A Monthly Publication of the NWC Communication Department

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March 3-13

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Featured Student

Amanda Cherico
Senior

Major: Public Relations

What are your goals for the future?: I want to do public relations for a nonprofit that focuses on human rights issues. Within the next 5-8 years I want to go to seminary and get an M.Div. I can see myself being on staff at a church or a ministry someday, perhaps preaching or maybe counseling.

What interesting things have you done while at NWC?: I started out as a Journalism major at NWC, and I wrote and edited on The Column for three years. My sophomore year I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Washington Journalism Center. I lived seven blocks from the Capitol, took Journalism classes and did a reporting internship at United Press International. This experience helped me decide that I wanted to do PR for a human rights nonprofit or NGO someday. When I returned from D.C. I switched my major from Journalism to Public Relations. Last spring I was at Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media where I wrote press releases, assisted with events and helped to promote a book tour for a New York Times Bestseller. I am now an event intern at the Evangelical Press Association and a public relations intern at Freedom Firm, a nonprofit that rescues girls from the sex trade in India.

What is your favorite thing about NWC?: The opportunities it has for students to "go outside the gates" through the various local outreach ministries in the Campus Ministries department. Probably the most meaningful experience at NWC for me has been my involvement with Writing in the Sand, an NWC ministry to women who are escaping prostitution and the sex trade. My time with these precious women and staff has made me realize a personal calling to help women who are enslaved and to work to abolish the sex trade.

Featured
Alumnus

Nate Forsberg
May 2001

Degree: Communication

What have you been doing since graduation?

After graduation, I worked with a group of fellow Northwestern students to form a touring improv and sketch comedy troupe. Along with performing improv, we created video sketches with a a biblical message and produced Christian educational curriculum used across the country. In my role as a performer and a creative producer, I used elements from every aspect of my education through the Communication and Theatre programs at Northwestern. Currently, I use those same skills daily in the business world as a Communications Consultant for Wells Fargo, whether it's writing technical copy, advising on layout and design for marketing materials or managing relationships with outside vendors.

What advice do you have for students?

Take advantage of being at a liberal arts college and all that that has to offer, both academically and through extracurricular activities. Pray for God to give you insight into where He is leading you in life and then use the broad selection of academic studies to build your foundation and advance those with activities that give you an opportunity to use what you are learning in the classroom.

Video students win 36-hour competition

Fourteen Electronic Media students are returning from the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville today. The students are winners of national media awards who got to take part in the convention, learning from and networking with professionals in their areas of study.

Some of the students spent a portion of their weekend producing media as part of the 36.DA and 36.DV Challenge competitions. The competition required students to create a promotional audio or video spot for a ministry client. Students, who meet their client at the start of the competition, have just 36 hours to produce their piece from start to finish. The pieces are then judged by a panel and screened in front of an audience at the iNRB awards ceremony.

Senior Laura Hoffman, who was part of the video team, explained the importance of having a team that worked well together in a high-pressure competition like the 36.DV Challenge. "Everyone was able to contribute his or her gifts and talents to the project, and there was great respect for that throughout the process. There's no room for arguing in a 36-hour production competition, and I think that the mutual respect for each other's opinions helped us produce a great product."

The unified work of Hoffman's team paid off. The video students were awarded first place among the five teams that competed. Their PSA for GOGF Ministries is the first 36-hour entry from Northwestern to win the highest honor. The audio team, which created a radio spot for Pacific Garden Mission this year, took second place in its category.

Congratulations to the students on both teams for their accomplishments. They are to be commended not only for their performance in the competition, but also for their contributions to the ministries they worked with.

The Boys Next Door displays true humanity

It's common in theatre to tell grand stories of larger-than-life characters. The stage in Maranatha Hall is frequently filled with the likes of singing salesmen in The Music Man or the colorful extravagence of Godspell. But the college's most recent play showed a side of humanity not often seen in theatrical settings.

The Boys Next Door told the story of four mentally challenged men living in a home together and of their burned-out social worker, Jack. The show had its emotional ups and downs. The audience dissolved into laughter as lovestruck Norman threw donuts out the window but held its breath as a traumatized Barry received yet another round of abuse from a father who he'd not seen in nine years.

Senior Phil Baur, who played the role of Barry, described the challenges of playing a character with a disability. "It's hard to play a disabled person because the character responds to situations in different ways. I can read the lines on the page and my initial interpretation can be wrong because the thought processes of the character are so different from my own."

The lead actors spent time at a group home to gain insight into how their characters would think and act. "My character was a schizophrenic," said Baur, "And I'll be honest, I didn't really know much about the disorder before I was cast. It was interesting to see the interactions between the guys at the home as it compared to the characters in the show."

The students' long hours of research and preparation helped them in producing a great show. The Boys Next Door showed a side of humanity often hidden from and misunderstood by the rest of the population.

PR grads quickly land great jobs

In the current economic climate, it's not unlikely that a recent college graduate will have to work for free or at a less-than-desirable job for awhile before working his or her way into a decent career.

The December 2010 graduates of the Public Relations program, however, have had no problem landing jobs in the field, even within the few short months since leaving Northwestern.

Kaitlyn Cox began has a paid internship in PR Writing at the Mall of America, doing writing and media pitching and occasionally assisting the events department.
Brian Gordon landed a job as a caseworker for the newly established state office of Congressman-elect Chip Cravaack. During his last semester at Northwestern, Brian worked full time in the office of U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann.
Jeremy Johnson has an internship with Yuwa, an organization in India that develops sports leagues that promote health, education, and livelihood in the communities. Johnson will be developing a PR plan for Yuwa, as well as creating media kits and press releases about the organization.
Lindsay Paskewitz landed an internship at PR agency Nemer Fieger in St. Louis Park.

Public Relations professor Dr. Kent Kaiser said, "It's is rewarding to see the PR grads moving so easily into really good positions. We are blessed with high-achieving students who are in high demand in the real world."

Notable Notes

The Cinematography and Lighting class recently took a field trip to Lights On, a production rental company in Minneapolis. See photos from the trip on the Communication Department Facebook page.

Senior Communication Studies major Katie DeWitt was named UMAC Conference Player of the Week and NCCAA Student-Athlete of the Week. DeWitt was also selected to D3Hoops.com's Team of the Week.

Senior EMC major Micah Murray's short film The Obituary of Richard Cory won Honorable Mention in the student narrative category of the Broadcast Education Association's Festival of Media Arts.

Theatre graduate Eric Netterlund ('08) has been accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado Boulder. He and wife Larisa ('07) will be finishing their M.A. degrees this spring at the University of North Dakota.

This month, December grad Jonathan Peterson is starting as a full-time, paid intern in the manufacturing and technology sector of public relations firm Padilla Speer Beardsley. Peterson will be doing media tracking/clip reports, writing press releases and doing media pitching and follow-ups.

Senior EMC major Adam Rozanas will be moving to Johannesburg, South Africa to work with Trans World Radio upon graduation in May

Correction: The February issue of dotComm incorrectly listed senior Erin McGregor as a junior.

Note From the Chair

Years ago, Franky Schaeffer (son of the noted evangelical theologian) wrote the influential book Addicted to Mediocrity, in which he argued that while art created by Christians once dominated the cultural world, today's church is content with lame imitations of secular media and marketing. He wrote, "Whenever Christians, and evangelicals in particular, have attempted to 'reach the world' through the media--TV, film, publishing and so on--the thinking public gets the firm idea that, like soup in a bad restaurant, Christians' brains are best left unstirred."

Of course, Franky went on to destroy his credibility on the topic by directing the relentlessly mediocre splatter-fest Wired to Kill (think Mad Max with a smaller budget and narrower artistic vision) and now pretty much makes his living trying to tear down his father's legacy. Still, his original observation was a good one and is worth taking to heart.

Too often, Christians in media and the arts are content to imitate rather than innovate. We produce work that is "good enough" for the Christian subculture but that does not set the bar higher for the world at large. Franky called on Christians to aim higher, and each day students in the Communication Department respond to that same challenge.

One of the great joys of teaching is the opportunity to stir the minds of students, then watch them excel. From our award-winning student radio and newspaper to our thought-provoking theatrical performances, and from the skyrocketing quality of our student film festival to the top-notch work being done by our graduates, it's clear that our Communication students are resisting the call of mediocrity.

Students, thank you for your excellent work, and please know that your faculty consider it an honor to play a small part in helping you press on toward the mark for the prize that is your high calling from God.

Doug Trouten
Chair, Communication Department