Young Alumni Bring Inspirations and Advice Back to Trinity

Recent communication major graduates
speak at a panel at the Communication Day
Photo by Josie Liu

By Robert Smith

The classroom 320 in Trinity University’s Richardson Communication Center was fully occupied on Friday afternoon. Staff started to put extra chairs on the side, with many people still standing on the back and near the door.

Around 50 students, faculty and staff were here to see, and hear, five recent graduates of Communication major speaking at a panel at the third annual Communication Day, held by the Department of Communication.

Leading the discussion were Natalie Brown, Don Dimick, Lauren Wilks, Sarah Cooper and Leslie Green, all of whom graduated from Trinity within the past three years.

Their talks opened students’ eyes to the many possibilities after graduation, giving them a better idea of the tools they need to succeed in their careers.

“At Trinity, I took a class where we did a marketing campaign for the Alamo bowl and knew that advertising would be a good career fit,” said Wilks (‘13), who is now the communications director for Alamo City Cancer Council. “[After graduation] I wasn’t sure I wanted to go from school to more school. I did an unpaid internship that enabled me to work on a research project, which I presented to a client and landed a full-time job.”

The path wasn’t so smooth for everybody. Dimick (‘13), now a videographer for San Antonio’s NBC/Fox affiliates, reflected on his struggle of looking for a job. “When I graduated from Trinity, I felt like I had reached the top of the mountain and could only go up,” he said. “I dug electrical trenches for six months!”

He finally got an interview for a part time job. “From there I worked my butt off, and happened to be in the right place at the right time,” said Dimick. Still, he said he was grateful for the things he learned while job searching.

The panel also touched upon the fast changing industry of mass media. Buzzfeed’s lifestyle editor Brown (‘12) said her company is trying to go from investor funded start-up to established company in the next five years. “But it’s a very uncertain time with so many traditional news sources failing and now more social media tools to reach viewers.”

With the rise of sponsored content, the lines between responsible journalism and advertising are less clear. But it’s an exciting time too, because no one knows what’s next, she added.

The networking reception at
the Communication Day
Photo by Robert Smith

These talks were inspiring for the students in the audience, many of whom are graduating. “Today made graduation seem less scary, and I certainly met some good business contacts,” said senior Ryan Pavlich. “For a while I wanted to go into politics but this is making me reconsider. Still, having a strong communications background will be an advantage no matter where I end up.”

The Communication Day also featured another panel with alumni who graduated more than 15 years ago and represent diverse career paths that include real estate, H.E.B. and ESPN. The event concluded with a networking reception that gathered over 100 students, alumni and local business leaders in the Tiger TV studio.

“Today was a great success,” said Communication Professor Sammye Johnson, who organized the event. “We had 11 people coming to share their experiences. It’s an opportunity for people to network and tell their stories and shows students they can reinvent themselves with a Communications degree.”