From Jessup to News Production
Digital Communication, Art & Design graduate Julia Findley recently accepted a position as morning news producer for Good Morning Reno at Kolo 8, a Gray television station.
“While I never saw myself working in a traditional newsroom, I have grown in my skills and love every aspect of my job. Even getting into work at midnight,” she said. “I’ve improved as a writer and the connections I made while studying at Jessup helped me to start the position with all the tools I needed to succeed.”
Choosing to study Digital Communication was an easy decision for Findley. “ I knew I wanted to pursue a major that would allow me to get a job right off the bat,” she said. “After I met with Paul Robins, I knew this was the program for me. He emphasized that Jessup’s program would prepare me for jobs post graduation because it equips students with real world experiences and teaches vital skills to produce meaningful content.”
Findley credits many of her Jessup experiences with providing her the opportunity to discover and develop much of the skill set that helped her land her exciting position in the broadcast arena. One of those was when she attended the New York City Semester in Journalism at King’s College during the fall of her junior year. There, she took three journalism classes and worked 20 hours per week doing an internship with BoldTV. “The experience really pushed me out of my comfort zone but in a good way,” she said. “I gained experience pitching story ideas and doing lots of research and writing at least 50 articles. One thing I learned was that I don’t like being in front of the camera as much as I liked being on the production side of things.”
She also had the opportunity to work as a freelance journalist writing for the San Francisco Chronicle. In addition, she has served as a communications/administrative specialist for a firm in Roseville, handled all social media communications for Jessup’s digital communication department as a student worker in addition to Jessup’s admission department. She also interned and worked in student life and athletics. Her coursework proved useful as well. “Virtually every class I’ve had helped me in my work environments, to some degree. From writing press releases, to email to communication plans to creative elements of design.”
Despite the difficulties of remote learning brought on by the pandemic, Findley endured a difficult situation holding tight to her community. “We had a strong core of digital communication students who were my best friends. We sent each other devotionals and kept each other accountable which helped during such a tough time.”
The Jessup community also played an instrumental role in her education. “I was able to build so many amazing relationships during my time at Jessup,” she said. “My professors and the Jessup community are so dear to me, it was unlike anything I’ve ever had,” she said. “It was really tough to move on from that after graduation but I’m still in touch and know I’ll be back on campus in the future.”
