This week’s Campus Celeb is junior journalism major Ceara Kirkpatrick! Originally from Nebraska, Ceara has taken Mizzou by storm. Not only does she run a photography business and a blog, but she also is the president of Chi Omega, a member of RAMS and is involved in tons of great organizations on campus. Check out more about Ceara and her hopes for the future!
HCM: Why did you decide to come Mizzou and pursue a journalism degree?
Ceara Kirkpatrick: My senior year of high school was when I realized that I wanted to pursue journalism in college. I was the editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook, was involved in speech, and really loved communicating with people and telling their stories. I visited lots of colleges, but Mizzou’s campus and its reputable journalism school kept standing out to me. I was really torn between Mizzou and Auburn, but the journalism school was my deciding factor, and is the reason I’m at Mizzou today!
HCM: You’ve owned a photography business for five years now. What originally interested you about photography?
Ceara Kirkpatrick: When I was a sophomore in high school, one of my friends was in a digital imaging class. I would go with her to shoot her projects and even sometimes model for her. I really became interested in photography through her and seeing how you could interpret and portray people and emotions in different ways through a photo. After witnessing photography through others, I wanted to be the one behind the camera. I went head first and bought myself a starter Canon camera and have been taking photos ever since! My next gig is in two weeks – I’m shooting a destination wedding in Maui! I am so honored to have people who trust me to document some of the most important and beautiful moments in their lives!
HCM: You recently started a blog. What made you want to start blogging?
Ceara Kirkpatrick: Being a photographer, I take pictures of way too many things. My phone has 11,000 pictures on it, I have a laptop that is almost completely full, and hard drives full of clients and my own personal photos. I take all of these random pictures and then never post them – they would just sit on my computer! I decided to start a blog to make myself share more of my work – my work outside of the photography business. All the pictures I post are from personal memories from my life – adventures, beauty, fashion, and photography are a few of my favorite things and are topics I talk about on my page!
HCM: What is your dream job after college? Would you like to keep pursuing photography?
Ceara Kirkpatrick: My dream job is to combine my passions of photography, social media and travel to create content for a company for their social media, website, etc. I would love to travel the world on the mission of creating content for a particular brand or company. Whether that be documenting international events or repping their clothing on a road-trip throughout the U.S., I would love to see myself living a life with a camera always in my hand!
HCM: Are you involved in anything else on campus? If so, what?
Ceara Kirkpatrick: I am! I am the president of Chi Omega, which is home to over 300 amazing women here at Mizzou. I am a member of the Rocking Against Multiple Sclerosis Steering Committee, and we just recently raised over $86,500 for the MS Institute of Mid-Missouri. I am the Head of Production for Mizzou’s National Student Advertising Competition Team, where I create video and photo content for an advertising campaign. Additionally, I serve as the Marketing Director for the MSA/GPC Box Office, where I promote concerts and events happening at The Blue Note or on campus! My schedule is definitely packed, but I seriously love every organization that I’m involved with and the people I get to meet along the way! They make it all worth it!