News
Student Named to Second Term on SPJ National Board of Directors
By: Justin Williams
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Taylor Mirfendereski, a senior journalism major in Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College, was recently re-elected to the Society of Professional Journalists National Board of Directors.
This is the second year in a row Mirfendereski has been elected to the SPJ Board, serving as a one of only two student representatives in the entire organization.
She was selected for a new term at this year’s SPJ National Convention, held in New Orleans from September 25-27. The position allows Taylor to help make decisions that will impact Society chapters and campuses across the country.
“I go to several annual board meetings and vote on decisions that affect the Society of Professional Journalists,” says Taylor. “I represent all of the student members, so I work on different programs, social media stuff…I essentially have the ability to make the most out of it.”
With each student representative term lasting only one year, Taylor is excited to get started on a number of initiatives she feels will be beneficial to students nation-wide.
Her involvement with the Ohio Sunshine Summit, an event founded to help raise awareness for access and transparency rights among student journalists, figures to be one of the more prominent causes on her agenda.
“One of the big things that I’m hoping to accomplish this year is with the Sunshine Summit, which we held on this campus for our state last year,” Taylor says. “I would like to help spread it across other campuses so that they can have their own Sunshine Summits and make their own impacts on their states.”
Taylor is also working with an initiative called “Program in a Box,” which would allow SPJ to send out prepared events to different campuses and chapters, which they could then host on their own. It all allows Taylor to work with things she’s passionate about, including the people.
“(SPJ) is probably the biggest organization for journalists and it’s cool to be able to make decisions and give my input as a student,” Taylor says. “I also just enjoy interacting with other journalists and other students and helping where I can.”
In addition to her journalistic studies in the Honors Tutorial program on the Athens campus, Taylor is involved in numerous other groups and activities at Ohio University. She serves as president of OU’s SPJ and RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) chapters, anchors and reports for WOUB News, and is even on the university’s Western Equestrian team.
As a senior, Taylor is naturally focused on her future, too. She is considering going to grad school for Political Science, and hopes to eventually work as a news reporter.
“My dream job would be to become kind of a one-woman-band, like an all platform journalist,” Taylor says. “That’s my passion, just keep telling stories. My goal is always to become a better reporter.”
With such a busy schedule and so many commitments to juggle, time management has become an integral aspect of Taylor’s day-to-day life, as well.
“Oh, it’s a challenge,” says Taylor of keeping everything balanced. “I rely on my calendar a lot. But you just try and find time for everything. I’m very passionate about the things I’ve gotten involved with, which is why I stuck with it the past four years. I just kind of squeeze it in, make it work, and try not to spread myself too thin.”