Alumni Shine Light On Journalism After College
April 1, 2019
Four Central Connecticut journalism alumni returned last week to share accomplishments and advice on the career to a room full of students.
Co-hosted by the CCSU journalism department and the university’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, reporters in both the print and broadcast fields shared their experiences in the industry post-graduation.
From the broadcast field, Taylor Jacobs, a reporter/anchor for WSHM-TV of Western Mass News, showed multiple different videos from his reel. With broadcast packages being shorter in nature, the 2016 graduate discussed how getting key information while staying entertaining is crucial.
“Timing is something you’re always looking for,” Jacobs said.
After a serious package on a man in need of a kidney, Jacobs showed a bit of his lighter side with a report on the MGM Grand. Between bowling, golfing and hanging out with the Blue Man Group, Jacobs stressed how, despite journalism being serious in nature, it’s alright to let loose.
“You can have fun in this business,” Jacobs said.
Despite being in the print industry, Derek Turner, an online producer at the New Haven Register, held the same opinion as Jacobs in terms of journalism’s less serious side.
“Not everything has to be serious,” Turner said. “But everything has to be relevant.”
Turner, a fellow 2013 graduate, got his start writing for The Recorder. After tweeting about high school sports, he was able to land his first internship with the Middletown Press.
“I was doing everything to get noticed,” Turner said.
Turner said his time at the Middletown Press taught him a lot about what it meant to be a journalist.
“Working at a small paper helped because I had to do everything,” Turner said. “There’s hashtags for everything.”
Turner, who currently handles the online content for the Register, went on to state how important social media is. His background in sports gave students insight as to how they can cover multiple different fields.
While Turner came from a multi-section background, 2016 graduate Erin O’Donnell described how she has made a name for herself covering just one topic as a healthcare reporter for the Berkley Research Group.
“I get to make phone calls and do reporting like I would for a newspaper, but instead, it goes to a group of consultants,” O’Donnell said. “Covering healthcare became something I really love and am passionate about.”
Despite working for a research group, O’Donnell said she got her start in an internship with the Record Journal.
“There, I got to see what a real newspaper and a real newsroom is like,” O’Donnell said.
The Central graduate expressed to students how important their time in college is. She made a plea for students to try and study abroad if possible. O’Donnell, who also wrote for The Recorder, told students that their job after college is just as important as their work while enrolled.
“Make the most out of your CCSU experience as you can,” O’Donnell said. “Write for the newspaper, get as many clips as you can.”
While the three previous journalists went into detail about the technical side of journalism, Devin Leith-Yessian focused more on the visual impact. Leith-Yessian, who is currently a reporter for the Record Journal shared his interest in capturing images.
“Photography allows for people to see the real story without just reading it on a page,” Leith-Yessian said.
Outside of just photography, Leith-Yessian still does original reporting for the Record Journal. He told students how important timeliness is when entering the profession.
“It was a bit of a shock going from writing a story within a whole week to getting an assignment in the morning and having to go to a Dunkin Donuts and write it immediately,” Leith-Yessian said.
Whether it be photography, writing or any other medium inside the journalism spectrum, the 2016 graduate ended the event by telling students how important newspapers are.
“You can do so much at a newspaper,” Leith-Yessian said. “You can take photos, you can do a podcast, you can go out and interview people and you can write stories.”
