Another Grads Are Back event is in the rear-view mirror for students at Florida A&M’s School of Journalism and Graphic Communications. The two-day event gave journalism, public relations and graphic design students opportunities and advice from industry professionals needed to progress successfully in college and beyond in their respective careers.
Grads Are Back began on Wednesday as SJGC Dean Mira Lowe hosted a fireside chat with J-School alumna and publicist Staci R. Collins Jackson. Jackson is the CEO of the Collins Jackson Agency. An opening reception in the SJGC Gallery Room followed.
Michael Moore, a communication coordinator at Escambia Children’s Trust and FAMU alum, believes Grads Are Back! provides many opportunities for students.
“It gives them an opportunity to grow their network,” he said. “A professor I had in J-School told me that your network is your net worth, so when alum come back and give all of these gems to the students that are about to graduate from FAMU, they are able to grow their network to get opportunities.”
On Thursday, Grads Are Back kept students busy by providing multiple panels centered around broadcast, journalism ethics, graphic design, and more, along with a career fair. Various workshops began in the morning, including a panel to educate PR students on getting the media attention they seek when in the industry.
Many universities offering graduate degree programs were also at the career fair, including Florida State University and Columbia University. The fair allowed students to network and build relationships with media professionals and potentially gain internship opportunities.
Erin Hill, a graduate of FAMU and reporter for the Gadsden County Times, shared her opinion on the greatness exuding from SJGC.
“The best journalists come from FAMU’s Journalism School,” she said. “From my experience, none of our other interns from other schools have compared to the interns that we’ve gotten from FAMU.”
SJGC also treated students, faculty and alumni to a complimentary barbecue lunch, courtesy of FAMU Metz. Panels featuring J-school alumni centered around producing, design, and family ties within journalism gave rattlers even more opportunities to hear insightful stories and advice from SJGC alumni making moves in their respective fields.
Rickayla Mitchell, news producer at TEGNA and FAMU alumna, believes pulling resources is a significant way alumni can give back to the university and improve the lives of current students.
“This is my first time coming back,” she said. “So I think all we can do better is to continue pulling resources, those FAMU alums who can help in big or small ways, because we want to help students.”
Following Grads are Back, many rattlers were left inspired and even more determined to reach their goals.