Jamie Kim

Current student

Public Relations option

Department of Journalism

California State University, Chico

Q. Prior to attending Chico State, did you have any writing experience or internships that related to journalism?

A. I took a lot of writing classes before attending Chico State, but none of them were related to journalism.

Q. Why did you choose to study at Chico State?

A. I’m from the Bay Area and was actually planning on going to school down south. But then I realized, I wanted to be near home so I could go back for a weekend.

Q. Why did you choose journalism as your major?

A. I actually started at a junior college and was planning on transferring to UCLA to study communications. Then I switched to pre-nursing, but realized I had no interest in nursing. I considered switching back to communications since I only had one more class left to take before I could transfer but I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be in a more specified program. I looked around a bit and found the journalism major at Chico State. It was kind of a drastic change, but I’m glad I made it.

Q. What is your minor?

A. Marketing

Q. What misconceptions about your journalism major (that your coursework has now cleared up, of course) did you have before you entered the program?

A. I really had no misconceptions.

Q. What do you hope to do with your degree?

A. I hope to graduate and work for a PR firm in San Francisco or New York City. Though I’m not a news-ed option, I hope to eventually go into broadcasting. Becoming a news anchor is like a pipe dream.

Q. What skills do you think you need to get there?

A. The biggest skill is knowing how to communicate effectively and concisely, whether it is done verbally or through writing. That’s a given, though. I think being able to learn quickly is also a valuable skill.

Q. What are your perceptions of the future of journalism?

A. I think eventually everything will move to the Internet. I recently read an article about a newspaper in Wisconsin, The Capital Times, that stopped printing its publication and is publishing news reports entirely online. I wouldn’t be surprised if this became the trend.

Information compiled by Brittany Bledsoe

Cat Bytes is a student-produced publication of the Department of Journalism / California State University, Chico