Dave Gershgorn is awesome, here’s why.
The 21 year old senior from Cortlandt Manor, New York will be graduating from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in May, but not without leaving his mark.
When Dave isn’t sitting behind his Editor-in-Chief’s desk at The Penn’s (IUP’s campus newspaper) headquarters, you can find him behind a camera. The self-described “visual journalist” shares his passion for photography with the world through his photo blog at davegershgorn.com.
Dave is active in IUP’s journalism community and definitely keeps himself busy. Dave is a brother of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity: Pennsylvania Lambda Chapter, a member of IUP’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and he hosts a biweekly news radio show called The Hawk Report.
As if that isn’t enough, Dave leads IUP’s student-run newspaper as Editor-in-Chief of The Penn. Through long hours and many cups of coffee, Dave oversees everything that goes into putting a newspaper together twice a week. Though Dave has definitely built an impressive resume here at IUP, his passion for journalism was born before he arrived.
Dave began writing journalistically by writing features for his high school newspaper. After awhile, Dave said, he wanted to write stories that the newspaper didn’t want to publish. So Dave took matters into his own hands.
“I got some friends together, designed a template, and we started publishing,” Dave said. “We wrote about everything from upgrades in school security to food reviews- we even had a horoscope.
“I think it ran three or four times, but i’ll never forget passing those papers out before first period. People really wanted to read what I put together and they were excited about it- what more could you ask for?”
When he’s not conquering the world of journalism, Dave likes to take photos, cook, and watch TV- he recently finished an It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia binge.
Upon graduation, Dave plans to move to New York City where he’ll be attending the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.
Dave has taken many opportunities offered to him here at IUP and is well on his way to a successful career in journalism. Dave leaves current IUP students with a piece of advice: “Try to find what you enjoy doing, and then make it work.”
“It sounds cliche,” Dave said, “but I think if you walk into work excited about what you’re doing, your quality of life is going to be better than if you’re working for the weekend.
“Also, learn to cook. And Google things.”