Guardian Grads | Photo by Monica Brutto | The Wright State Guardian
This spring, multiple staff members of the Wright State Guardian are graduating. They share the biggest lessons they learned throughout their experience in college.
Eamon Baird
Eamon Baird, the Guardian’s current news editor, is graduating with a bachelor’s in communications and media studies. Baird hopes to go into public relations but is open to anything in journalism as well.
Baird has had a different college experience than most. In the early 2000s, he went to Arizona State but did not finish and came to WSU two years ago. One of the biggest lessons that Baird learned was about this unique college experience.
“If you’re not ready [for college], it’s okay. I’ll be 40 in September and there’s no time table, you don’t have to graduate by the time you’re 22 years old,” Baird said.
Baird explained that working after high school or only doing college part-time is perfectly fine too.
“In reality, we all learn and grow at different paces,” Baird said.
Through his time at the Guardian, Baird learned valuable traits for the field of journalism and time management. Baird thinks that time management, something he did not have when he first went to college, is the key to success.
Baird said he had a great experience at the Guardian and suggested that anyone who wants to join should start out slow, perhaps volunteer first and work up from there.
The Guardian’s door is always open, Baird emphasized.
Emily Lewis
Emily Lewis, managing editor of digital content and sales, is graduating with a bachelor’s in media studies. After graduating, Lewis will be traveling in May and then plans to get a job in digital content creating.
Throughout her time at the Guardian, Lewis learned people skills, time management and organization. Sometimes, it can feel like everything is falling apart, but Lewis learned to look for solutions and to focus on moving forward.
“Mistakes are part of the learning process and it's not necessarily a failure,” Lewis said.
Lewis believes it is very important for students to get involved and have that college experience.
“Being on campus and getting involved makes it so much better, like having those connections. I feel like outside of classes is where you find those actual friendships,” Lewis said.
Lewis also suggested that students should go to basketball games and study abroad.
Dominic Wenrick
Dominic Wenrick, assistant videographer of the Guardian, is graduating with a BFA in motion picture production.
In the future, Wenrick wants to work in an environment similar to the Guardian, possibly as a news photographer. Wenrick originally thought they wanted to go into narrative film production, but thanks to their time at the Guardian, they discovered that that is not what they wanted to do.
Although only at the Guardian for a semester, Wenrick learned a lot.
“I always tell people ‘Don’t make the same mistakes that I have,’ which is that I have a tendency to figure things out too late. So, if there’s something that's piqued your interest, don't wait. Just do it,” Wenrick said.
Wenrick believes that being a part of the Guardian is a really great opportunity for students and that everyone could benefit from being a part of it.
During Wenrick’s first week of college, they went to every professor they had and asked those professors what they learned too late that they wished they would have known sooner, which is where Wenrick learned a lot of these lessons from.
Wenrick explained that professors have done this before and it can be very important to learn from what they share.
Makenzie Hoeferlin
Former Editor-and-Chief of the Guardian from fall 2020 to spring 2022, Mackenzie Hoeferlin is graduating with a bachelor's in media studies and a minor in marketing.
Hoeferlin’s post-graduation plans include working for a Christian-based radio station in Columbus as a development coordinator and she will also be getting married in June.
Hoeferlin explained the wide variety of options and opportunities, such as leadership skills and building a resume, at the university and why people should get involved.
“If there's something here that interests you, definitely stick around long enough to hash that out and give it a chance,” Hoeferlin said.
As a media studies major, Hoeferlin was able to put what she was learning in the classroom into action at the Guardian.
One of the biggest lessons Hoeferlin learned from working at the Guardian was that, although something can feel like a disaster in the moment, it is not always the end of the world. Instead, when things go wrong, Hoeferlin can now rephrase that to “How are we going to get past this?”
Another big lesson Hoeferlin learned throughout her college experience is the importance of things other than grades or academic achievement.
“Something that I learned is, especially when applying for jobs and you get into a job interview, they do not ask ‘What grades did you have,’ they ask about your experience. I learned along the way that experience is 100 times more important than your grades,” Hoeferlin said.
Hoeferlin expressed that students should still strive to get good grades but not put too much stress on themselves over it.
Lastly, an important thing to do throughout college, according to Hoeferlin, is to get involved.
Noah Kindig
Noah Kindig, the Guardian sports reporter, is graduating with a bachelor’s in English with a focus in professional and technical writing.
After graduation, Kindig will be moving to Columbus where he has a few job offers to choose from. Kindig will also be starting an online master’s program through Wright State called instructional design for digital learning.
One of the lessons Kindig learned throughout writing for the Guardian is that most of the time in sports, the original angle and what the angle of the story ends up actually being are very different; so, he learned to be flexible and that really cool stories can come from this.
“The biggest lesson that I've taken away is how to deal with failure,” Kindig said.
Kindig explained that in order to succeed in anything, people should not be afraid of making mistakes and when they do make mistakes, they should try to learn from it with the confidence to try again.
“You don't know what you're capable of until you test your limits,” Kindig said.
Kindig believes that throughout the college experience it is good to surround oneself with people of different perspectives instead of just staying in one’s own bubble, as it can be very beneficial to understand others.
