Name: Sara LeAnn Clifton
Year in school: Junior, Class of 2013
Major: Double major of Journalism and TV/Radio Production
Hometown: Coal Valley, IL
It is difficult to get around campus without seeing at least the front page of St. Ambrose’s campus newspaper, The Buzz. Many collegiettes pick up a new issue every two weeks and flip through it to see what is new around campus. However, most probably don’t think about how much work, time, and passion go into making each publication informative and successful.
That is where this week’s Campus Celebrity comes into play. At the beginning of the semester, junior Sara Clifton began as editor-in-chief of The Buzz. Although she is met with many time demands and pressure to make each issue as flawless as possible, Sara has found her passion through work on the newspaper.
Sara first became involved in journalism as a junior in high school when she was the editor of the yearbook. Because she spent an “obscene amount of time on the yearbook,” her teachers decided to make her editor of the school newspaper, with the hopes of distracting her from her previous position. Sara wasn’t excited about this, to say the least.
She was given the option to switch back to yearbook, but plans changed.
“After thinking long and hard, I realized I couldn’t work on a yearbook for the rest of my life, but I could work on a newspaper,” Sara said. “That’s when my interest began. It was as simple as that.”
From that time on, Sara began working for her hometown paper and doing freelance work for other newspapers. She is still involved in those, but at a lesser degree than she used to be.
At St. Ambrose, Sara began working for The Buzz during the fall 2011. She was Photo Editor and Ad Manager. She credits the former editor-in-chief, Andrew Gates, for showing her the ropes. When he graduated in December, he suggested Sara to take his place, much to her surprise.
“I was shocked and was really blown away and very honored. Now, as the editor, it’s very exciting, a lot of work and at times rather stressful.”
Despite the stress, her first issue became available on February 2, and she is looking forward to continue working. She expects each issue to keep getting easier.
Sara is also involved with SAUtv. She thoroughly enjoys this part of communications, as well, even though it wasn’t always part of her plan.
“Coming in I absolutely knew I did not want to be involved in TV or radio. It was not for me and when my mom came with to pick out classes, I made sure she knew I would not be talked into any TV classes.”
Despite her best efforts to avoid taking these courses, Sara was required to take a TV/Radio production class for her journalism major. She ended up enjoying the class and when she found out that “Dateline SAU” broadcast was short on staff, she decided to help out.
Sara ran the camera for this production. After that, “I knew that I had been bitten by the broadcasting bug; I loved the feel of TV! A few weeks later, I changed over to a double major.”
To date, Sara has been involved in the control room and studio for “Dateline SAU” and has taken additional TV production classes. She has been able to run the camera, act as floor director, and work on the audio boards and tapes. Now, she is the anchor of the newscast which is her “favorite job within the production.”
She is also able to act as technical director and run floor camera for live basketball broadcasts on SAUtv.
“There is nothing like the excitement of live TV! I get excited for it every time we have a production.”
Even though Sara began her time at Ambrose so sure that she would not want to be involved in TV, she now can’t decide whether she prefers newspaper or television.
“Newspaper reporting is fun because you can tell a longer story–you can really impact emotions. TV is fun because, basically, you’ve got one shot. You can tell a beautiful story either way. With words, with pictures, with sound, with video. I enjoy both…that is such a hard question.”
Sara takes her passion for communications into her life outside of Ambrose, as well. She currently works at the Western District Library in Orion, IL. Here, she is a children’s librarian and has a Monday night storytime.
Being able to bring people the news is something that Sara thoroughly enjoys. She follows in the footsteps of her idol, Katie Couric.
“I want to give people information they can use–information they’ll enjoy and information that will make them think.”
In the future, Sara hopes to be able to stay in the QCA because this is home to her. One of her friends is studying meteorology, and they have always joked about doing the news and weather together some day. Sara says this would “be a dream come true.”
Realistically, though, Sara has high hopes for her future in communications.
“Whether in television or newspaper, my dream would be being a trusted authority in the community. If I could establish that, I think that would be a big accomplishment. I could see myself working in either television or for a newspaper. Maybe something will come about so that I can work in both. That would be perfect.”