{"id":694,"date":"2014-09-22T11:37:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T15:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/?p=694"},"modified":"2014-11-16T10:56:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T15:56:06","slug":"winners-of-this-years-distinguished-alumni-award-offer-advice-for-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/2014\/09\/22\/winners-of-this-years-distinguished-alumni-award-offer-advice-for-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Winners of this year\u2019s Distinguished Alumni Award offer advice for success"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/a>By Nikita Sampath<\/strong><\/a>
\n MS Broadcast Journalism ’16<\/em><\/a>
\nBU College of Communication<\/em>\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If you walked around BU\u2019s campus this past week, you probably noticed the numerous events being hosted for BU Alumni, faculty, staff and students. BU was smart in planning these events at a time when new grads were settling in and most likely thinking about where their degree might take them. These events were designed to provide networking opportunities, teach and inspire; after attending COM\u2019s Distinguished Alumni Awards, I can personally say, BU\u2019s mission was accomplished.<\/p>\n

2014 Distinguished Alumni from L-R: Cleveland O’Neal III (COM ’78), Cynthia Cordes (COM ’01), Will Lautzenheiser (CAS ’96, COM ’07) and Bill Simmons (COM ’93). Photo, Katherine Taylor. \u2014 with Cleveland O’Neal, Cynthia Phillips Cordes, William Lautzenheiser and Bill Simmons at Boston University College of Communication (BU COM).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the event, celebrated on Thursday at the School of Management, COM students and faculty were actively interacting with the alumni over tasty hors d’oeuvres<\/em> and drinks. This year, COM honoured four of its alumni- – Cleveland O\u2019Neal III<\/a>, Cynthia Cordes<\/a>, Bill Simmons<\/a> and Will Lautzenheiser<\/a>. Each of them had accomplished something from which we learned.<\/p>\n

Cleveland O\u2019Neal (COM \u201878), the first African American to produce a show on CBS, started out as an actor. While working on the CBS series, he built his own Emmy-nominated entertainment company, Connection III, from ground up. \u201cWork hard\u201d was his advice to students.
\nOne step at a time.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cynthia Cordes (COM \u201801) went from studying Journalism at COM to studying Law at Notre Dame. This year she featured on a national list of Top 250 Women in Litigation selected by Benchmark Litigation. She began her career with the U.S Department of of Justice where she led a task force on human trafficking. Now a partner at Husch Blackwell, she continues her anti-human trafficking efforts through the company\u2019s Human Trafficking Legal Clinic, the first of its kind in the United States.
\nBe passionate about your work.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bill Simmons (COM \u201897) is a name most American sports fans identify. He graduated with a degree in print journalism from COM but foresaw the potential of the internet even when his dad tried persuading him to stick to traditional print media. His blog The Sports Guy caught the attention of ESPN who hired him in 2001. Since then, he\u2019s gone on to become the editor-in-chief of Grantland.com.
\nTrust your instincts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Will Lautzenheiser (COM \u201807) was a student like one of us; he was fascinated by the Charles River and wanted to make a film about it. However, three years ago he lost his arms and legs to a deadly bacteria. At the event on Thursday, we watched his short documentary, Stumped, in which he featured and wrote. It tells the story of how he got used to his prosthetic legs and how he is now a stand-up, or sit-down comedian as he calls himself.
\nLife will give you lemons.<\/em><\/p>\n

This BU alumni event was indeed a great way to begin the semester. It reminded us that hard work is the only way to success, and that we must make the most of networking opportunities.
\nStay focused. Stay Inspired.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nikita Sampath MS Broadcast Journalism ’16 BU College of Communication\u00a0 If you walked around BU\u2019s campus this past week, you probably noticed the numerous events being hosted for BU Alumni, faculty, staff and students. BU was smart in planning these events at a time when new grads were settling in and most likely thinking … Continue reading Winners of this year\u2019s Distinguished Alumni Award offer advice for success<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3725,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,36962],"tags":[955,556,37023,37018,37017,37005,37022,37019,37003,283,37024,36959,37010,4057,37026,3399,37025],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1108,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions\/1108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}