By: Hannah Hanson
The most popular piece of advice that any freshman or prospective student will hear while they are at Longwood is, “Join an organization. That’s how you keep yourself busy at Longwood.”
Taking on leadership roles on campus is highly encouraged within the Communication Studies department. Longwood has over 175 clubs and organizations that students can join. Organizations that are sponsored through the Communication Studies Department include Lambda Pi Eta, PRSSA, WMLU Radio, and The Rotunda.
For students like, Taylor Tharrington, taking a leadership position can be a nerve wracking experience. Tharrington is the President of the communication honor society, Lambda Pi Eta. She is responsible for facilitating all executive and general body meetings. For Tharrington, this is her first leadership position at Longwood. Her experience has taught her more than she ever expected it to: “I have learned not only how to be a leader, but how to work with many different people. Having a position where you are in charge of so much can be tough, but I have found that I am more organized and more willing to be leader, even outside of LPH.”
Abbey Stanzione is Junior in the Communication Studies department and a member of Longwood Ambassadors. Abbey held the position of Membership Chair on the Executive Board from Fall 2015 to Spring 2016. Some of her position responsibilities included overseeing the membership of current ambassadors, running the interest meetings, managing applications, and handling the new member selection process. Stanzione said that her communication classes prepared her for her executive position, the most important one being Public Speaking: “I would not be able to speak in front of the general body or interest meetings, if it had not been for Dr. Paal’s Public Speaking class my first year. I even incorporated a Likert type scale into the interview process for new members which is a scale that I learned in a Comm class.”
Peer Mentors are responsible for leading the incoming freshman. Michelle Brown, a senior studying public relations, has been a peer mentor for the past two years. Brown spends her time co- facilitating a Longwood Seminar class with her corresponding professor. She acts as a person for new students to be able to come to with problems, questions or concerns, and be able to give them advice from a student’s perspective. Brown stated that “being a Communication student helps me lead the freshman by using skills that I learned in classes such as public speaking, conflict resolution, and ethics.”
Halle Parker is the Editor-in-Chief of The Rotunda, Longwood’s student-run newspaper. Parker is responsible for managing a 30 person staff and reporting breaking news. The Rotunda produces weekly content through print and online. Parker has gained a lot through her experiences with The Rotunda: “Without my experience with The Rotunda, I wouldn’t have the post-grad prospects that I have now. I mean, this summer I’m interning with The Richmond Times-Dispatch, the second largest media market in Virginia, so I can’t imagine what’s next. I’m just excited to keep growing through my position and through the comm department. Without the professors and their advising, I definitely wouldn’t have been nearly as successful.”
Each of these students have taken advantage of the extra-curricular leadership opportunities that Longwood University has to offer. The Communication Studies department students have grown and learned from their experiences in their organizations and has no shortage of citizen leaders.