TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Three Troy alumni returned to their alma mater to offer advice to the next generation of journalists and communications experts.
Wednesday afternoon, Josh Gauntt, Alison Woodfin, and Tomiwa Akintode shared their careers post-college.
“I drove two and a half hours to be here,” said Allison Woodfin, a communications specialist with Navy Federal Credit Union. “I wasn’t going to do Zoom because it was a short drive and I wanted to meet and mingle with students in person.
“To tell them, ‘Hey, there are people who are alumni who are further off alumni, closer to this day alumni who are here to support you and want to feed into you just as the Hall School of Journalism did with us.”
The panel put students face-to-face with professionals and encouraged them to ask questions, seek advice, and to understand the impact their future careers can create.
“I think we all look for meaning and purpose in the things we do, and hearing some journalists talk about the importance of their work and the things they are able to do to help people and to uncover things and to put some actual perspective on the work that gets done in this field,” said Max Crews, a junior journalist major.
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Panelists offered several pieces of advice including advocating for yourself. Panelists encouraged students to fight for something if it is important to them.
Other advice included finding multiple sides to a story. Gauntt told students in his experiences that there are three sides to the story: one person’s, another’s, and the truth.
Panelists encouraged students to not be discouraged when looking at the job market coming out of school. They said often it is hard to find the job you are looking for, or the pay might be less than you were looking for, but it is important to take these jobs to help get your foot in the door.
One big talking point revolved around artificial intelligence in the communication and journalism industries.
“The biggest thing I took away from this was the emphasis of AI in communication,” said Lambda Pi Eta President Simon Brown. “AI is not going anywhere anytime soon, and it is only going to get more prominent in the fields that a lot of these students are going to be pursuing.
“I think all three of them made really good points about using AI ethically and not as a crutch but using it as a tool to help you in your career.”
Lambda Pi Eta is an honor society for students at the Hall School of Journalism and Communication. It frequently invites Troy graduates to speak with current students.
