Kathlyn Carney's Media Participation Project

           For my media participation project, I chose to write a story for” Her Campus Maryland.” “Her Campus” is a nationwide college girl’s online magazine started by two girls from Harvard. “Her Campus Maryland” is a branch of this magazine that is both its own entity and part of a larger whole. They offer love advice, fashion tips, ideas for recipes, and much more. I wanted to do my media participation project at “Her Campus Maryland” because I would love to be a writer or an editor for magazines like Cosmopolitan or Seventeen! I also thought it would be the most interesting publication on campus to write for.

When I emailed the editors of “Her Campus Maryland” about writing a story for them, they told me I would have to fill out an application and apply to be a part of the online magazine team. I was nervous at first because on the application it said you had to write at least one story per month if accepted and my original goal was to fulfill the media participation requirement. However, I am so glad I did it! I was accepted to “Her Campus Maryland” and assigned a time to meet with the editors to discuss my first story. At this meeting they told me that they usually want a girl’s first piece for the magazine to be a Campus Celebrity story or a Campus Cuties story because they are easiest to do. The editors wanted to see how well I can pitch a Campus Cutie story and complete the story by the deadline. I completed these tasks and my Campus Cutie article was published on October 24, 2013. I wrote the Campus Cuties article on my best friend, Jesse Stathis. I knew he would be the perfect person to interview because girls fawn over him and he is a funny guy. The editors of “Her Campus Maryland” really enjoyed the interview and knew I could take on bigger tasks.

 By the time my Campus Cutie article was published, I was also working on two other stories for next month’s issue of “Her Campus Maryland.” I wrote, 20 Television Characters We Miss and Cute Winter Outfits. 20 Television Characters We Miss will be published on November 6, 2013. Writing these stories made me realize that I was good at interviewing people and I can easily pitch ideas and meet deadlines. I also discovered that I love writing for this type of magazine and am seriously considering writing for magazines like this as a possible career choice. I have always been a “girly girl” and “Her Campus Maryland” lets me express that side of me. I now want to work hard at “Her Campus Maryland” and write at least one or two stories a month. One day I would love to be the editor of “Her Campus Maryland,” and then a writer for a magazine similar to Her Campus, like Cosmopolitan. I’m really glad that we had to do a media participation project and that I chose to become a writer for “Her Campus Maryland.”  

Here is a link to my published Campus Cuties story:

http://www.hercampus.com/school/maryland/jesse-stathis