This past Saturday, on a very cold morning, I woke at the abysmal hour of six in the morning. The sun had yet to rise, and my neighbors in the apartment next to me had been up until almost four shouting and laughing. By the time it was time for me to wake up, I had gotten all of – maybe – three hours of sleep.
But that didn’t matter; today was the day of the 2013 Her Campus Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Conference hosted by the William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University chapters of Her Campus.
After an hour’s worth of driving, we pulled into Williamsburg and eventually started to set up. One by one – sometimes two by two, three by three – other Her Campus members began to arrive from W&M, VCU, and James Madison University. Without even realizing it, Her Campus co-founder and President Windsor Hanger (@windsorhanger) and Manager of Campus Development Brittany Lewis (@britmlewis) had also shown up.
To kick things off, Windsor gave an enthusiastic presentation about the history of Her Campus and what it takes to start your own business – giving advice that would strike a chord in anyone, especially when it comes from a woman that helped found a site that’s worth (according to worthofweb.com) just over $7 million.
As someone looking to start his own publication for aspiring journalists, her expertise and words of encouragement were all I needed to force myself to go home and put together a solid outline.
The conglomeration of women (and two men) then broke into smaller groups to attend a handful of different “break out” sessions, wherein different leaders and speakers would give presentations about something that might relate to college-aged women, Communications majors, and the like. Though I accidentally walked into the wrong room at first (which was apparently a fantastic presentation on women and standing up for yourself, hosted by Carrie Adams), I was fortunate enough to attend a presentation by Allison Hillhouse and Jillian Curran from MTV about the various things college students can do with a degree in Communications.
The presentation was especially insightful because it showcased aspects of communications that many people tend to see as boring: Trends, numbers, and research. Where these items used to be boring and monotonous, Hillhouse and Curran have managed to help make them more visual and practical than they used to be.
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After the first set of break out sessions, we all broke for lunch in Williamsburg. Most of us chose to get lunch at The Cheese Shop which – while the food is great – had lines longer than the premiere of the last Harry Potter movie. By lunch’s end, I had noticed Windsor, Brittany, and USA Today College editor Haley Blum had returned with coffee from Aroma’s (which is a fantastic little coffeehouse, if you ever get the chance to go). Upon commenting on what a brilliant choice Aroma’s was, I got the chance to take a fifteen-minute walk-and-talk with Windsor.
What followed was kind of surprising, at least for me.
Even though I thought her presentation earlier that morning, I hadn’t really gotten the chance to gauge just how cool she actually was. Too often people pass up the chance to have an actual conversation with someone, so I was somewhat taken aback when she took the time to ask me how I got involved with Her Campus and what I hoped to do in the future. I had expected to meet her, sure, but to actually discuss the future of Her Campus and our backgrounds and everything? I mean, really, words can’t describe how great that was.
When we all returned from lunch, we were treated to an amazing presentation by Caroline Rothstein. For those who attended, it goes without saying that Rothstein was an amazing speaker. Vastly intelligent, outspoken in so many ways, and witty beyond belief – her presentation was perhaps one of my favorites of the day. Words she had recited from a piece she worked on while in school, “A young person who wants to be a journalist can change world ideologies”. Rothstein’s words – not just the ones in the sentence previous – impacted most of the people in the room, and for good reason.
Moving on, we all ventured outside – the weather, at this point, had changed from stupidly cold to moderately sunny – for the Vizcaya Swimwear and London Times fashion shows. Models trekked down a length of bricks set to the tune of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’.
I won’t go into too much detail here, but the models (from both brands) looked great.
The second break out session started shortly after, and I was fortunate enough to attend a presentation by the aforementioned USA Today College editor Haley Blum. Blum, a recent college graduate, is in a position that many current Journalism majors probably wouldn’t mind finding themselves in. While the advice she gave was mostly things I was already aware of, it was still an invaluable experience to listen to an actual editor talk about things editors want to see from their writers. That, and her advice about fixing cover letters was helpful as well. Blum also encouraged attendees to apply to the Summer stretch of the Collegiate Correspondent Program, which allows a select number of college writers to write for USA Today College and – potentially – have pieces published in the print version of USA Today to be read by people across the nation.
To close things out, attendees sat in hopes to win something during the raffle (items for which were graciously donated by Williamsburg Premium Outlets, Paxton 1345, Kickboard Scooters, and Krochet Kids). Winners seemed to come mostly from W&M and VCU, but everyone had a good time.
Networking was done both personally and professionally, and the Conference was without doubt a major success for everyone involved.
Thanks go out to all of the businesses that helped sponsor the event, and especially to those who attended as well – it wouldn’t have happened without you.