{"id":716,"date":"2014-09-23T15:02:36","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T19:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/?p=716"},"modified":"2014-11-16T10:18:24","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T15:18:24","slug":"bu-com-celebrates-its-100th-anniversary-with-com-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/2014\/09\/23\/bu-com-celebrates-its-100th-anniversary-with-com-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"BU COM celebrates its 100th Anniversary with COM Talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gina Kim<\/strong><\/a>
\nMS Journalism ’16<\/a>
\nBU College of Communication<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>It\u2019s been a great past week for Boston University’s College of Communication (COM). With the celebration of the program\u2019s 100<\/span>th<\/sup> anniversary, COM hosted a number events that honored its alumni, students, staff and faculty.\u00a0<\/span>This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend COM Talks, an event not too different from\u00a0the ever so influential TED Talks, which have been making such a huge difference in people\u2019s lives. These talks reach millions nationwide, informing them of ideas worth sharing, ranging from \u201cWhy a good book is a secret door,\u201d to the controversies of gender violence. At BU, we’ve developed our own, unique style of a Talk event but with the same idea in mind: connecting and communicating the ideas worth sharing.<\/p>\n

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At the event, COM featured a superstar panel of experts in their respective fields of mass communication and journalism. Each speaker shared their personal experiences, what their roles in this industry mean to them and how every story we report leaves a mark everywhere and affects the way society functions. Each speaker reminded us of what roles we take on as both the reader and the reporter.\u00a0 As each speaker shared his\/her message, one message remained consistent: Storytelling is the heart of what COM does and it gives every individual an opportunity to connect with audiences. This event brought the best alumni and faculty to demonstrate the craft of true storytelling.<\/p>\n

\"jayroewe\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a candid photo that my friend and fellow blogger Keiko Talley<\/a> took while I was waiting in line to meet the Senior Vice President of HBO, Jay Roewe<\/a>, a BU alumnus and producer of many major hit shows such as “The Newsroom” and the show that\u2019s taken the entire world by force, “Game of Thrones”.\u00a0Needless to say, I was absolutely stoked. Not to mention, absolutely star struck. I don\u2019t usually get too fangirly but, GAME OF THRONES<\/i>?! Come ON!<\/p>\n

He was just one of the few amazing people we got to meet and listen at COM Talks. It was definitely a panel of rock stars in the industry; from New York Times best-selling authors, to legal prosecutors, to those who worked for Good Morning America and my very own Media Law professor Dick Lehr, whose investigative reporting on the case of Whitey Bulger for the Boston Globe got turned into a Hollywood movie<\/a> starring Johnny Depp, Sienna Miller, and Benedict Cumberbatch. This group of superb individuals that came to speak at the event were so impressive, and they all reiterated the same message reminding us why we chose journalism, and what we can do to utilize it as an important\u00a0facet of society.<\/p>\n

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At the end of the event, we were given a small card that forced us to go up to any of these\u00a0speakers and ask them the questions printed on the card. I had to go up to an alumni and ask what their favorite course was at COM. That part was easy\u2026I was already given something to ask. However, being forced to jump out of my comfort zone and overcome my shyness to reach out to these amazing people was another story. I felt like I wasn’t worthy of being in their presence, but I mustered up all the courage possible and did it. In turn, I had the privilege of meeting with our first COM Talk speaker Travis Roy (COM ’00), author of \u201cEleven Seconds\u201d and former hockey player for the BU Terriers.<\/p>\n

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Besides speaking with Mr. Jay Roewe, meeting with Travis Roy <\/a>was definitely a personal highlight of the event. \u00a0His speech stood out to me for so many reasons. He came to BU in the fall of 1995 with a hockey scholarship, but a few weeks later on October 20th,\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>his life changed forever. Roy suffered an injury that left him a quadriplegic. On Saturday, Roy said it was at that challenging time in his life when he realized that as often as we may choose our challenges, other times, the challenges choose us. It isn’t about how much gets taken away from us, but rather, how we choose to respond and find what drives us forward, despite our obstacles. The core of Roy’s personal story was definitely emotional; as much as he kept pointing out the simplicity of his message, it was definitely the most profound.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2475\"<\/a>What COM Talks helped me realize that every day we are here, we get more and more inspired and motivated. Whether we find the inspiration in our classes, the lectures or even the events that are put together for students, they all push us forward. Not only are there a lot of impressive individuals at COM worth getting to know, but there is also such a large pool of successful alumni always willing to help current students out. The event reminded me why I\u2019m here, and the endless opportunities that await all of us even long after we leave.<\/p>\n

Most of the speakers are all alumni who, at one point in their lives, were in our very shoes, trying to get the word out and deciding on their career paths. They were students just like us, hoping to make a mark on the industry someday. At the end of the day, as COM Talks reminded us, it\u2019s about serving the public\u2019s needs, discussing the truth, and making a difference.<\/p>\n

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

By Gina Kim MS Journalism ’16 BU College of Communication It\u2019s been a great past week for Boston University’s College of Communication (COM). With the celebration of the program\u2019s 100th anniversary, COM hosted a number events that honored its alumni, students, staff and faculty.\u00a0This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend COM Talks, an event … Continue reading BU COM celebrates its 100th Anniversary with COM Talks<\/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":[955,556,37017,37022,37003,283,37016,36929,922,37160,37026,3399],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716"}],"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=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1095,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions\/1095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/comgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}