The two recent School of Communications graduates reflect on how their experiences with Elon News Network prepared them for the demands of professional journalism.
Before they were reporting news in Washington, D.C., Nyah Phengsitthy ’23 and Sophie Rosenthal ’24 were breaking stories on Elon’s campus. Today, the two Elon alumni are building journalism careers in the nation’s capital, where they credit Elon News Network and the university’s hands-on opportunities with preparing them for the demands of the profession.
As digital editor at WUSA-TV, a CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., Rosenthal handles a wide range of responsibilities, from writing for the station’s website and producing social media content to gathering sources and reporting in the field. The journalism major said she fell in love with news reporting when she was in high school, which led her to apply to Elon.
“I joined my high school newspaper club in ninth grade, and it was the 2016 election season,” Rosenthal recalled. “There was a ton of news, and I got the ‘news bug,’ and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
At Elon, Rosenthal found opportunities through student media to develop her reporting skills outside the classroom.
“I feel like the hands-on experience that I got working with my peers and friends, and actually going out and doing reporting, and putting together a paper every week showed me more of the skills that I use on a day-to-day,” Rosenthal said.
She also credits The Pendulum’s critique sessions with teaching her how to receive feedback and use it to improve her work.
“You don’t need to qualify a mistake or qualify a reason why you did this or that,” Rosenthal said. “What I learned so much from critique was how to take feedback and move forward and use that in the next piece. Now I’m somebody who asks for feedback all the time because, I think, in part, because of those critiques.”
Those lessons have followed Rosenthal into her professional career. Earlier this year, she spent three weeks covering a murder trial in Fairfax, Virginia, an assignment she described as a significant learning experience.
“My station sent me to a murder trial in January, and I spent three weeks covering a very high-profile case every day in court, and that has been a huge learning and teaching moment for me,” Rosenthal said. “I feel like I learned so much from covering this trial, especially as somebody who has covered many court hearings and smaller things.”
For current Elon students interested in journalism, Rosenthal recommends getting involved in student media early and pursuing the subjects that interest them.
“My biggest advice is to be involved in student journalism,” she said. “Just start doing stories and meeting people and doing things that are out of your comfort zone. When I was at Elon, I was interested in courts. I would go to the courthouse in Graham to pick up court documents for stories, and go to the police station, and pick up crime numbers, and things like that. If there’s something that you’re interested in, just start doing it.”
Like Rosenthal, Phengsitthy discovered her love of writing through her high school newspaper, where she served as editor-in-chief. She brought that interest to Elon, double majoring in Communication Design (now Visual Communication) and Media Analytics while becoming heavily involved with Elon News Network.
“I’ve always been a writer,” Phengsitthy said. “I know that people don’t really like talking about high school when they talk about their experience, but high school is when I really started.”
Phengsitthy served as design chief of The Pendulum during her sophomore year and managing editor as a junior. She credits those experiences with providing the foundation for her professional journalism career.
Everything I did in Elon News Network is what set me up for my journalism experience today. I joke with my friends that ENN was like my third degree in college because I got so much done and learned so much there. From just writing every single day, that’s what helped me get better.
— Nyah Phengsitthy ’23
While at Elon, Phengsitthy interned with Bloomberg Law on its environment desk. Following graduation, she returned to the organization through a rotational program and now works as a health reporter. In that role, she has covered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, drug pricing and other complex issues affecting the pharmaceutical and health care industries.
Her work at Bloomberg Law requires reporting on complex subjects, but Phengsitthy said young journalists shouldn’t feel pressure to become experts on every topic they cover. Instead, they should focus on developing the skills necessary to find knowledgeable sources, understand complicated information and explain it clearly to readers.
“Be an expert in being a reporter and writing and learning how to break down information for your readers,” Phengsitthy said.
Phengsitthy also encourages Elon students to complement their campus journalism experience with internships that allow them to apply their skills in professional settings.
“You can have all the skills, and you can have all the clips that you have from ENN, but it’s more powerful if you go and get to apply them somewhere else,” she said, noting the value of internships. “The more experience you have, the better.
“The job market is really hard right now, but I feel like if you’re able to show that you can get your foot in the door somewhere, that’s good.”