It’s hard to believe that HC BC was founded over three years ago. Since January 2011, our staff has grown like crazy. Our writers, editors, photographers, and publicity team members dedicate hours of their time to make our chapter the best it can be. Since our team members are so AMAZING, we are going to feature some HC BC alumni in the upcoming weeks as Campus Celebrities.
First up is Julie Wojno, BC class of 2013 and current graduate student at Ohio State University. Read on to learn about her time spent at BC and the amazing research she is doing at OSU in the field of health communication.
The BC Days
1. What were you involved in at BC?
I spent most of my time at the Plex! I was a proud “Plex Girl” and absolutely loved working there. I was a personal trainer, spinning instructor, and X-Fit instructor.
I traveled to Guatemala with the Arrupe program, I was a co-president of Her Campus my junior year, was a research fellow for Dr. Ashley Duggan junior and senior year, and a Courage to Know TA my senior year.
2. What was your role at HC BC?
I started off as the photo and campus cutie editor, then became the co-president. I was in charge of all the social media.
3. What was your proudest accomplishment at BC?
This might sound funny, but I think I am most proud of the work I did at the Plex. Because I studied health communication, I was always very cognizant of the language I used in my classes. My goal was to bring a fresh perspective to exercise; I wanted to shift the focus from appearance, and instead focus on the internal gains of happiness, health, and energy. I think I accomplished this to a small extent. I say this because of the relationships I formed with many of the participants in my classes whom became very close friends of mine.
4. What do you miss the most about BC?
- My Plex family!
- I also miss the conversations – from Theology and Social Justice in the classroom to late-night talks with my roommates.
- I miss Peter and Oscar’s omelets and the tots! I miss hockey games! I miss Ruby C31 and Mod 39 A&B.
- I miss EVERYTHING about BC!
5. Did you always know you wanted to go to grad school? If no, was there something or someone at BC that sparked your interest in going to grad school?
I always had a plan. Since the seventh grade, I knew I was going to be a journalist. I majored in Communication at BC and concentrated in Journalism. I wrote for the Heights my freshman year, Her Campus BC my sophomore and junior years. I interned at Redbook and Women’s Health magazines. Then, at the start of my senior year, I realized that life wasn’t the one for me. Curve-ball!
Because of my Boston College education, after a summer working in the mainstream media, I was worried that I wasn’t helping young women. I was worried I was hurting them. I realized I had a passion for understanding how everyday messages affect our health behaviors, specifically those to do with eating and exercise.
Thanks to the health communication class I took with Dr. Ashley Duggan and the research work I did with her as well, I knew that people were doing body image work in the field of Communication. Dr. Duggan was (and is) such a fantastic mentor to me, and guided me as I applied for graduate programs that had faculty doing research in this area.
When I got into my first program, it was her alma mater, and I distinctly remember telling her the good news about ten minutes after I found out. We were standing in front of our Courage to Know class, and we both started crying!
6. When did you discover your interest in Health Communication?
I discovered my interest in health communication when I took Dr. Duggan’s writing intensive course my junior year. It peaked my interest in a profound way. I knew that this was how I could make my mark. This was how I could help adolescents, young women and men grow to be healthy adults.
The OSU Days
1. What are you studying/researching at OSU?
At OSU, my main research interest lies in understanding how the media affect our health behaviors, specifically those to do with eating and exercise. I am working on an experiment with Dr. Nancy Rhodes that relates social norms, advertising, and body image.
However, I am also working with Dr. Janice Raup-Krieger studying interpersonal communication. We look at the decision-making processes that take place when cancer patients are offered clinical trials.
Future research will look into media literacy as a way to counteract the negative effects that scholars have found in much of the body image research.
2. What is a typical day in the life of a grad student like?
A typical day is CRAZY! It includes a half-mile walk to my office, a few research meetings (with some of the best communication scholars in the country!), reading, preparing lectures for the Public Speaking class I teach, more reading, teaching class, doing even more reading, going to my own classes, running research labs… more reading. There’s a lot of reading.
3. What is your proudest accomplishment at OSU thus far?
My proudest accomplishment is being an author on a paper that has been accepted at the International Communication Association conference. My cancer communication research team is an incredible group of people, I am so lucky to be working with them!
I’m also proud of a lecture I gave to my students last semester on advertising and body image. I had many students come to me after class asking about my research.
4. Any fun OSU stories?
Well, if you’re going into the social sciences, just know that when your statistics/methods professor says “Chrome Box Alpha,” he/she is actually referring to “Cronbach’s Alpha.” That realization brought some tears of laughter in class. Our prof didn’t find it as funny as my friends and I did. (Nerd alert).
There was another tragic incident at our department Christmas party. In a White Elephant exchange, I stole Anchorman, and was pretty psyched. Everyone thought the game was over, when someone realized the first person gets to steal. Guess what she stole? Yup. And I wound up with a bag of joy. Aka fake boogers, toy snakes, a coloring book and other such “goodies.”