Open letter to incoming freshmen:As an alumnus and former student leader, there is one piece of advicethat I cannot stress enough to incoming freshman: Get involved.Hofstra has more than 100 student-run clubs and teams, as well as anon-commercial radio station that is constantly winning awards. Yourinvolvement in any of these clubs or in WRHU will not only look goodon your resume, but they are the key to making your time in thecollege the best years of your life (so far).While cliques abound at Hofstra, you will find that, for the mostpart, this is not the case with the members of student clubs. Whenthey flag you down at a student activity fair and ask for your e-mailaddress, they are not just doing it for their health. They really wantto welcome you into their fold. And once you start getting involved,you’ll see the fears you had that you wouldn’t make any new friends incollege will become a faint memory.This goes for commuters too. Getting involved will make the differencebetween dreading your trip to Hofstra in the morning and lookingforward to it. When you only come to campus for classes and headstraight home afterwards, you won’t be able to wait for your four orso years to be over. If you get out of class and head to a meeting,game or other activity with people who make you feel like you belong,you’ll never want your college years to end.While every club has its’s social value, some also offer invaluablepreprofessional training. I can personally attest that becoming amember of The Chronicle prepares students to become workingjournalists in a way that a classroom never could. If you plan onmajoring in print journalism but have no intention of joining TheChronicle or Pulse, Hofstra’s student-run magazine, then find anothermajor. You’re just wasting your time going to school. Classes canteach you the fundamentals of writing, but its practice that makes youa good writer.I’ve heard of at least one teacher in the journalism department whotells students that they shouldn’t get involved in The Chronicle, andthey should put that time and effort into internships instead.However, that is flawed advice. Internships are great, but good luckgetting one with a blank resume. You may be able to land a sweetposition making coffee for some disgruntled editor.Broadcast journalism majors should also strongly consider writing forthe paper. As technology and the media industry change, prospectivejournalists are more often expected to be multi-talented and to haveexperience in all forms of media. No news entity is just a radiostation, just a newspaper, or just a television network any more. Theyall have Web sites, and they require experienced writers. Also,writing copy to be read on air also takes a writing talent than shouldbe nurtured with a print publication.Print journalists should be fighting for seats in the WRHU trainingcourse, so they can join the radio station and get experience on airand behind a sound board. When you interview for a job, you won’t havemuch to say about yourself if you’ve been a one-trick pony throughoutcollege. If you want to be an amazing job candidate, do not pigeonhole yourself.Also, considering the number of students studying journalism atHofstra, I’m astonished that there is not more competition amongprospective journalists for the top spots in student media.Everyone studying print journalism should have their eyes set onbecoming the editor-in-chief of the The Chronicle or Pulse, and everybroadcast journalism student should plan on becoming an executiveboard member of WRHU or a producer for HTV by the time they graduate.Journalism is a demanding industry. If you can’t manage an editorialposition on top of your class load, then good luck in the real world.Granted, some people have to work through college if they expect toafford it. But a few hours a week to pick up a radio shift or write anarticle is the only way you’ll get your bearings in journalism.
Brendan O’ReillyClass of 2007