While most are taking a well-earned semester break, three FIU students are hard at work at the Communication Arts Studio. Daniella Bernal, Nyobee McCall, and Allhan Mejia (L to R above) are busy rehearsing their speeches for the Freshman Convocation on Sunday, August 23, 2015. Freshman Convocation is a formal ceremony to convene the incoming Class of 2019 – the freshmen who will start their FIU careers on Monday, August 24th with the start of the Fall semester. Student speakers Bernal, McCall, and Mejia will share their experiences and encourage the new students to explore all that FIU has to offer, and not just pass through like four-year visitors. Student involvement is directly tied with student success and this year’s Convocation speakers make that readily apparent. Selected from dozens of students nominated for their involvement in campus activities and programs, the three speakers were chosen both for their accomplishments and their engagement. Bernal, a mechanical engineering major who dreams of building space craft, has spent her first couple of years here working to satisfy her need for speed! Through several student clubs, she has helped build a race car, a plane, and a rocket! Hospitality Management and Tourism major, McCall has served as President of the Black Student Union and managed tens of thousands of dollars and dozens of special events for student organizations. She plans to put that experience to good use in the future as an event planner. Mejia, the Student Government President of the Biscayne Bay Campus has been learning to manage budgets and people, which will serve him well in his future career in business.
Working with department chair, Joann Brown, and Charlene Eberly, head of the CommArts Studio, all three of the speakers have been put through their paces in recent weeks. At a recent rehearsal, all three speakers gave their speeches in front of each other and under the watchful eye (and ear) of the CommArts Studio staff. Armed with a stop watch and a copy of their speeches, Eberly listened, and as each one finished, she responded: “Much better. Now do it again.”
To read more about the CommArts Studio, go to communicate.fiu.edu
