Hello! I’m recently back in Ithaca after attending the Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Washington, D.C., held by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. Fellow Park Scholar Carly Willsie ’10 and I were excited to represent the Park Scholar Program and recruit interested high school juniors and seniors for future application. Despite the fact that most of the participants were active participants in either their high school newspapers or yearbooks, the conference offered students with a wide range of diverse interests, passions and career goals. A lot of the students had already heard about the Park Scholar Program and all the ones who didn’t definitely agreed that it was a fantastic opportunity.

Because of our different interest areas, Carly and I were able to tap into the diversity of students at the conference and offer a well-rounded picture of what Ithaca College and the Roy H. Park School of Communications can offer them. Carly, a journalism major with an English minor, is in her second year as an editor of Buzzsaw Magazine, the popular alternative monthly campus magazine. She’s held internships at Metroland in Albany, N.Y.; the Feminist Majority Foundation and Ms. Magazine in Washington, D.C.; and Essay Press, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and the Community School of Music and Arts, all here in Ithaca. She’s also a talented (and award-winning!) creative writer with a bourgeoning interest in interactive media and its applications to contemporary art.

A lot of students weren’t interested in strict journalism but other forms of communication, including strategic communication, public relations and advertising, which is where I came in. With my major in integrated marketing communications and a minor in international communications, I was able to talk about the marketing, advertising, public relations and audience research plans I’ve done in class and my internships at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and MTV Networks/Logo in New York City, Channel Four Television Corporation in London, and Wisconsin Public Television in Madison, Wisconsin. However, I also maintain a continued interest in journalism, completing an internship at the Center for Media and Demoracy (sponsored by Park School’s Park Center for Independent Media), where I penned several articles, including an investigative piece on the Pentagon pundit scandal that was picked up by Common Dreams, CounterPunch, FAIR and other online news media outlets.

A lot of the students were especially interested in our experiences studying abroad, reflecting the sharp increase in U.S. students completing international academic experiences reported by the U.S. State Department. Carly was able to talk about her semester in Barcelona, Spain; her volunteering trip in Peru; and her recent month-long stay in Costa Rica. I told them about living and interning in London for a semester at the Ithaca College London Center and about my upcoming planned research trip to Doha, Qatar (more about that later!).

We also had several folks interested in photojournalism, documentary production, film and visual arts, and it was exciting to share with them about what the Park School could offer them. One thing was a constant, however: an unmistakable passion and excitement for the future. There are certainly going to be a lot of qualified candidates for the incoming Park Scholar Class of 2014, and I’m sure this year’s selection committee will have to make some hard decisions. To anyone that I met and talked to at the journalism conference, I wish you the best of luck! 

It’s small. It’s rural. It’s cold.

I wasn’t sure what to expect before coming to Ithaca. A million questions ran through my head: Would I feel isolated? Would I be sacrificing opportunities by going to school in such a small city? And, as a born and bred Wisconsinite, did I really want to land somewhere with even harsher winters?

However, as I prepare for my fourth and final year at Ithaca College, I can look back on the past three years and say—without doubt—I made the absolute perfect choice. Small meant low class sizes and personal attention from my professors. Rural just meant I had the advantage of one of the most gorgeous scenic backgrounds in the United States—they don’t say “Ithaca is Gorges” for nothing (not to mention that the city is a bustling metropolis in its own right). And the cold? Well, I’m not sure I can defend that, but it’s definitely a small price to pay for how beautiful Ithaca is during the rest of the year.

Settling in to my senior year, I’m confronted with that uneasy tension between sadness over the conclusion of four great years and the excitement of what’s to come. However, I’ve been doing a great job at suppressing this anxiety and I’ve been having an awesome final year.

For the second year in a row, I’m living with some of my best friends—including three other Park Scholars. I’ve also started a job as a Student Leadership Consultant in the Office of Student Engagement and Multicultural Affairs, where I help design and implement different programs to facilitate student involvement and service. I am also the president of IC’s chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, write for Buzzsaw Magazine, and volunteer at different local agencies including the Lehman Alternative Community School and the Longview assisted living and residential community center.

My name is Daniel Haack, a senior integrated marketing communications major here in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College, and I will be your host as I negotiate the demands of school with the preparation of what comes next. Throughout the year, I’ll be touching on my successes and failures, the lessons I’ve learned and the questions I have. I’ll include updates from other senior Park Scholars and I’ll offer a candid look of a soon-to-be-graduated student in a worrisome economy. 

I’ll give you the same advice I’ve been given many times before: sit back and enjoy the ride…