of the three concentrations to campus for a common hour lecture.

hristian Perry


After a Year Off, Students Connect with Professionals through theMass Communications Speaker Series


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SPEAKER SERIES RETURNS


Ted Yacucci Founder TMY Communications

As a longtime producer -director, Yacucci is committed to pre - production planning and effectively managing production budgets. Heis currently funding a PBS documentary through Kickstarter and hasover 50 backers for the film.

Charles Montgomery CEO Montgomery Video Productions

With over three decades of experience, Charles Montgomery has workedfor BET, ESPN and NBC Universal and has covered everything from theOlympics, to the annual White House Jazz Concert for PBS, WashingtonWizards Basketball and the Kentucky Derby. Hes currently workingwith ESPN on the International Cross Fit Competition.

2013 Speaker Series Participants

Makini Nyanteh Senior Director of InternalCommunications for Medlmmune

In this position Makini oversees the design, strategy and managementof all internal communications channels while leading a global teamresponsible for change, leadership, executive and electronic communi-cations.

Brian HarrisCEO Green Dragon Entertainment

Harris has over 20 years of experience in the television production busi-ness. He has experience as a lighting director, writer, producer, cameraoperator; final cut pro editor and production manager and has worked forBlack Entertainment for ten years. He is currently working on a docu-mentary series entitled Through the Tunnel a series focusing on HBCUfootball.


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11/12Mass Communications Message Volume 6 December, 2013

National Association of Black Journalists

Looking Ahead to the 2014 Convention

For mass communication students looking to network and gain valuable experience in the media, becoming a mem-ber of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) may be very beneficial. Known as the premier organi-zation for black professionals in media, the NABJ provides quality programs and services to black journalists world-wide.

Comprised of students, journalists and media -related professionals, the NABJ allows students to network with someof the most prominent figures in media but also allows them to acquire skills that will help them successfullycompete in the media business. NABJ also offers a number of scholarships for high school and college students, aswell as internships and multi -media projects. Towards the end of every summer, the NABJ hosts their annual con-vention and career fair in one major city.

At each convention, students are given the opportunity to engage in journalism seminars and workshops whilenetworking with media professionals from across the nation. During the career fair, students also get the chance tomeet with top media brands such as ESPN, NBC Universal, BET and a host of others. [The conference] is just agreat networking opportunity with so many benefits in store; its just a matter of taking advantage of those opportu-nities and making them work for you says NABJ President Tomi Canty. Past convention guest include Reverend AlSharpton, Roland Martin, Joe Biden and Trayvon Martins family. The 2014 NABJ Convention will be held fromJuly 30 th to August 3 rd in Boston, Massachusetts.

The NABJ student chapter here at Delaware State University holds bi -weekly meetings on a variety of subjectsincluding internships and professional development, all to prepare students for a successful convention experience.For several years, Dr. Asgede Hagos has served as the advisor for this student chapter. The goal this year is toexpand and rebuild the organization to get more mass communications students to become involved. This year wewant to revamp the organization with a host of events as well as bi -weekly meetings and seminars. The board and Ihave noticed that our organization last year faced some challenges and we want to make sure that this year we willdo everything possible to give the org [anization] new life with ambitious members that are ready to embark on theirfutures Tomi stated.

So far, the chapter has already held a number of meetings including a guest speaker presentation from celebrityblogger and creator of www.ihatemypublicist.com , Brittnee Boone. Brittnee, an alumni from DSU, offered membersvaluable insight into the world of entertainment blogging as well as advice on how to create and manage a blog oftheir own. The DSU chapter is also dedicated to allowing every member of the organization the opportunity toattend the convention.

For any students interested in becoming a member of the NABJ, meetings are held every other Thursday from 11:00a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in the ETV Building , room 139.

Jamie Gage
http://www.ihatemypublicist.com/http://www.ihatemypublicist.com/http://www.ihatemypublicist.com/


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DO YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE MAGAZINE? Student s interested in writing for our upcoming issues can submit stories (and story ideas) to Tomi Canty, Student Editor at

[email protected] or Kristyn Green, Assignment Editor at [email protected], or Dr. Fran Edwards, faculty advisor at [email protected].

A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

The Challenge to be Encouraged

This semester has been challenging We have had a number of incidents on campus (i.e.robberies, assaults, issues with the band). My intent is not to remind you of these thingsand arouse negative feelings, but to bring into focus the need to be uplifted and encour-

aged. As a student body, we owe that to each other. Peer support and encouragement foreach of us who is on this journey called college is extremely important. College moves atsuch a rapid pace that sometimes we forget to reflect and focus on these things. I havetaken this opportunity to be that voice that pushes you to be your best and encouragesyou to strive evermore to display excellence in all that you do...despite the challenges.As you close out this semester you should be able to look back and see how you succeed-ed and see how you were able to overcome challenges.

Freshmen, I hope your first semester has made a great impact on your life, but just knowthat there is so much more work to be done. Dont hesitate to get involved in the variousclubs and activities this university has to offer. Dont be afraid to meet new people andnetwork; you never know where it can take you.

Sophomores, youre at the beginning of your halfway mark. Youve already been exposedto college life for a year so its time to create a presence by contributing to your depart-ment. Express your creativity through campus involvement. Use all of your resources toaccomplish your goals and never take no for an answer.

Juniors, this is the beginning of the end for you; one more year of preparation then its time to spread your wings. Makingyour mark on the world has started at this university, but its your job to implement the skills taught to you as you enter yourinternships and prepare for the capstone experience. Have plans after undergrad? Now is the time to look into it so that youcan be fully prepared when the time comes.

Seniors, the time is now! The wait is over; weve prepared ourselves for four (long) years to embark on our future. Dont be

afraid of the new experiences post graduation has to offer. Weve worked so hard and now its time to put our knowledge touse in our careers.

Challenges may come and go, but in the end what truly counts is how you address them and what your learning outcome is. Iwish you the best on the remainder of this semester and encourage you to finish just as strong as you started.

Sincerely,

Tomi CantyStudent Editor

Tomi Canty Mass Communications Major Convergence Journalism
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

mass comm magazine (december 2013)

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