Jane Doe. Communication: Print and Digital Journalism or Broadcast and Digital Journalism

I’m Cameron Mazingo and I am currently a senior at Mississippi State University. I was born and raised in Alabama and then decided to come here to State to pursue my education. I chose to major in broadcast and digital journalism and originally wanted to do sports casting, but those plans ending up changing. I love Mississippi State and have loved my four years here with friends and community.

I chose broadcast journalism because originally my plan was to do sports broadcasting. Also, I just never enjoyed the basic classes and subjects in high school. I always made good grades, but subjects like math and English just bored me and were a drag to work on. So I decided to do broadcast and journalism as a way to avoid having to do those kinds of classes.

Broadcast and digital journalism has been such an amazing experience for me. I love so many things about this major. For one is the amazing staff. Every single professor that I have taken has been nothing but helpful and willing to work with me. Every professor I’ve had has been so friendly and taken the extra step to make their classes accessible for students. I think this department has the best professors on campus.

Another reason that I love broadcast is the way that classes are set up. All my friends in other majors deal with exams constantly and lectures for hours. I love the more creative style of classes. Having projects and displays of our skills determine our grades instead of having quizzes and exams. I feel like it allows for more freedom and more creativity.

When it comes to projects that I have done for classes that I enjoyed a few stand out. First, is my favorite by far. Last semester I took a class called music video production with Professor Marty Lang. in this class, our final project was completely filming and editing a music video for a client from beginning to end. It was such a fun experience and was a unique opportunity for the class.

Some other projects that I really enjoyed were all of my projects in my TV production classes. I love being able to be creative and put together news stories and packages. Even if video isn’t quite my strong suit, I really enjoy getting to interview people and put together stories. All of the packages I have put together have been fun to do.

By far, my favorite form of media is photography. I enjoy video and writing, but photo is my specialty. I’ve done photo since I was in middle school and have always enjoyed it. I also work as a photographer for State in the public affairs office, so I use my skills quite often.

In this class I am hoping to learn how to broaden the horizons of my media. I am good at photography, but I would also learn how to combine phot with other forms of media. How to add video and text into a story to tie together everything. To be a well rounded journalist I want to see how all of these different pieces work in harmony to make a story.

As I’ve mentioned earlier in this bio, I currently work as a photographer for State in public affairs. I got this job as a freshman and have been working and growing since then. My job consists of shooting and delivering images from all forms of student activities. This ranges from just on campus tabling to anything as serious as homecoming or Keenum activities. So my job varies.

Looking to the future, I plan on working this same job, just as a full time position at a different university. Currently I don’t have a specific place I am looking, but have narrowed down location. I would love to work in either Texas, Tennessee, or the Midwest. I want to move somewhere bigger and broaden my horizons while still chasing photo as my career.

Email me at csm504@msstate.edu with any questions