Emerson has always been a chapter that liked to take risks, so emailing the chapter network to spotlight different Her Campus Chapters at other schools was no different. One of the schools that we have decided we wanted to introduce to you is the chapter at The College of New Jersey. TCNJ is located in Ewing, New Jersey, and their HC chapter was founded in January of 2011. Their mission is to “allow women in communications to come together on campus and express themselves in a creative, online outlet.” TCNJ is proud to be a Diamond level chapter, one of the highest rankings achievable, and their team is constantly growing, however, right now, they have about 40 members. Their membership includes writers, contributors, editors, social media specialists, among others.
Running the show at TCNJ are Co-CCs Mia Ingui and Amanda Toolan. Mia holds the role of president, while Amanda functions as the chapters editor-in-chief. Working with Amanda and Mia is their senior editor, Sara Petrozziello. In addition, they have section editors. For News, Entertainment, and Opinion, Debra Kate Schafer edits. Minji Kim edits for Academics and Camps Life. Fashion and Beauty editing is Sameen Kazmin (who also acts as the social media director for the team), and the Lifestyle editor is Délia Campus-Ferreira (who is also the Twitter specialist for the team). Finally, Julia Marnin is the editor for the chapter’s profile pieces and Instagram specialist. In addition to their editors, the team also has Diana Solano, who is their marketing and publicity chair. Additionally, they have Amani Salahudeen as part of their team, who is their Facebook specialist. In addition to the executive board positions above, the HCTCNJ chapter also has a graphic designer, Eunice Olugbile, and two photographers: Denise Ingui and Jamie Yoos.
Each of the CCs decided to pick their favorite profile piece that was written by the chapter in the past year. Mia’s pick is writer Debra Schafer’s piece entitled, “We Need Change Now and Not in 5, 10, or 50 Years.” Amanda, on the other hand, selected writer Sara Petrozziello’s piece, “How Streaming Music is Revolutionizing the Industry.” Both of these pieces are great examples of the hard work that the writers are putting in over at HCTCNJ, however, these don’t include the amazing work the members of this team are doing in profiles. When asked what their favorite profiles written in the last year were, Mia picked the profile on Emma Eisenbeil, and Amanda picked the profile written on Maddi Ference. For more of the chapter’s articles, you can check out their HC page.
Moving away from the articles, HCTCNJ also has had a lot of opportunities on the events side of their club. They were able to participate in two partnerships with HCHQ for their Get with the Times events last year. As part of the partnership, they held two large events on campus to stream watch parties for The New York Times’s featurered lecturers, model Ashley Graham and tech guru Alexis Ohanian. Both of the streaming parties were successful, and marketing through their social media channels, which you can find linked here: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. HCTCNJ is looking forward to holding more events this upcoming year as well, so keep your eyes open!
Speaking of things that HCTCNJ is looking forward to, they are especially excited about expanding their chapter! If you are looking to get involved with the HCTCNJ chapter, know that they are very active on social media, so you can always reach out to the team there about joining, or with questions about any of their events. If you are looking at joining the club, TCNJ chapter also wants you to know that they are accepting of everyone, and that they will never stifle creative liberty on any pieces that you are working on. Now that they have established themselves on campus more with the previous events that they ran, they want everyone to know that they are looking for more people to join their growing team, and they are also looking to grow their social media following this year as well. Their biggest goal for the semester, however, is retaining all their new members, since they love the content that these members are bringing to the table.
We wanted to dig a little deeper and get to know what their favorite memories were from their chapter, to which the CCs explained that their favorite memory was attending Her Conference in Brooklyn this past summer! They loved the bonding opportunity that it presented and said that it was amazing to experience the event as a team. They are extremely proud that even as a small chapter, they were able to maintain a diamond level ranking, and they are really excited that their team size is rapidly increasing with the growing awareness around campus.
Lastly, we finished off with our favorite question, “What are three words you would use to describe your team?” To which, the CCs replied, “strong, supportive, and empowering! Because each and every team member brings those three values to our chapter!”
Bonus Questions:
TS: What Hogwarts house does your chapter most identify with?
CCs: Gryffindor, duh.
TS: If your chapter could be described with one animal, what would that animal be and why?
CCs: A lion, obviously! The lion is our school mascot and really embodies the power and strength the women of HCTCNJ have.
TS: Is your chapter team Edward or Team Jacob? Or for daring, Team Kristen Stewart as a person?
CCs: Jacob got so slighted and is so gorgeous, we’ll go Team Jacob.
TS: Is your chapter more cat people or dog people?
CCs: Dogs. Cats are just not as fun.
TS: Does your chapter identify more with beaches or lakes?
CCs: Jersey Shore, of course!
TS: What time of year (semester, trimester, quarter) has the best classes to add to your schedules?
CCs: Probably fall semester.