Name: Joseph Ostapiuk
Age: 21
What is your major and what do you do on campus?
I’m an English Adolescent Education Major in my final year to get my Bachelors Degree, and I’m also the Co-Editor-in-Chief of MolloyLife Media, the on-campus Media organization of Molloy College. Outside of that, I’m a student and a commuter to the college.
What is Molloy Life?
MolloyLife is really the internal PR organization of Molloy College; it is the representation of what our campus is about, and what the student life on campus is about. MolloyLife is completely student-run, which makes it a unique perspective on what is actually happening on campus, and we get to present a variety of stories to the student body in all forms of media, from photography to videography – from writing to social media. That’s truly what MolloyLife is about – it’s about telling stories to the Molloy College student body about the noteworthy things going on around campus and beyond. While it may be something simple like a video recap of an event that happened a few days before, there’s also incredible individuals on our campus, both academically and athletically, that we enjoy presenting to other students to show who makes up the incredible environment at Molloy.
What does your job consist of?
As the Co-Editor-in-Chief, I’m responsible first and foremost for the management of the Editors of MolloyLife. We have Editors in photography, videography, writing, graphic design, yearbook, and office management positions that both Angelica and myself are responsible for keeping in order. However, having worked with much of the Editors in the previous year, we have a rather efficient and well-oiled machine running in MolloyLife, so our jobs are made much easier by their immense hard work and dedication. In addition to making sure things are running smoothly, it is also important that we complete our goals as an organization, so we periodically check on editors to make sure the multiple projects MolloyLife is working on is getting completed efficiently and up to our standards. Really, in an abstract sense, our jobs are about creating and maintaining a culture at MolloyLife. We all do late hours in the office. We all are up late editing or filming or creating in one way or another. It’s not because we have to – it’s because we want to. All of the Editors have bought into a culture that has been created at MolloyLife these past couple years, and it is mine and Angelica’s job to keep that culture alive, because that’s what makes our work worthwhile.
What made you wanna work with new media even though it is not a part of your major?
I initially held the job of News Content Editor, a position Haley Pereyo is currently holding, and I joined MolloyLife because the former Co-Editor-in-Chief, for lack of a better term, forced me to go on an interview. Needless to say, I am eternally grateful that he did. Nick Crispino, a former classmate of mine and Co-Editor-in-Chief a few years ago, told me that it would be a great experience to help further my writing, and I had been working on my writing avidly for years before I came to Molloy, so he basically set up an interview for me, and the rest is history. I’m immensely grateful for being exposed to MolloyLife despite my major not being media-centered, but I guess it was writing that drew me into MolloyLife, but it was all of the other opportunities that kept me here. I am infatuated with challenging myself, and MolloyLife has afforded me the opportunity to do so.
What are your plans after college?
After college, I plan to attend graduate school immediately. In addition, I am in the process of applying for journalism internships that will help me become a better writer and reporter. In the long term, I would love to use the skills I’ve gained at MolloyLife to help me in a media-centered work environment. In addition, I will be attempting to become a full-time-teacher, an absolute passion of mine, once I finish graduate school.
Do you see yourself continuing to work with new media?
I do, in short. I find this work to be incredibly creative, and I require that kind of creativity in my life. At the same time, I don’t believe I’m naturally good at any of it – I really have to work for it, and I enjoy that type of grind. I enjoy challenging my brain to do better and create better things, so I absolutely see myself pushing my abilities in the media realm.
What are your goals for your career?
Honestly, I’ve never been goal oriented. I used to leave those sheets blank in high school because it just never appealed to me. I’m more of a ‘here and now’ type of person. I am focused and driven on what I want to do, but I have to get there to do it. I’m not all for worrying about my life in 10, 15 years, but I have immediate goals. I want to graduate, I want to get into graduate school, but I’m not waking up everyday and having that drive me. While I student teach, I’m worrying about just the lesson I’m teaching. When I work on a video or take a photo, I’m just worrying about that instance because that’s how I feel I produce to the best of my ability.