ELON-The midterm elections took on new meaning for 14 School
of Communications students. While their classmates were still
talking about the elections in their classrooms, the group
was in Washington, DC, analyzing the results with some of the
biggest names in political journalism just two days after the
polls closed.
A conference for college journalists, Covering Politics
& Elections, was held Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 9-11. The
three-day event was co-sponsored by the Institute on
Political Journalism (IPJ) and the Fund for American Studies.
The location was the Holiday Inn Capitol Hotel, just blocks
away from the Capitol building.
Speakers at the conference included Frank Sesno, CNN Special
Correspondent & Former Washington Bureau Chief; Fred
Barnes, Executive Editor, The Weekly Standard and co-host of
FOX News’ Beltway Boys; Donald Lambro, The Washington
Times; Richard Benedetto, Correspondent/Columnist, USA Today;
Carl Cannon, White House Correspondent, National Journal; and
Emily Heil, Reporter, Congress Daily.
The students also toured CNN’s Washington bureau, and
were able to be on the set of anchor Wolf Blitzer’s
daily news show, The Situation Room, during its live opening
segment. “Actually being in the situation room was one
of the most thrilling moments of my entire life,” said
Ingrid Keller, who is majoring in broadcast
journalism.
A private tour of the Capitol included a rare visit to the
floor of the House of Representatives with former Washington
State Congresswoman Linda Smith.
A Friday evening dinner with three Elon University
Communications alumni enabled current students to network
with graduates who have been in the working world for several
years. The alumni were Dan Hansen, ’05, who now works
for Johns Hopkins University; Scott McCrary, ’00, who
is now a producer for CBS Newspath in Washington; and Craig
Fingar, ’01, who is a support engineer at CNN
.
Junior Sean Cearley said the conference was "an
experience where you learn not just the in's and
out's of the business, but also learn about your peers as
well."
The students attending the IPJ conference were members of
the Elon chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists
(SPJ) and the Radio Television News Directors Association
(RTNDA). They were accompanied by communication professors
Anthony Hatcher and Rich Landesberg, as well as by Linda
Lashendock, assistant director of instructional technologies
for television services.
"The trip to D.C. was an excellent opportunity for us
to practice our networking skills,” said sophomore
Olivia Hubert-Allen. “What we heard from IPJ's
array of speakers was valuable, and truly gave insight to
'the business.'"
“The DC conference was a valuable trip because I was
able to talk with potential employers and really value what
Elon is doing in preparing me for the real world,”
Brittany Smith, a junior, said.
The students on the trip were Theodore Rolfvondenbaumen;
Kyle Andersen; Lauren Limerick; Lauren Trucksess; Kevin
Kline; Kaitlin Ugolik; Rachel Cieri; Ingrid Keller; Brittany
Smith; Miriam Williamson; Olivia Hubert-Allen; Liz Nagy; Sean
Cearley; Andi Diemer
.
Before departing on Saturday, students were able to tour the
National Air and Space Museum. A highlight of the drive back
to Elon was a visit to a Dairy Queen in Ashland, Va., where
students observed their professors regressing to simpler
childhood times as they slurped their ice cream with
abandon.
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