Profile: Marissa Newhall, BA '07

Marissa Newhall, BA '07

SIS student Marissa Newhall is not just learning about the workplace and journalism; she’s living it as the Editor-in-Chief for The Eagle--American University’s student newsweekly.  Marissa just started her position fall 2006, but she’s been preparing for this position for awhile.

Last year, Marissa worked as the managing editor of The Eagle’s Arts and Features section.  She and other Eagle staffers were offered the opportunity to participate in CNN’s Campus Vibe Trendsetters blogs.  Marissa accepted a position as a paid blogger for CNN, submitting three to five blog entries a week. She also snapped photos about on-campus fashion trends.

She enjoyed the job, but Marissa said that some people did not understand what she’s doing. “Taking the photos is a great excuse to talk to people, although I’m sure everyone thinks I’m crazy when I walk right up to them on the quad and ask to take a picture of their shirt or shoes.” 

While juggling her jobs with at CNN and at The Eagle, Marissa worked as an intern at USA Today’s Life department, where she wrote one or two small articles each week.  “The internship was as close to having a real reporting job as it gets and it was great to get feedback from actual editors on my writing,” Marissa said. “The truth is that hands-on experience--not a journalism degree--is what gets you a journalism job.”

Marissa shows no signs of slowing down after a busy year.  This summer she interned at the Society of Professional Journalists National Convention where she worked as a reporter for the official convention publication, The Working Press.  Not only did she spend time as a reporter, she traveled to Italy and Germany this summer.

Marissa, an honors student from Tequesta, Florida, has received the American News Women’s Club Scholarship and participated in the SOC Alumni Mentor Program.  C-SPAN Senior Executive Producer and Political Editor Steve Scully was her mentor.

She started American University as a public affairs major, but switched her major to international studies. She said an international focus gives her perspective in her writing.  “World Politics, my freshman year, was the first time I took notice of international relations and considered studying it as a major,” Marissa said.  “It really made an impact on me for whatever reason and I liked how the classroom debates seemed so much more relevant to world issues than any one-dimensional discussion about American politics.”

She cited SOC professors Rose Ann Robertson and Amy Eisman as influential and important to her, and said that SIS undergraduate advisor Julie Wickham “is my absolute hero.”

Marissa doesn’t what the future holds for her, but she does want to continue working in journalism possibly for a non-profit organization in Washington, DC. In a couple years, she says she sees herself moving to the West Coast or spending some time outside of the United States. Stay tuned.

You can check out some of Marrisa’s work online at CNN.com.