My W&L: Waringa Kamau ’15

“The greatest thing for me about the W&L journalism program is the numerous opportunities you have to succeed and keep learning.”

I cannot imagine my Washington and Lee experience without J-School. When I was applying to colleges, W&L was one of few small liberal arts schools that had an outstanding journalism department. That’s what got me–I knew I absolutely had to come here.

The greatest thing for me about the W&L journalism program is the numerous opportunities you have to succeed and keep learning. Through the department, I’ve been able to work in competitive newsrooms for the past two summers. During the summer of 2013, I worked in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a reporter for Business Day. Business Day is the most widely read financial paper in South Africa and is distributed in other Southern African countries like Zimbabwe, Botswana and Lesotho. This internship was made possible by two grants that I was awarded by the department, The Edward Jackson International Reporting Fund and the Edward Korry Scholarship.

This past summer, I interned as a reporter at Bloomberg News in New York. While at Bloomberg, I worked on the Emerging Markets desk covering Israeli Financial Markets. I also had the opportunity to report on other regions including Russia, China, Ghana and South Africa. It was really rewarding to be able to make meaningful contributions in the newsroom, thanks to the rigorous training that we receive here. Interviewing people, writing on tight deadlines, working with social media–these are all skills that I’ve developed through my classes here. I’m really proud of the connections I’ve made with my professors. I can’t help but be motivated, knowing that they are genuinely rooting for me and want to see me succeed.

Beyond the practical skills I’ve gained at J-school, I also take away great friendships and memories. Every J-school student has had long nights on the third floor of Reid Hall or lugged those bulky cameras across town to get some b-roll. Those are the memories I’ll hold on to forever!

J-school has been my special place on the Washington and Lee campus for the past 3 years. I can’t even begin to explain how much I’ll miss it.

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