Lauren J. Mapp: Outstanding Graduate, School of Journalism and Media Studies

May 29, 2019

During Mapp’s time in school, she worked tirelessly to learn photo and video editing, HTML and CSS coding and various other skills to become as well-rounded of a journalist as possible. Lauren interned with iNewsource, a non-profit, investigative news website, as well as worked for The Daily Aztec as a senior writer, for PRSSA as the director of Digital Media and participated in the Native American Student Alliance.

“My experience in my major has helped me immensely to learn how to establish my personal brand and promote my work as a journalist through my professional social media channels. In a current media climate where there are fewer and fewer opportunities to work as a journalist, I am confident that the vast array of skills that I have learned from my professors at SDSU has prepared me to be a diverse, multimedia journalist,” said Mapp.

For Mapp’s hard work, she was awarded four scholarships during her last year at SJMS: the San Diego Association of Black Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists, the San Diego Press Club, and the Gertrude Jockusch Endowed Scholarship. In 2018 Mapp received a fellowship to attend the Columbia School of Journalism’s Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference. Mapp also has an incredible work ethic.

“During the semester I routinely work 40-50 hours a week, and during summer prior to transferring to SDSU and the summer in between junior and senior year, I worked at multiple jobs for about 70-80 hours per week,” said Mapp. “I have grown through the experience of working long hours to pay for school in that I have learned how to multitask better while orchestrating a complicated work/school/extracurricular activity schedule. As a reporter, I will need to wear many hats on the job and work hard to stand out in a crowded field, so the past two years have felt like I am preparing for the hard work needed for future successes.”

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.

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