School of Journalism

It was Christmas Eve of 2012 when recent Mayborn graduate Agnes O’Hanlon received a phone call from the Clinton Global Initiative internship program offering her a position. “I screamed, ran upstairs, and told my family!” she says. For her internship, O’Hanlon was part of the New York City-based marketing department, which oversees all creative aspects of the Initiative, including email, the website, the blog, stylizing, multimedia, writing, editing, brochures and more. She felt right at home. “I loved the marketing position because I got a well-rounded approach and exposure to all of the objectives and work of the organization,” she says.

While she was at CGI, O’Hanlon had the chance to speak with someone only a few have to honor to meet. “Interns have the opportunity to meet with President Clinton and have a conversation with him,” she says. “I saw him speak at our Winter Meeting at the Plenary Session, along with the former President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, and the former President of Costa Rica, José Mariía Figueres and many other leaders in organizations and business. It was an amazing experience sitting in a room filled with some of the most brilliant and important leaders in the 21st century. The intelligence was certainly felt in the room.”

And O’Hanlon fit right in. Her education at the Mayborn prepared her to work alongside the country’s head honchos. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and minor in Political Science, and says that “UNT's Mayborn School of Journalism taught me how to be creative both visually and in writing. I learned how to use digital tools to create meaningful material that tells a story and appeals to a particular audience – which was extremely useful and important in the work I did at CGI. Mayborn also taught me how to be a leader through the example of many of the professors I had.”

Professors like Thorne Anderson, who specializes in photojournalism, visual communication and multimedia storytelling, and Cathy Booth Thomas, a 22-year veteran of TIME Magazine and editor of Mayborn magazine, were instrumental in O’Hanlon’s success. “Not only did they contribute to my success at CGI, but they inspired me to do things I thought I would never be able to do – for example, intern in Iraq and move to NYC.” O’Hanlon also shared a fun fact with us – “I actually worked in the Time & Life Building for CGI, the same building Cathy worked in during her years at TIME Magazine!” Talk about following the leader!

Up next for O’Hanlon? Working with UNICEF in Liberia this June. She is proof that there is no limit to how far a Mayborn education can take you. Literally!