News is part of many people’s daily routine, but with so much information we are seldom engaged with the news. This year, the Mass Communication Department was on a mission to change that.

News Engagement Day, always falling on the first Tuesday in October, is a national day to get as many people as possible engaged with the news. The Mass Communication Department hosted a week's worth of events, including guest speakers and giveaways, to get campus engaged with news.

"We really wanted to make this entire week one where Texas Wesleyan was more engaged with the news, and I think we did it," Kay L. Colley, Ph.D., associate professor and department chair of the Mass Communication Department, said. "Fortunately, all of the faculty in our department were on board with making this happen, as were the students in my MCO 3351 Survey of Public Relations and MCO 2399 Social Media classes, who did a fabulous job of planning and promoting the event on News Engagement Day Events, Oct. 3."

News Engagement Day event

On Tuesday, Oct. 3, two mass communication classes held an event on campus to help students get engaged with the news, with a focus on the student newspaper. Students who participated received popcorn, a t-shirt, and even a chance to win a gift card.  In order to get the popcorn or shirt, students had to follow the student-run newspaper, “The Rambler,” on any social media. To enter the contest and have a chance to win a Chick-fil-a or Starbucks gift card, students had to share a news story link and use the hashtag #txwesNED.

Google Tools training

On Wednesday, Oct. 4, the Mass Communication Department held a day of training with a guest speaker presenting Google Tools. The workshop included students, faculty, and staff who were eager to learn how to use Google applications beyond searches. The workshop featured trainer Sandra Gonzalez, a veteran multimedia journalist based in Houston. For more information on Google training, visit Google News Lab. 

Visit from NBC 5’s Deborah Ferguson

On Thursday, Oct. 5, Carol Johnson-Gerendas, Ph.D., associate professor of mass communication, hosted NBC 5 Today Anchor Deborah Ferguson, in her MCO 2342 Communication and Rhetoric class. 

“Deborah Ferguson was so much fun to have,” Samantha Bastien, senior mass communication major, said.  “She spoke about not only wanting to go into journalism and be a broadcast journalist, but also about many other mass communication degrees like public relations. With every lesson and story she told, she found a way to connect it to any possible field students may want to go into post-graduation.”

Overall, the Mass Communication Department had over 100 people engaged with the news throughout the week. 

For more information on details of these events, please contact Dr. Kay Colley at kcolley@txwes.edu.