When Sarah Jackson ’27 first stepped onto Elon’s campus, they weren’t sure if they would find a spot where they fit in.

But not long after, they found their perfect place at WSOE 89.3 FM, Elon’s student-run radio station. Jackson was drawn to the organization by its “vibes” and they said they felt the station closely aligned with their own personal music taste.

“All of it was just screaming ‘me,’” Jackson said.

As a cinema and television arts major, Jackson never expected that they would be involved in radio and didn’t even know Elon had a radio station before beginning their first year. Now, they have been appointed as WSOE’s next general manager, which is the highest executive position in the organization.

Previous to their role as general manager, Jackson was a DJ and hosted a show for the station, but more recently served as music director for the organization. In that role, Jackson said that they were able to get a “more intimate” look at the station, through their work curating the sound of WSOE, sorting the music catalog and helping coordinate events.

Jackson not only coordinated with bands to have them play at events like SUBFest, but also got the opportunity to interact with a lot of WSOE’s general staff during music sorting sessions, which they said was sort of like a mini-general manager position.

During their time as music director Jackson also said they were able to grow a new appreciation for the station and that applying for general manager seemed like the perfect way to continue that growth. Jackson felt that the hiring process was smooth, until it came time for their interview in front of the media board.

“It was a little bit intimidating,” Jackson said. “But then I realized that it’s just a group of people who love what they do, and so if I can express to them how much I love doing this, then the interview is easy.”

For Jackson, one of the best things about WSOE is all of the people who are involved in the organization.

“It’s always such a joy to just go into the station and hang out and talk to the people there,” Jackson said.

So, as general manager, Jackson hopes to get more people involved in the organization and to increase the Elon community’s awareness of it.

“I love the station, and I want a lot more people to know that we actually have a radio station,” Jackson said.

Now, she is not only joining the publication but stepping into one of its biggest leadership roles: editor-in-chief.

Draznin is a Spanish and English double major, with a concentration in creative writing. As a writer herself, Draznin said she wanted the chance to experience the editorial side of the writing process, which is part of why she was drawn to the position of editor-in-chief. She hopes that her experience as a writer will lend itself to editing.

“I think I’m very accomplished in finding that space between what I’m writing and what the reader is reading and sort of connecting that,” Draznin said.

Though the junior had never been involved in ‘Colonnades’ before this year, she has always been an avid reader of the journal and said her favorite part about it is the art.

“I mean, I read it front to back,” Draznin said. “But seeing how the art is incorporated into the pieces is really interesting because it’s two separate people making two separate things with different ideas, different experiences, and they’re right next to each other and they seem to correlate.”

Taking in her outside experiences as a reader of the journal, Draznin has big ideas for what she wants the next edition to look like. She hopes to break away from the traditional forms of poetry, fiction, nonfiction and art that have been featured in past editions and instead create space for pieces that cross genres and are more experimental.

“There’s nothing wrong with those traditional pieces,” Draznin said. “I just want to provide an opportunity for newer things.”

But Draznin’s experimental ideas are not indicative of the theme of the journal’s next edition, and she said she will likely wait to see what student submissions are like before deciding on a theme.

“If the student body is experiencing something as a collective, that’s already the theme, that’s the theme of Elon,” Draznin said.

She hopes to continue the journal’s mission of creating an inclusive environment for all Elon students to submit their work to by increasing outreach to more of the Elon population. She also wants to provide a space where writers and artists can spread their voices and submit work they’re proud of for others to see.

“We’re writing for Elon,” she said. “It’s for ourselves, it’s for our community.”

The race’s course lies in the Adirondack mountains of New York and involves a mix of biking, running, hiking and canoeing. Additionally, participants are given nothing but a series of maps and a compass, and are required to find their way to certain checkpoints using only those tools.

Adventure racing is a small community, one that Bockino first became aware of after watching the show “World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji” on Prime Video. The show followed participants as they competed in a 7-day adventure race in Fiji.

The show was released in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Bockino didn’t actually participate in his first adventure race until 2024.

He says he enjoys adventure racing because it combines his hobbies of running and biking. He also enjoys the orienteering aspect, which for his most recent race, meant finding his way through 100 miles of woods without a phone or GPS.

“It’s probably not for everybody, but I enjoy it,” Bockino said.

The “Longest Day” race began at 4 a.m., and each participant was given an hour to look through the maps given to them and plan out their routes to the checkpoints. The teams were also given pads to mark the checkpoints they reached. Each checkpoint hangs from a tree or is somewhat hidden in the woods, with a unique punch tool allowing scorers to accurately count how many checkpoints were reached during each stage.

After going through the maps, participants are driven an hour away and dropped in an area with hiking trails to begin the trekking stage of the race. Bockino and his teammate, Matt Moyles managed to reach all of the checkpoints in this stage.

By the time they reached the biking stage of the race, it was already dark again, and Bockino and Moyles ran into a big challenge: The chain on one of their bikes broke during this 40-mile stretch, resulting in them having to walk the bike for around eight miles.

Fortunately for them, a participant from another team was able to give them an extra chain for the bike. This small and helpful community is another reason why Bockino enjoys adventure racing.

“It’s fun being around those people, and everyone’s helping each other out a little bit,” Bockino said.

Unfortunately, Bockino’s team didn’t get any checkpoints during this stage because of their issues with the bike.

In the next stage, Bockino and Moyles paddled down a river, using glow sticks to light their way in the dark until the sun began to rise.

Finally, they finished with another mountain biking section, and after crossing the finish line and having all of their points counted, Bockino and Moyles learned they had won second place for their category.

“It was awesome. We finished it, and we’re like, ‘That’s cool. Let’s do another one,’” Bockino said.

After earning second place in this race, Bockino is already ready for more.

In the new movie “Roofman,” �þ��� alumnus Joe Bruno ’14 takes his day job to the big screen and steps into the role of Adrian Baracco, a broadcast reporter.

The movie, which stars Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst, follows the of Jeffrey Manchester, a man who escapes from prison and survives undetected for months while living inside a Toys “R” Us store.

Though Bruno was too young to have known much about the story when it was actually unfolding, he had read a few stories about it prior to auditioning for his role.

“It’s hard to believe it actually happened, but it did,” Bruno said.

The story takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina, during the early 2000s, and Bruno said that a goal of director Derek Cianfrance was to make the movie seem as authentic as possible. So Cianfrance cast Charlotte residents in roles aligned to their actual day jobs, which is how Bruno stumbled across the opportunity.

“He wanted to cast people who were intimately familiar with the roles,” Bruno said.

While at Elon, Bruno studied broadcast journalism and now works as a reporter for WSOC-TV in Charlotte, mainly covering breaking news.

After seeing the casting call for the movie, he decided to submit a tape that he recorded on his deck just for fun. But he soon learned he had gotten a callback for the role.

During his callback, Bruno met with the director and a few producers of the movie, where he showcased his high school drama club experience and reinforced that if the “Roofman” story was happening today, he would be the one reporting on it. The team offered him the role on the spot.

“It’s incredibly realistic in the fact that this is what I would be doing had the crimes been unfolding today,” Bruno said.

This familiarity, as well as Bruno’s comfort level being on screen, made the filming process an easy one for him. The fictional broadcast script was written similarly to the TV news scripts he has to deliver for his day job, which made it easier for him to memorize his lines, as well.

Bruno’s scenes were filmed on location in Charlotte, in front of a former Burger King that the set design team had converted into a McDonald’s.

“The coolest part was just seeing how Charlotte was so well represented in the movie,” Bruno said.

Overall, the auditioning and filming process was surreal for Bruno, and though he doesn’t plan on entering the acting world full-time anytime soon, he is happy he got to be part of “Roofman.”

“It was just a fun experience,” Bruno said.

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• �þ��� Alamance celebrates five years of Elon students in the community
• Elon students contribute to local community through �þ��� Alamance

On October 22, the Student Professional Development Center (SPDC) hosted their 2025 �þ��� Alamance Meet & Greet in McKinnon Hall.

The event provided interested students with the opportunity to connect with the local businesses, non-profit organizations and government entities who partner with the �þ��� Alamance program.

The organizations featured ranged from , a public accounting firm, to , a nonprofit serving young children in Alamance County, providing students with a wide range of career fields to explore.

Partners set up tables around McKinnon Hall with information about their organization, allowing students to introduce themselves, express their interests and ask questions about each organization. Several students were in attendance at the event, ready and excited to learn about and chat with potential employers.

The �þ��� Alamance program is an eight-week paid internship program that started in 2021, which provides Elon students with hands-on experience in their chosen field of study and helps them get involved in the local community.

The program requires students to work 30 hours per week at the organization and attend weekly professional development sessions to help them build a well-rounded skillset. In addition, the internship includes a $3,500 stipend paid by the University. This allows local organizations to bring on interns without worrying about the cost, and allows students to be compensated for their hard work. The program also gives students class credit for their internships, that go towards fulfilling the experiential learning requirement.

Nancy Carpenter, director of Internships for Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, says she believes that the requirements and benefits of the �þ��� Alamance program, truly make it stand-out from other internship options students can pursue.

“�þ��� are able to maximize their internship experiences through the meaningful professional roles they engage and the relationship-rich mentorship of supervisors,” Carpenter said.

At the event, the table for the City of Mebane, one of the organizations participating in the event, was ran by Elon alum and past �þ��� Alamance student, Emily Smith ’25.

Smith works as a human resources analyst for the City of Mebane, and interned for the same organization through the �þ��� Alamance program during the summer before her final year at Elon. Smith said she really enjoyed the program and it helped her narrow down her goals for her career after graduation.

“I came in as a psychology major, so not totally HR related, and it definitely helped me navigate what I wanted to do in the future,” Smith said.

Now, Smith has been working for the City of Mebane for seven months, since she graduated in January of 2025.

For students wanting to engage in the local community and get real-world experience in their chosen field of study, the �þ��� Alamance program is a standout internship opportunity, and as seen through Smith, a pathway towards professional success after graduation.

For a full list of the employers featured at the event, visit the .

The second time around, Barnett received that coveted call: She had been selected as a digital marketing intern for the NHL franchise.

Barnett grew up an Islanders fan, inheriting her love for the team from her father, who grew up on Long Island. Eventually, her love for hockey turned into something more; a persistent goal to someday work for an NHL team. Her family’s shared passion for the franchise made her acceptance all the more special, with Barnett recalling she cried when she landed the position.

“I think part of it was relief but also a little bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment,” the Communications Fellow said.

To avoid added pressure, Barnett kept her application a secret from her parents, hoping that an acceptance would allow her to surprise them. Barnett said her father was speechless when he found out.

“He was obviously really proud of me, and it meant a lot to him that something we bonded over is something that I’m now doing with my career,” Barnett said.

As a digital marketing intern, Barnett primarily worked on building the email and text message promotions distributed to Islanders fans, which inspired an idea.

Every summer, interns in the IslesU program complete an individual project to present at the end of their internship. Barnett chose to create an email sweepstakes for fans who don’t live within driving distance of the Islanders’ arena to help more of the fan base feel included.

Barnett designed a three-email sweepstakes journey that the organization eventually decided to implement and share with fans in late August.

To be entered into the sweepstakes, fans were first asked to complete a survey in which they shared their opinions on the email and text message communications being sent out, as well as the reasons behind their passion for the Islanders organization. Prizes included signed memorabilia and other team merchandise.

“It’s one thing to be able to present something and feel proud of it, but the fact that they used my idea and took it and ran with it was so cool to me,” Barnett said.

One of Barnett’s goals during the internship was to impact the franchise, be it big or small, and through her sweepstakes project she achieved that goal.

“Yes, I did A, B and C on a day-to-day basis, but I also did something that the fans can benefit from,” Barnett said.

Barnett said she also values the day-to-day work she did during her internship because she was learning something new every day and felt as though she was truly part of the organization.

Looking back on her initial rejection from the program, Barnett said she is grateful she didn’t let a “no” stop her from pursuing her passion. Instead, she let it motivate her to try harder the second time around, reaching out to people within the organization to learn more about what they do, and networking as much as possible. She encourages others to do the same, and will always remember her experience working with the Islanders.

“There are going to be a million no’s and a million rejections, but don’t let that stop you from chasing your dreams and ending up where you want to be,” Barnett said.

For the fall semester of her final year at Elon, Barnett accepted another internship with the Islanders until the end of 2025, this time working in corporate strategy.

The School of Communications began the 2025-26 academic year by welcoming Lindsay Pieper, a new assistant professor of sport management.

Prior to her arrival at �þ���, Pieper taught sport management at the University of Lynchburg for 13 years, serving as department chair during her last three years.

During her tenure at Lynchburg, Pieper also published two books, “Sex Testing: Gender Policing in Women’s Sport” and “Women in the Olympics.” Her research has been featured in several academic journals as well, including “Sport in Society” and the “Journal of Sport History.”

Pieper said she hopes to use her research expertise and experience to help Elon students with their own �þ��� research projects. This semester, she is �þ��� Sport Data and Research, already guiding students on data-driven projects.

“I look forward to expanding that beyond just this semester and hopefully working with students on a topic or research project about which they are passionate about and then hopefully into a publishable piece at the end,” Pieper said.

While Pieper said that it was bittersweet to leave Lynchburg due to the student and faculty relationships she built, she expressed that she was drawn to Elon because of the university’s emphasis on student experiences, particularly �þ��� research.

“The focus on undergrad �þ��� combined with the innovation of the sport management program were the two driving factors,” Pieper said. “The opportunities Elon affords students are unparalleled and really remarkable.”

Likewise, Pieper said she is excited to begin building relationships with her students in and outside of the classroom.

“I’ve been watching down the hallway and seeing all the rapport between my sport management colleagues and the students, and I look forward to developing those same relationships and bonds,” Pieper said.

While earning her master’s and doctorate degrees at The Ohio State University, Pieper studied not only sport management, but also sport humanities and women’s history. She plans to incorporate her areas of expertise into her Elon classes, educating students on why sport history, sport sociology and sport philosophy are impactful to their studies.

“There’s so much going on right now, particularly with gender issues in sports,” Pieper said. “I’d like to share that with Elon students so that they have the tools to be able to navigate what’s happening.”

Outside the classroom, she enjoys time with her children and is an avid pickleball player, already impressed by the new Burlington Pickleball Complex courts.

New York

New York City is home to , a nonprofit that provides tuition-free music education programs for students across the city.

This summer, Lexi Garica ’26 joined the Midori & Friends team as an intern, and helped further the mission of the organization.

Garcia is a music production major at Elon, and was excited for the opportunity to learn more about the managerial and musical aspects of her job as a programming intern.

Within her role, Garcia worked with the five programs run by Midori & Friends for children of different ages, specifically NEXTGen Musician.

According to the Midori & Friends website, NEXTGen is a teen leadership program that allows students to advocate for music education.

“I did something similar in high school,” Garcia said. “It was cool to be on the other side.”

Garcia also worked with the Celebrate! Music program, which provides in-school concerts for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

While attending one of these events, Garcia looked around the room at the students in attendance, and their excitement at having a performance at their school, and a wave of emotion washed over her.

“I thought about how grateful I was to have music at that age,” Garcia said. “Music literally shaped my life, and I’m so glad that these kids get to experience that too because of Midori & Friends.”

Bunny Ingram ’26 interned alongside Garcia at Midori & Friends and worked as a marketing intern for the nonprofit.

Ingram is majoring in data analytics, but wanted the opportunity to explore their minors in art, interreligious studies and Asian studies through their internship with Study USA. With their internship at Midori & Friends, Ingram was able to achieve that goal as a marketing intern.

In their role, Ingram made marketing materials to promote Midori & Friends, and got to work firsthand with the students the nonprofit aims to help, by working for a week at one of the summer programs they offer.

Ingram said that it was extremely fulfilling to see the impact they were making through her work with Midori & friends while working with the summer program.

“I was a broke kid. I didn’t have the money for an instrument, but there was a program like [Midori & Friends] in my hometown, and that’s how I got into music,” Ingram said.

At the end of their internships, both Ingram and Garcia accepted offers to stay on in part-time positions at Midori & Friends while they finish their final year at Elon.

Charlotte

In Charlotte, three Study USA students made their mark through their experiences interning at nonprofits in the city.

For Katie Strohl ’26, the internship she did through Study USA was her first, but she was excited to have the opportunity to work with and learn more about and to gain experience at a nonprofit.

Strohl was interested in taking on her first internship through Study USA because of the help the program and the Student Professional Development Center (SPDC) provide with the internship search process.

“They do resume drops to certain companies in Charlotte, and that’s actually how Special Olympics reached out to me in the first place,” Strohl said.

Special Olympics NC is a branch of the Special Olympics, a program aimed at getting individuals with intellectual disabilities involved in physical activity. According to the Special Olympics NC website, it is one of the largest Special Olympics programs in the world.

At Special Olympics NC, Strohl served as a Mecklenburg County intern and focused on events and issues within the Charlotte area.

One of Strohl’s projects during her internship was researching athlete transportation with the goal of solving problems athletes faced traveling to and from events.

“A lot of athletes were having trouble getting back and forth from events,” Strohl said. “We wanted to find a way to make it easier for them.”

Strohl worked within the organization to try to establish a transportation position on the volunteer committee to ensure that there was a person in power who could help address and resolve these issues. Strohl also got to take the lead and plan a kickball event with her fellow interns. At the event Strohl played kickball with the athletes and saw where and to whom her hard work had been going all summer.

“Seeing something that you planned work out is the coolest thing,” Strohl said. “It was a very rewarding experience.”

Charlotte is also home to , a nonprofit that makes wishes into a reality for children with critical illnesses.

�þ��� Vinny Weinkam ’26 and Garek Johnson ’26 both worked with the nonprofit as development interns.

Johnson, an accounting major, and Weinkam, a finance major, were involved in donor outreach. They created flyers, emails and other promotional materials to encourage people to donate and help fund children’s wishes.

“I want to do accounting, but not for a ‘big four’ company,” Johnson said. “I want to do something more meaningful, and this experience helped me do that.”

Weinkam also took the initiative to help the nonprofit improve with its invoice system through research and upgrading the spreadsheet it was housed on.

“I learned that it’s important to be extra proactive,” Weinkam said.

Both Johnson and Weinkam also got to sit in on monthly meetings where the team at Make-A-Wish went over the wishes they had recently granted.

“It was nice to see in real time where the things I was doing were going.” Johnson said.

To learn more about Study USA Charlotte, Study USA New York and other Study USA programs, check out the Study USA website.  To learn more about the Elon Charlotte campus, check out the National �þ��� Programs website.

Madaio first decided to join after taking several classes with Kai Swanson, assistant professor of cinema and television arts and the faculty adviser for ESTV.

Madaio said Swanson highly encourages all of her students to join ESTV, but it was taking Swanson’s “Studio, Variety, and Reality Television Production” class and getting experience working in the studios that pushed her to become a member.

So far, Madaio has worked as a producer on “eTalk,” ESTV’s entertainment talk show.

“Honestly I had no clue about pop culture until I walk in and I’m like, ‘Oh, this person married this one. I had no idea,’” Madaio said.

For Madaio, working on “eTalk” and for ESTV, in general, has shown her that work is fun when she’s doing something she enjoys. Though she’s now taking on a higher executive position, Madaio said ESTV has never felt like a job.

“It’s more like, ‘OK, I’m going to sit in the control room listening to these hosts talk and I’m going to laugh,’” Madaio said.

This friendly environment and the confidence she gained from ESTV is part of what motivated Madaio to apply for the position of station manager.

“If I can learn from the position and if I can do it, I might as well at least try,” Madaio said.

During her time as station manager, Madaio’s main goal is to add a sports commentary show to ESTV as a way to create more opportunities for students interested in sports broadcasting within the School of Communications.

“The broadcast side is its own side of sports, but a lot of people do want to do the in-studio shows,” Madaio said.

Madaio said she hopes to get that show up and running so that current and future Elon students will have even more ways to get experience with what they’re passionate about.

One of Madaio’s other goals is to encourage others like her — who either haven’t heard about or haven’t known how to join — to be a part of ESTV and to show the rest of the Elon community what a positive organization it is.

“[Joining ESTV] could only help, not hurt you,” Madaio said.

It advertised a best-of album created by Limelight Records, an organization Spencer was unfamiliar with. When she asked about it, the studio art professor who was showing her around told her it was Elon’s student-run record label, and Spencer was immediately hooked.

Now a music production & recording arts major with a production concentration, Spencer said learning about Limelight from that poster ended up being one of the biggest reasons she decided to come to Elon.

“I knew that I wanted to study music in a program that was focused on production and not classical music,” Spencer said.

Spencer initially joined Limelight as an artist during her first-year at Elon, but she wasn’t as involved in the organization until the beginning of this year, when she felt the need to participate in a way that would help her reach her professional goals.

“I knew that the artist track wasn’t exactly for me,” Spencer said. “It’s not necessarily the thing I’m most passionate about, but leadership is something that I’ve enjoyed for a really long time.”

Spencer was excited to learn more about the music business through Limelight and said her experience has been “educational and experimental.”

Now, as she prepares to step up as president of the organization, her biggest goals are to get Limelight more involved on campus and to focus on artist development.

Spencer hopes that through events like showcases and festivals on campus, students and other members of the community can appreciate the work of the student musicians. Spencer is also dedicated to making sure artists within Limelight feel that their needs are being met by the organization.

“I want to put more focus on artist development, so that they feel supported and feel like they have a place in Limelight and structure to how they want to do things,” Spencer said.

As president, Spencer said she can now give Limelight and its artists the spotlight they deserve.

“Making sure that [Limelight] reaches as many people as possible, whether they want to see more music or make music, that’s really what it’s all about to me,” Spencer said.