By Olivia Digirolamo
Staff Reporter
In 2017, Christian Colón graduated from Sacred Heart University with a degree in Media Arts.
Now, he will be graduating from Columbia University’s school of Journalism in New York City.
Back when Colón was a student at Sacred Heart, he had an undying passion for journalism and writing.
As a freshman, he was curious about the Spectrum and then decided to get involved.
During his later years at Sacred Heart, he became the assistant news editor and copy editor for the Spectrum.
Colón graduated from Sacred Heart in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts with a Journalism Concentration and a double major in Criminal Justice.
Next month, Colón will graduate with his Master’s of Arts in journalism.
Writing for the Spectrum gave Colón multiple tools to apply to his work in graduate school.
“Spectrum gave me a hands-on experience on what a newsroom felt like. I was exposed to editorial meetings, coming up with weekly topics and news writing,” said Colón.
His background with the Spectrum at Sacred Heart also helped him ease into the AP style writing that Columbia taught as well.
“I learned the basics of writing. Within the first few days of school I was one of the few students at Columbia that was exposed to AP style,” said Colón.“A lot of news organizations use AP style for writing and for images and videos,” said Colón.
In his last few months at Columbia, Colón had to complete his masters project, which would become a culmination and development of his work throughout his year at Columbia.
For his masters project, he decided to do a hands-on report on the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
“As a Puerto Rican, I was devastated with how Hurricane Maria left my island. The only way I could help was through the power of journalism,” said Colón.
His mission for the project was to report on the specific stories of children who have been closely affected by hurricane Maria. Colón traveled to Puerto Rico shortly after the hurricane to see the damage for himself and raise awareness for those in need through journalism.
“I traveled to the island five months after the hurricane and found a school that was the only fully functioning school with electricity and other resources in that town,” said Colón.
For the second part of Colón’s masters project, after visiting Puerto Rico he then followed a family that was relocating due to the hurricane. The family moved to Buffalo, New York.
“The family moved 1,800 miles away from home, I captured what they left behind and how their lives were after the move from Puerto Rico” said Colón.
He says this project was something he is most proud of throughout his entire journalism career.
In regard to specific employment after graduation, Colón said, “I have had some offers but nothing is concrete yet. For now, I will either start with video/news producing or become a local on-air reporter.”
Colón’s goal for after graduation is to be an on-air English/Spanish correspondent.
“The important advice I would give to anyone interested in a future in journalism would to always be curious and be accurate. These are two essentials skills as a journalist,” said Colón.
Colón’s work is posted online for the public to see at https://www.facebook.com/cjcol2/videos/10215924460694018/
