Michael Fuller
Year of Graduation: 2016
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Major: Broadcast Journalism
What drew you to Hofstra University?
The funny thing about that is that I was not intended to go here, it really wasn’t on my list at all. I had a few friends that went here and I heard about it and how great it was, but I didn’t even apply because it wasn’t on my radar. So I went to this convention and all of the schools that I had indented on applying to were there. At the end of the day I was just tiered and ready to go home but my mother saw the Hofstra table and forced me to go over and talk to a representative. So I went over and actually really liked what they had to say. I liked the fact that the school is 35 minutes outside of the city and the fact that I can get the city benefits without having to actually be in the city. So from there I decided to take a tour and almost four years later here we are.
What clubs and organizations are you a part of on campus?
First I’m a part of the HEAT Network, I anchor Hofstra Today, I am the host of a show called For Your Island, I also hosted the Max Cope Telethon, I do Newsline, and WRHU, I am a host of Morning Wake-Up Call, I’ve also done Jazz cafe. I’m also a part of The Hofstra Gospel Ensemble, and I am also a part of OSLE, I do mascoting for them. I have also newly become a member of NABJ and SPJ. I’m a part of a few things here on campus, I just love to stay busy.
Where do you see yourself after you graduate?
Well I have the short term, middle term, and long term goals. Short term is when I get out of school, I would like to be a reporter at a local station, and be able to grow and harness that craft of reporting and story telling. You know my main goal is just to grow within my craft, starting off as a reporter, then becoming an anchor, then maybe one day being able to branch out to a network. I find news really fascinating in a sense that one minute life can be one thing and then in the next minute it can be completely different. I love how it’s our job as the news deliverers to figure out some way to make sense of it all and communicate it, and give it to people. We are the story tellers.
How did you first get interested in journalism?
When I was 10 years old I started speaking at my church. There was an event that I didn’t really want to do. I was really very nervous about it because it involved speaking in front of people. Once again my mom forced me to do it, and it went really well. Then from the ages of 10 to 18 every third weekend of the month I was a worship leader, an announcement clerk, and I read scripture. When I started the church was at about 5,500 members and when I was finished our membership had grown to about 18,000. So I grew up speaking to people. As I continued through my church I got more opportunities with radio and TV. I did a Teen Talk show with 6ABC which is the local ABC Affiliate of Philadelphia. from there I started to see that this is really something I could do, and I started to see that Television is a platform that you can use as a force for good. This has become a real passion for me.