HIGH POINT, N.C., Aug. 15, 2016 – A trip to Los Angeles opened doors of opportunity in the entertainment industry for a group of High Point University students.
HPU’s Media Fellows, a group of the top communication majors on campus, traveled to California over the summer to forge connections with leaders in the center of the nation’s film and entertainment industry.
“We’ve had the opportunity to be in the heart of the industry,” junior Lona Williams says. “We’ve been exposed to several different professionals who work in many sectors of entertainment, and it’s a great networking opportunity for us.”
During their time in Los Angeles, the HPU students were the only university students invited to attend the Television Critics Association Press Tour and a private panel hosted The Hollywood Radio and Television Society, of which they are the first academic members. They also visited Fox Studios, Paradise Falls, and the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Magazine offices.
“The biggest learning experience for me on this trip was realizing just how many opportunities there are in the entertainment industry to do so many different things,” Williams says. “I realized that the jobs I thought were available in this field only scratched the surface of what’s actually out there.”
The two-week trip is led each summer by Charisse McGhee-Lazarou, director of the program and assistant professor in the Nido Qubein School of Communication. Lazarou is the former vice president of Primetime Programming at NBC, where she created and managed production for the network’s primetime comedies and dramas. Prior to that, McGhee-Lazarou served three years as Vice President for Scripted Programs at Lifetime Television.
“We want to provide our students with unique perspectives and experiences in the media industry, preparing them to transition from academic scholars to media professionals,” Lazarou says. “This trip is one of the ways we give students real-world experiences throughout their education at High Point University.”