This new, customized workshop also presented an opportunity for Elon LA students to learn from and share the creative process with a group of students from other study-away LA colleges and universities, who, along with �þ��� Los Angeles, are members of a coalition of nearly 20 schools that offer semester-in-LA programs. Each semester, Elon LA and these other schools share professional development opportunities for students, allowing them to mix, mingle, network and learn together.

Each semester, Elon students explore and discover Los Angeles and the diversity of professional career opportunities that await them through academic classes with professors who work in the industries that align with their courses, immersive, site-based experiential learning, alumni engagement and community service.

Applications for the Study USA Los Angeles spring 2027 Creative Industries & Community Experience open on April 1. �þ��� can visit the  to learn more and to begin the application process.

The gathering, held at The Belmont in West Hollywood, brought together an enthusiastic group of alumni, many of whom had participated in the Elon LA semester experience during their Elon academic journeys.

Current students shared internship and academic class experiences with their new Elon connections. Many took advantage of the opportunity to request meetings later this semester with individual alumni as a part of the Elon Los Angeles “Coffee with an Alumnus” program.

The immersive Study USA Los Angeles semester and summer experiences offer students opportunities for alumni engagement, community service, unique academic classes with industry professionals, and site-based experiential learning.  for Spring 2027 open April 1.

In accordance with the terms of their grants, alumna Bex Evans ’16, Julie Boyd ’15 and Mirai ’07 have each created opportunities for spring students to participate in and/or observe both their pre-production process and on-set work.

Pre-production of all three short films is slated to begin this week, with production to start shortly thereafter. Production of all three films will be completed by the end of the Los Angeles spring semester in April. The three short films will have their world premiere this July at the first �þ��� Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival.

Through Study USA�����Ի���National �þ��� Programs, �þ��� Los Angeles offers an immersive spring and summer semester of academic classes, experiential learning, professional development and community service opportunities for students with a variety of majors. For information about the Los Angeles experience and 2027 opportunities, please visit the �����Ի���National �þ��� Programs���ɱ�������ٱ��.

A Saturday morning orientation introduced students to the Elon Los Angeles home base at The Preserve, in Hollywood, and included presentations by all of this semester’s faculty about their courses and the content of their classes.

Returning instructors include director and long-time Elon LA professor Boris Schaarschmidt, who is once again �þ��� a directing masterclass. Entertainment attorney Daniel Spitz has returned to teach Media Law and Ethics, and writer and longtime Elon LA professor Matthew Antonelli has returned to teach a unique, one-evening master seminar in March, called Inside the Writer’s Room.

New to the Elon Los Angeles faculty team this semester are art historian and educator Charles Peterson, who is �þ��� a course in Los Angeles art and architecture history, and award-winning global strategist, thought leader and educator Brandon Shamim, who is �þ��� “Principles of Management,” with a Los Angeles focus.

�þ��� Los Angeles director and long time industry professional Brad Lemack is once again �þ��� the experiential learning course this spring, which focuses student internship experiences on work culture, industry shifts and transitions, and professional development.

Elon Los Angeles program assistant and Elon alumna Macy Mills ‘23 led students on their first excursion this semester after orientation, with an immersive day of LA experiences at the world class Getty Center, followed by a visit to the historic Los Angeles Farmer’s Market and The Grove, at Third and Fairfax.

In addition to unique academic classes and internships, this spring semester experience for students will also include a day of community service at the Hollywood Food Coalition, alumni engagement gatherings and the opportunity to participate in and/or observe the production of the three short films being produced by the Elon LA-based alumni recipients of the 2025-26 �þ��� Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Competition.

Through and National �þ��� Programs, �þ��� Los Angeles offers immersive spring and summer semester programs for students with a variety of majors. For information about the Los Angeles experience and 2027 opportunities, please visit the and National �þ��� Programs websites.

The 2025-26 Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Grant competition was open to all Los Angeles-based Elon alumni to submit proposals this past fall for consideration for production funding. A selection committee comprised of both industry professionals and Elon alumni was assembled to read, review and rank all proposals received. From those rankings, the top three highest-ranked projects were selected to receive grants. Grant funding was made possible, in part, by the financial support from members of the Elon Los Angeles alumni community and others.

The three grant recipients are Julia Boyd ’15, for her short film “The Life and Times of …”, Mirai ’07, for her short film “#StopAsianKate” and Bex Evans ’16, for their short film “Shadow Dusk.”

Production of these funded projects will commence in early 2026. As a component of the grant requirements, filmmakers will make opportunities available to �þ��� Los Angeles Spring 2026 students to participate in their projects through direct set experience and/or production observation. Elon Los Angeles program assistant and alumna Macy Mills ’23 and alumnus Jordan Roman ’15 were co-chairs of this year’s grant competition.

The selection committee members included Emmy Award-winning writer, producer and showrunner (“Lost,” House,” “The Good Wife”) Elon parent Leonard Dick P’20 (father of Julie Dick ’20), Emmy Award-winning producer Marsha Posner Williams (“The Golden Girls”), actor Eric Rollins, and LA-based alumni Frankie Campisano ’16, Mia Ginae Watkins ’16, Lauren Duncan ’18 and Alyssa Needham ’19.

The three short films funded will have their world premieres at the first �þ��� Los Angeles Alumni Short Film Festival in late July 2026.

Sixteen students in The Sport Experience program in Charlotte supported the largest Novant Health Charlotte Marathon in the race’s 21-year history, contributing more than 140 hours of professional event-operations work during the annual event’s race weekend.

More than 11,000 runners participated across the marathon, half marathon and 5K — an all-time high — and Elon students were embedded in nearly every aspect of race execution. The day before the event, three students supported the marathon expo and assisted with pre-race setup. Then, beginning at 4 a.m. on race day, students helped with start- and finish-line logistics, runner information services, medical tent coordination and the distribution of thousands of branded beanies to participants.

Among those deeply involved in race operations was , a sport management major who is interning with the Charlotte Marathon under Executive Director Alaina Williams. According to Young Do Kim, associate professor of sport management, Williams helped create the internship specifically for Elon and also facilitated this year’s race-weekend placement for The Sport Experience cohort.

“Alaina has provided an incredible pathway for our students – both through this hands-on event operations opportunity and through Ramy’s internship,” Kim said. “It’s the type of industry partnership that elevates our program and prepares students for professional success.”

Now in its third year, The Sport Experience in Charlotte continues to expand Elon’s footprint in one of the nation’s fastest-growing sports hubs. While studying in Charlotte, Elon students have interned at several organizations, including Fox Sports and the Atlantic Coast Conference, conducted site visits to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Team Penske, Bank of America Stadium, and the Spectrum Center, and attended sporting events to watch the Checkers, Knights, Panthers, Hornets, and Charlotte FC.

The marathon – which drew runners from all 50 states and 19 countries – saw Knoxville’s Carter Coughlin win the men’s division in 2:31:44 and Matthews native Jessica Sarnicola claim the women’s title in 3:01:48.

To learn more about The Sport Experience program and its opportunities to live, learn and intern in Charlotte, visit the program website.

Emmy Award-winning writer, producer and showrunner (“Lost,” House,” “The Good Wife”) and Elon parent Leonard Dick P’20 (father of Julie Dick ’20), Emmy Award-winning producer Marsha Posner Williams (“The Golden Girls”) and actor Eric Rollins will join with Elon LA-based alumni filmmakers award- Frankie Campisano ’16, Mia Ginae Watkins ’16, Lauren Duncan ’18 and Alyssa Needham ’19 to read, rank and judge the 2025-26 competition submissions received. The submission window for project proposals closed on Oct. 1.

Award recipients will be announced in early December 2026. Funded projects will require the alumni filmmakers to include the participation of students from the �þ��� Los Angeles spring 2026 semester experience in various production, performance and other capacities.

The three fund-supported films will have their premiere screenings in late July 2026 at the first �þ��� Los Angeles Alumni Film Festival.

Elon alumni Jordan Roman ‘15 and Macy Mills ‘23 (Mills also serves as �þ��� Los Angeles program assistant) are the short film grant project’s co-chairs.

The LA Study Away Collective works together as a group to share events and gatherings that students from all member schools can participate in. �þ��� from numerous study away LA programs have already participated in recent �þ��� Los Angeles-produced events, affording students the opportunity for exposure to some of the cutting-edge programming Elon Los Angeles is offering. �þ��� from different schools also have the opportunity to meet and connect with each other at these events throughout the year.

The �þ��� Los Angeles leadership gathering was co-hosted by Larry Bond, owner of The Preserve, Elon LA’s Hollywood home base. Bond led the group on an informative tour of the historic Paul Williams-designed building and grounds, sharing the history of the historic landmark.

While each school’s Los Angeles study away program is designed to provide a unique LA experience to their students, each program is also uniquely crafted to the academic and experiential learning mission, brand and goals of each school.

From Study USA and National �þ��� Programs, �þ��� Los Angeles has offered a semester-long, immersive academic, cultural, professional development, alumni engagement and community service program to Elon students since 2008.

Applications for the summer 2026 Los Angeles experience are now open. Interested students can attend a meet-and-greet gathering with Lemack, Mills, Study USA director Ronice Johnson-Guy and National �þ��� Programs director Ashley Pinney, and others, on Monday, Oct. 6, from 3 – 5 p.m., at Irazu, located in the Mosely Student Center

Study USA will also present a mini-fair on Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 3 – 5 p.m., in the Mosely Center, McKinnon Hall F, for students to learn more about all of the Study USA and National �þ��� Programs locations and opportunities.

A wide range of topics were covered in a conversation that was moderated by �þ��� Los Angeles director Brad Lemack. Attendees participated in a lively question-and-answer session covering topics that ranged from AI in the writer’s room to the state of the production industry landscape in Los Angeles.

Elon LA program assistant Macy Mills is co-producing this innovative fall initiative with Lemack.

The next event in the “Learn & Share” series is an alumni day of community service on Thursday afternoon and evening on Oct. 16, covering meal service shifts at Elon LA’s non-profit partner, The Hollywood Food Coalition. Elon LA-area alumni can get information and sign up to participate .

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.