What Mass Communications

Day Did For Me?

This years annual Mass

Communications Day/ Job Fair at Delaware
State University were another success as it is
every year. Countless successful alumni and
participants showed up to give aspiring
college students advice about the field of
public relations, TV, radio, film, and
journalism and also the opportunity to apply
for internship/ job opportunities. The event
started around 9:00am, as the panelist and
participants started to flow in students put
on their game faces and prepared themselves
to network and build their brand.
The morning session, moderated by
Dawn Roberts held a discussion of Hot
Topics in the Media: Diversity, Ratchet
News Coverage-Do Black Lives Matter, and
the Media Skill Needed for Success.
Panelist included Alexandra Coppadge,
Steve Deshields, Larissa Mendoza, Germar
Gardner, Matthew W. Horace, Kandia
Johnson, Chuck Purnell, and Yesenia
Tavaras. The topic stirred great conversation
among the panelist as we got to hear their
personal experiences and stories of how they

got to where they are in life today and

thoughts about the other subjects.

If its one thing everybody should

have learned from that panel its that the
only thing between you and your goals is the
amount of effort and hard work you are
willing to do in order to achieve them. Some
of the media hot topics that were touched on
comprised of the hit shows Empire and
Scandal and the type of shadow they cast
over African Americans. The question of
news priority also came into discussion
when the topic Do Black Lives Matter?
was presented. What I learned from Mr.
Matthew Horace was that what is shown to
the masses on the news depends upon the
news stations character and morals more so
than the importance and relevancy of the
story. All in all the morning session was
enlightening and inspiring as well; I enjoyed
the panelist and even got the opportunity to
meet them all.

As mass communications day

continued, I started to become more and
more comfortable walking up to people and
introducing myself, after all that was the
sole purpose of the event; networking. Some
of the opportunities that were presenting
themselves were too good to pass up and
they were right in front of my face. I say this
to bring up what I learned in the afternoon
session from DSU alumni turned successful
NFL adviser Mr. Rob London The panel
discussion for this session, Lights, Camera,
Action: On-Air Media Careers in PR, TV,
Radio, FILM, Music allowed panelist to
open up about their journey and what steps it
took in order for them to be in the position
in their careers they are today.
When it was Mr. Londons turn to
share, he discussed how he had to beat the
odds of competing with graduates of
Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and other Ivy
League schools in order to achieve the
position he currently holds. Although it was
challenging as he admitted, the opportunity
to even pursue the position was too good to
let it pass him by. This brings me back to my
initial point, the participants and panelist
who attended mass comm day were only
going to be there for one day, I could not
just let all those opportunities they were
presenting slip away from me. I put my
pride and nervousness to the side and
decided to network and connect with as
many people as I could and in the end it
actually worked out great for me. All thanks
to some motivational advice from one of the
panelist I was able to break out of my shell
and do what I came there to do.
NETWORK!