Mass Communications Week

by Anuj Singh

Former White House correspondent Bob Deans speaks to Virginia Commonwealth University students about the upcoming Presidential Election.
Deans is a graduate of VCU’s school of mass communications and the former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. He spoke to mass communications students and faculty Wed. at VCU’s student commons building.
Deans said the upcoming election is the most exciting of his time, and Virginia has the most dramatic story of this election.
Virginia has been a dominant Republican state since 1964, but 53 percent of Virginian voters favoring Democrat Barack Obama over John McCain.
“It’s a historic lead for a former confederate state,” Deans said.
Deans thinks that Obama will win the election.
“Any one with a pulse knows that (Barack) Obama is cruising toward a comfortable win,” Deans said.
Deans who was a White House correspondent during the Clinton and Bush administrations said the country is in bad shape.
He discussed why he thinks the John McCain and the Republican Party will not win on Nov. 4.


“The country (USA) is in dire straits, it is at its worst since World War II,” Deans said.
Deans said that few problems were corrected by the current administration.
“The financial system reeks, $2 trillion in portfolio wealth has been washed out, and the stock market has lost 35 cents on the dollar in the Dow Jones (&Co.)” Deans said.
Deans said the Republican campaign is deeply flawed, and that the presidential election is not a national election 50 individual state elections.
“Many Americans are siding with Barack Obama’s plan…people don’t see a reason to vote republican.” Deans said.
Deans closed his speech by discussing Barack Obama himself as a reason why Obama will win the Presidential Election.
“He (Obama) is a genuine political phenomenon, he speaks at an emotional and spiritual level,” Deans said.
Deans thinks Obama has merged himself with John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

Anuj Singh
Hometown: Charlottesville, VA
Favorite thing: The New York Giants

Aaron Brunk Profile

by Anuj Singh

Baseball is a part of life for Aaron Brunk.
“I started playing when I was five, because my dad played (in high school) and he wanted me play also,” Brunk said.
Brunk, 21, is a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, he currently plays second base for the Broadway Bruins of the Rockingham County Baseball League, an amateur league in western Virginia.
Brunk played well enough to make second basemen for the Amateur Athletic Union’s (AAU) traveling team at the age of 12.
The AAU selects the best players from a region and places them on a team to travel around the country and play other similar teams. Between the ages of 12 and 15 Brunk’s bating average was.350.
“We played in Minneapolis my first year, Kinston NC, my second (year), and Sarasota (Fla.) in my third (year)” Brunk said.
Bobby Thompson, a longtime friend of Brunk’s, has played baseball with him since 1996.
“Aaron’s a real fiery guy, he’s a competitor, you don’t to mess with him on the baseball field, you might get a helmet thrown at you,” Thompson said.
“I like baseball because everyone’s individual effort is needed to succeed," Brunk said.
Brunk wants to earn a bachelor’s degree in mass communications so he can cover baseball and other sports for a living.
“I like baseball, but I wouldn’t mind reporting on football, too,” Brunk said.
Brunk’s major at VCU is broadcast journalism.
“During the summer I worked at this radio station in Bridgewater,” he said. “I operated sound boards during (baseball) games, I’ve also done a lot of late night on-air work where I make my own playlists,” Brunk said.
Brunk admits that baseball is not as popular as it once was.
“I think baseball is boring to people because the same teams win all the time; there’s no parody like there is in football,” Brunk said.
Looking back, Brunk is glad to have found his focus
Brunk wasted sometime after high school, and was not serious about school.
“I like the progress I’m making now; I’m serious about school now,” Brunk said.
When Brunk isn’t playing baseball, he’s following his favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles. Brunk and his friend Thompson follow them together.
“Aaron and I are huge baseball fans,” Thompson said.

VCU Business Fair

by Anuj Singh

Students and representatives find biannual career fair at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business helpful.

Many business firms attended the event, including State Farm Insurance, CarMax, Geico, and Heritage Wealth Advisors.

Rodney Wheeler, Human Resources Representative for State Farm Insurance, has done three School of Business career fairs, and said VCU is a great recruiting ground for potential employees.

“VCU students have the eagerness, professionalism, and education we are looking for in future employees,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said VCU business students have begun to show more interest the world’s largest automobile, property, and causality insurance provider.

“State Farm has become a recognized business by VCU students, and they are considering future employment opportunities with us (State Farm),” Wheeler said.

CarMax was another one of the fair’s regulars. Dondi Wyatt, service payables manager, represents her firm at VCU’s business fair every spring and fall.

“We typically recruit for our accounting, finance, and information technology departments,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt said CarMax, which is headquartered locally here in Richmond, shows a lot of interest in VCU’s business students.

“This (VCU) campus is nearby and it is one of the best campuses to recruit from, the students are very professional,” Wyatt said.

Some VCU students showed a lot of interest at the fair, and found it insightful and helpful.

Elias Andreopoulos, 28, is an accounting student at VCU.

“The (business) fair gives us (VCU students) a chance to meet the firms that have job opportunities in our fields,” Andreopoulos said.

Andreopoulos said he found the fair beneficial.

“These fairs prepare us for future job interviews and allows us to make connections in the business world before we graduate,” Andreopoulos said.

Jessica Bui, 21, is a business administration and management major, said this was her first business fair. She visited many of the different firms’ tables including Defense Management Contractors Agency, Ferderal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and Heritage Wealth Advisors.

“There was a good selection of firms, and it allows us (VCU students) to begin networking with people in the business world,” Bui said.