| Upcoming Events |
Northwestern Speakoff
April 4
Summerstock in April
April 7-9, 12-16
Day of Prayer & Service
April 7
Five16 Film Festival
April 18
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| Featured Student | |
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Vanessa Graetz
Senior
Major: Public Relations
What are your goals for the future?: I would love to move into event planning after graduation. I enjoy people and can see the Lord using me in this way somehow after my time at Nortwestern ends. I love the Twin Cities, so I might look for something around here, but I'm open to anything. I love traveling!
What interesting things have you done while at NWC?: I have been involved in a couple things during my time here. I spent a year as an orientation leader, I've been a missionary partner for my hall, and I am now serving on the Student Activities Council as the Director of Seasonal Activities. My academics have lead me to gain experience in PR by working with Intellectual Takeout, a think-tank in Minneapolis; the American Red Cross; and Cellcom, a cellular service in Green Bay.
What is your favorite thing about NWC?: I absolutely love the community here. I feel so comfortable being myself, and it has been such a joy to make friends for life. I can easily see myself on this campus periodically even after graduation. |
| Featured
Alumnus |
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Aaron White
May 2003
Degree: Broadcasting & Electronic MediaWhat have you been doing since graduation?
After graduation, I began working at 98.5 KTIS as a part-time network operator and on-air announcer. After a few months, this became a full-time job that included on-air work, audio production, copy writing, social media and Internet video. After five years at KTIS, I left to pursue some freelance opportunities working with Web content and social media. I'm currently contracting with Teen Challenge to produce all of their national radio PSAs, and I'm back in the world of radio, working part time at 95.3 Praise FM in Minneapolis.
What advice do you have for students?
Maintain good relationships. The media and communications industry is too small to be able to afford burning bridges. Not only is it biblical to stay on the best possible terms with those around you (Romans 12:18), but it's a good career move, as you never know who you'll need help from or who you'll work with again in the future. Just as your connections can work for you, they can also work against you.
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Theatre hosts Summer Stock in April
 Summer stock theatre is a tradition going back to the 1920s in which one theatre would perform several plays within the same season. This month, the Northwestern Theatre program is putting on what they call Summer Stock in April. Three full-length shows will be performed three times each over the course of two weekends. While a typical summer stock theatre would perform all the shows with the same cast of actors, Northwestern College Theatre doesn't have the luxury of a staff of full-time performers. But what could be seen as a limitation is actually a blessing in that it opens the door for many more students to be involved. Theatre production manager Nathan Cousins explained, "This theatre festival has three separate casts with a combined number of 32 students and a production team comprised of an additional 31 students."The shows being performed are The Last Night of Ballyhoo, You Can't Take it With You and Bus Stop. According to Cousins, "The three shows are classics of American theatre and are light, fun and perfect summer stock fare." Synopses of the shows are available online, as well as the dates on which each show will be performed. Tickets are free for NWC students but must be reserved through the ticket office.
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Film festival to welcome Daniel Green
 In what has become one of the most celebrated traditions of the Communication Department, the Five16 Film Festival is rolling out the red carpet on April 18 for the Northwestern Community to experience the work of student filmmakers on campus.
This year's festival will feature 14 student-produced short films in the categories of comedy, drama, music video and animation. The students' films are currently being judged by film professionals from around the country, and the winning films in each category will receive $100.
The most highly coveted prize in the festival, though, is the honor of being named "Audience Choice," the one film in the festival to receive the greatest number of votes from those in attendance. This year's Audience Choice prize includes an opportunity to meet with director, writer and producer Daniel Green.
Green has worked in TV production on several programs including ER, The Sopranos, Party of Five, Time of Your Life, Fantasy Island, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and The West Wing. Most recently, he directed Munhall starring George Wendt ( Cheers) and Tom Atkins ( Law and Order). Green directed and produced the film Entropy, which toured the country on the festival circuit, and his documentary film Listen was marketed as a teaching tool in classrooms throughout the U.S. He is currently the Director of the Master of Entertainment Industry Management program Carnegie Mellon University.
In addition to judging for the Five16 Film Festival best actor and actress awards, Green will be traveling to Saint Paul for the festival, where he will personally present the Audience Choice award.
More information about the upcoming film festival can be found online. |
Department helps prospective students make "Major Discovery"
 Last Thursday night, over 30 Communication Department faculty and students gathered to welcome high school students from around the state. The event provided an opportunity for students interested in attending Northwestern to get to know various academic departments on campus.
The Communication Department gave the prospective students an firsthand look at what it's like to be a student in the department. Those interested in Theatre got to sit in on a dress rehearsal, current Public Relations majors ran a mock press conference for the guests interested in Journalism and PR, and radio students put high schoolers on the air at WVOE. The TV crew even ran a full news show while giving the guests a chance to try their hand behind the anchor desk or in front of a weather map.
Prospective students left the campus not only with an up-close look at the department's facilities, but also having made genuine connections with many of the professors and students they're likely to interact with next year.
Thank you to the many students who gave up their evening to make this a great experience for next year's class of freshmen. Photos from the event are available on the department's Facebook page. 
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Notable Notes
Recent grad Kelsey (Bloomquist) Capistrant ('10) was hired as a Health Care Practice Intern at PR agency Padilla Speer Beardsley.
2009 graduate and current NWC Theatre Production Manager Nathan Cousins starred in a recent Best Buy commercial that aired on national television networks.
Junior PR major Kelsey Ericson is an intern with the Republican Party of Minnesota, serving under Major Donor Director Jeanette Purcell ('09).
Professor Mark Seignious was named chair of the Intercollegiate National Religious Broadcasters (iNRB).
Professor Ann Sorenson was nominated to a subcommittee of the iNRB for the development and planning of a new film festival for the CCCU that will begin next February.
Recent grad Emily Stofferahn ('10) was promoted to a permanent position as PR/Social Media Account Coordinator for PR firm Gabriel deGrood Bendt.
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Twitter is the media of the future! (LOL)
One of my favorite media-related April Fool's Day stories came from Britain's Guardian newspaper two years ago, when it announced a switch to a new "all-Twitter" format.
The paper wrote, "As a Twitter-only publication, the Guardian will be able to harness the unprecedented newsgathering power of the service, demonstrated recently when a passenger on a plane that crashed outside Denver was able to send real-time updates on the story as it developed, as did those witnessing an emergency landing on New York's Hudson River. It has also radically democratised news publishing, enabling anyone with an Internet connection to tell the world when they are feeling sad or thinking about having a cup of tea."
The story went on to note that the paper's archives were being rewritten to fit Twitter's 140-character limit, including this one: "W Churchill giving speech NOW -- 'We shall fight on the beaches ... we shall never surrender' Check YouTube later for the rest."
Of course, part of the joke was that it played on the fears of many that our new Internet-driven social media world is the death knell for traditional media. But to put that in perspective, it should be noted that every new form of media tends to be seen as the destruction of all that came before it. Radio was going to destroy print (why read when somebody can read to you?). Television was going to destroy radio (why listen when you can also watch?). And now the Internet is going to destroy all three.
What really happens, of course, is that old media adapt to meet the challenge of new media. Each finds a way to make a unique contribution in an increasingly rich media landscape. Want to see the latest footage from Japan? Turn to TV. Want to hear an expert discuss what this means for nuclear reactor design? It's probably happening on the radio. Want expanded, in-depth coverage? Turn to print. Want both immediacy and breadth? Then you want an online news aggregator like Google News (which, ironically, gets most of its news from old-fashioned print sources). And if for some reason you need to know what Charlie Sheen thinks of it all, there's always Twitter.
The people who succeed in this new media world will be those who have learned to tell stories clearly and effectively, regardless of the particular media platform.
Doug Trouten
Chair, Communication Department
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