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Phenola Lawrence

Phenola Lawrence

Major: Journalism/Sociology

Year: Senior

I stumbled upon the idea of journalism completely by chance. I've always loved writing, but I had never heard of a college major called "writing" so I dismissed it as just one of my hobbies. Even so I was still fascinated by people; I could sit for hours and try to figure out someone's entire life story without them saying a word to me. This proved to be difficult because there was no way to see if I was right or wrong. So from an early age I began questioning people about their lives. It was always simple questions, so I would seem like a nosy little kid, but people always opened up to me and told great stories.

As I grew older I thought my fascination with people and their lives would lead into a career in psychology. However, when I was in middle school, one of my teachers said "Phenola you would make a great journalist one day." I thought my teacher was making fun of me; after all we did have a falling out over polynomials a couple of days before. So I asked several people what was a journalist, and the response was simply: a writer. That's it? "Yeah, people would tell me. They can also be news broadcasters and photographers too."

I am currently in my junior year at Penn State majoring in Journalism and Sociology. I figured out before high school that this would be the perfect career for me, and so far it seems so. I write for the student newspaper The Daily Collegian. Currently, I am the junior state reporter. It's the perfect excuse to get people to tell you all about themselves.

I plan to graduate in May of 2010. People often ask me what I plan to be when I "grow up" and I reply "a writer." I hope that my experience with the Daily Collegian and the 48 plus classes I would have taken during my college career will help me transform my once distant "hobby" into a full-time dream occupation.