Most of these opportunities come in the form of news stories, but CJAM also brings in special guest speakers as well. Speakers Marian Tagliarino and Kevin Mort were CJAM’s most recent guests.
What differed was the subject matter. These speakers were interested in discussing scholarships.
The cost of college is higher than ever before, so such discussion is appreciated in journalism 3\4, where many students start to seriously consider what fields of journalism they wish to pursue.
The scholarships discussed are the Peggy Peterman and Center-Board scholarships. Created specifically for those pursuing a career in journalism, they look for people who show potential and confidence in their journalistic works.
These scholarships are not ones you can interview for online, so it is important to know what to bring, what to wear, what to do.
“What do you hope to do with this?” Mort said. “It doesn’t have to necessarily major in journalism.”
Both speakers have been with the program since the beginning. They share experience in the field of journalism and photography- Tagliarino is a freelance photographer, and Mort is a former journalist who is a speaker at the CJAM banquet.
“We didn’t have a program like this,” says Tagliarino.
She does portrait and fine art photography. She got her start in college when she decided to take some photography courses. She took a liking to picture taking -especially the technical aspect- and began pursuing it as a career.
“It was a way for me to just keep memories of what I saw personally,” she says.
Mort has different connections- besides being a former journalist, his wife and Gretchen Letterman both were associated with the Tampa Bay Times.
“Her impact in the community is just, its just amazing,” said Mort.
