WOUB Public Media is now offering WOUB Wednesdays, a new opportunity for Ohio University students to make industry connections with alumni currently working in the journalism field.
Cheri Russo, WOUB Public Media community engagement manager, said the idea was brought forth after a Giving Tuesday campaign. After a few virtual meetings with alumni, the virtual conversations between alumni and students began with OU alumna Katie Meyers as the first speaker.
Meyers, who is now a producer at WPIX 11 in New York City, thought Zoom would be the perfect way for alumni outside of Athens to connect with current students.
“I have participated, myself, in some learning experiences via Zoom during quarantine, and I thought it would be really cool to connect with current WOUB members in that same way,” Meyers said.
Russo moved forward with this idea and turned it into a reality. Now, students can connect with WOUB alumni every Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. Russo said alumni were ready to participate and really wanted to connect with students. Not one person turned Russo down when she reached out to find participants for these conversations.
“They wanted to start to get connected to this generation of students, especially this group, because this group of students has been through so much in the past year with COVID-19,” Russo said. “They wanted to offer that support and that hand to say, ‘If you're getting ready to graduate, reach out to me. I can help you out.’”
WOUB Wednesdays have been such a success so far that Russo plans to continue them next year. She said she has already had alumni reach out and ask to be placed on the list for next fall. The attendees and alumni are happy with how the conversations are going. Meyers, who spoke on the first Wednesday, was very happy with the outcome of her first conversation.
“I was so impressed with the current students who were on the call,” Meyers said. “Each and every single one of them reached out to me afterward to thank me and continue the conversation with me. And, in my experience, professional opportunities come from relationships.”
Russo wanted these conversations to flow smoothly and for the students to feel comfortable speaking to all of these working alumni. She has set up the Wednesday conversations to be informal, where students can ask questions without being nervous. Russo begins the conversation by prompting questions as the moderator.
“You know, after a few questions, (the students) get a little more comfortable, and they realize this person is a real person who is kind and is not going to make them feel stupid,” Russo said. “They start to ask questions, and so it has been really good. It has been informal.”
Russo and Meyers want the WOUB Wednesdays to be a way for students and alumni to connect and learn from each other in a safe, comfortable space. Through these conversations, students are able to grow relationships with alumni who were formerly in their shoes.
WOUB alumna Jessica Costello, who currently works as a multimedia journalist in Evansville, Indiana, at WFIE 14 News, thinks these alumni conversations will be very beneficial to students. Costello recently graduated from OU and said her first year was a whirlwind. She thinks speaking to current people working in the field is the most important thing to prepare a student for the real-life aspects of this profession.
“It is so helpful to hear about the actual struggles they have and how they get through their day and what their jobs look like day-to-day,” Costello said. “Those kinds of conversations are so important and I would say probably the most beneficial thing that a student can use.”
Current and past WOUB students interested in joining these conversations can register ahead at here. Registration is required to attend the session. Students can look forward to hearing from Hollywood celebrity photographer Stephen Busken at this week’s WOUB Wednesday.
