Networking is an essential tool for journalists and the Walter Cronkite School gives its students, including the Humphrey fellows, many opportunities to learn how to network and make connections all over the world. One of these great opportunities is the Humphrey seminar.
For the Humphrey fellows, they are thrown into a new environment when they arrive. And as shocking as it can be culturally, it’s important for fellows to make the most of their time and resources at the Cronkite School. They need to continually be networking with each other, students and the speakers they encounter during their year in America.
Former 2016 Humphrey fellow Tynymgul Eshieva from Kyrgyz Republic said that: “the most valuable [thing I learned] was networking with other Humphrey fellows from whom I learnt about their countries, media and culture.”
Tynymgul is now working with UNICEF Kyrgzystan as a communication consultant while also working as a public relations instructor at American University in Central Asia.
Tynymgul said that the opportunities that the Humphrey class gave her were great for her career. Not only did she get to network with Humphrey fellows from around the world, but she had the opportunity to meet journalism-famous speakers at the Cronkite School’s Must See Monday events.
“The school itself was incredible experience,” she said. “The Humphrey program was a life changing experience in terms of education, networking, connections with other media and PR specialists, with colleagues from all over the world.”
Tynymgul encourages the current Humphrey Fellows to “live, explore and make everything possible. Enjoy it!”
But networking goes both ways. So as the Humphrey fellows network, so do the attaches. As for us, we have an incredible opportunity to network with the Humphrey fellows we get to interact with every week. As graduate and undergraduate students we have the opportunity to learn from journalists from around the world.
Personally, working with the Humphrey fellows has been one of the highlights of my semester. Not only do I get to learn from their experience, but I now have connections around the world which is an incredible networking opportunity and I’m grateful to the Cronkite School for the experience.
