Four Hofstra University students who work at the campus radio station, WRHU-FM, will have the unique opportunity to travel to New Hampshire ahead of the January 23rd presidential primaries to report on candidate rallies and shadow professional journalists, while also making connections for their own future careers. The Long Island students participating are Joseph Pergola from Glen Cove, Peter Nicolino from Huntington Station, and Fatima Moien from Valley Stream.
This is the fourth presidential election that Hofstra students have gotten to see what primary coverage looks like up close. Several students who participated in past years have gotten jobs at TV and radio stations after graduation and credit this first-hand experience as giving them an advantage over other journalism and communication majors at different institutions.
The program is run by John T. Mullen, the station manager who partners with various Long Island sports teams and other local organizations to create student-centered learning opportunities that help to build participants’ resumes. He works with Doualy Xaykaothao, Hofstra’s professional-in-residence, an experienced multi-platform journalist who writes, produces, and reports for NPR. Both Mullen and Xaykaothao will travel with the students.
As candidates announce rallies and town hall meetings, Mullen will assign students to cover them, create packages and then send them back to WRHU for airing. They work out of the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Manchester where many of the national and visiting radio, tv, and cable networks also stay. The students even have a space of “radio row” alongside other “pro” radio stations also in New Hampshire to cover the primary activities.