Name: Amanda StefanikYear: SophomoreMajor: Journalism and Strategic Communications with a minor in SpanishHobbies: Singing, crafting, traveling, working out, and cooking and baking
HC: You recently won a pretty impressive scholarship, can you tell us a little bit about that?AS: Yes, it’s called the Geoarge Hammond Scholarship from the School of Communication and they have a journalisam and a communication student recipient. I was the journalism recipient and it covers full tuition for my junior year here at Ohio State.
HC: How did you come to apply for this honor?AS: There was an application process back in the winter that I went through and found out on my birthday that I was the recipient of an award but I didn’t know what it was going to be until that day.
HC: I know it’s early to say but has this opened any doors for you?AS: Not too much yet but after the ceremony we got to mix and mingle with the other winners and some of the faculty of the School of Communication, which was nice because I was the youngest recipient there and the others were mainly juniors and seniors. I went up and was speaking with a lot of them and putting faces to names and offering my congratulations and the Editor in Chief of The Latern, which was really cool because I have been trying to work along those lines of getting things posted in The Latern. Up through this semester I have gotten two articles published in The Lantern both regarding STEP and I think that by introducing myself to the Editor in Chief was a good thing so that she knows who she is working with becasue I am constantly bothering her with emails about new pitches and ideas.
HC: Obviously you know that networking is a huge thing, but how important do you think it is to do within yout major? I know a lot of people say that they don’t really know a lot of people or professors in their major.AS: I think it is extremely important becasue it is so sad to say but it’s so truthful, it’s not what you know but who you know. Yes I am going to graduate from The Ohio State University but, if I want to get a job, I can’t just stand out there on the street and wait for someone to come and look at my resume for about ten seconds. But if they see a familiar name on there and reach out to that person, this person could give them a thirty second elevator pitch on whether I would be qualified to do something for them. So networking is definitely huge.