Skyler Cowans

May 9, 2015
Food, Health, & Society in Global Perspective

Professional Development Documents

Cover Letter

I first knew that I wanted to study broadcast journalism when I was in high
school. My senior year, I created, produced, and co-hosted a talk show that aired on my
citys local cable TV station. I realized then that I had a passion for on-air reporting,
interviewing, television, and production work. Since then, my reasons for wanting to
pursue a career in broadcast journalism have matured into a deeper passion and a desire
supported by far more impactful reasoning than a mere surface level understanding of
what it truly means to work in television news. During my senior year I visited Elon for
Fellows Weekend and the School of Communications blew me away. After being
accepted as a Communications Fellow, I knew that Elon University would be a wonderful
place to learn and nurture my aspirations to become a broadcast journalist. Through my
experience of studying broadcast journalism at Elon, and being heavily involved in
student media, I have realized why I love journalism so much, and multimedia
storytelling in particular. I have also developed several other passions including a
personal and professional devotion to health and wellness. With career goals in mind, my
interest and knowledge for health and wellness is something that I hope to combine with
my passion for journalism and storytelling down the road.
After graduating next spring, I hope to find a job in local TV news reporting at a
small market where I can work hard to develop my skills as a general assignment reporter

before I venture into other endeavors. My dream job is to have my own health talk show
where I interview well-known doctors, health gurus, healers, and celebrities about health
and wellness. It would cover everything from healthy eating and holistic medicine, to
beauty and lifestyle. However, to reach this goal I understand that I need to start
somewhere. Before I can tackle this far off dream, I need to build a solid foundation and
credibility as a journalist. Starting with a job at a small market station where I can learn,
make mistakes, and develop my presence is a fantastic way to begin nurturing a career. I
also hope to be on the health and wellness beat at whatever station Im at.
After studying broadcast journalism for three years at Elon, including a semester
abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, I fully understand why I am so passionate about
journalism. I love talking to people and listening to their stories, and in turn being given
the honor and responsibility to tell those stories in an objective and compelling way, is
both challenging and exhilarating. I am up for this challenge. I thrive in high-pressure
work environments and love the fast-paced nature of news. Television news is
particularly of interest to me because it fuses picture, word, and sound into a functioning
trinity that has a powerful ability to influence society. In my opinion, TV news is more
impactful than print because the use of images and sound in this storytelling medium has
a profound effect. It can help the audience better understand the content being delivered
and also helps ignite passion, opinion, and motivation.
My worldview has shifted from the time I enrolled at Elon to the present
especially after studying abroad. I realize the incredible responsibility and importance
that journalists hold to be watchdogs for society and shine light in dark places. In
addition, journalists have the power to affect globalization and cross-cultural

communications. The media is a miraculous tool that can either influence society in a
positive or negative way. My goal as a journalist is to try to remain positive in my
storytelling. Of course I will have to report on tragedy and wrongdoing, but if a lesson
can be learned from it, then I have done my job. While studying abroad in Copenhagen,
Denmark I focused on the study of cross-cultural communications. I learned about
minority cultures, co-cultures, methods of non-verbal communication and the
implications of different media cultures in Denmark and throughout Europe. Part of my
core course in cross-cultural communications included a weeklong study tour to Ireland
where we studied the conflict in Northern Ireland between the Protestants and Catholics.
This portfolio contains a reflection of a blog assignment that I completed about the
journey to peace in Belfast, Ireland. We also spent a weekend in Malm, Sweden. Here I
learned about the news culture of Swedish television and its severe contrast to that of
American news. In Sweden, the bar is set even higher for maintaining entirely objective
coverage. For example, on Sweden television, it is illegal to report on the race or
ethnicity of subjects mentioned in crime reports, or any reports for that matter.
In addition to studying the craft and industry of broadcast journalism, I will also
graduate Elon with a shifted worldview as a result of the liberal arts core education that
Elon provides. Elon University stresses the importance of being a global citizen. It
started with my freshman year core course called The Global Experience. Since then,
the importance of being a global citizen has been in the back of my mind. To me, being a
global citizen means not only being aware of whats happening around the world and
with cultures that are different than your own, but also being engaged in these processes
on some level. I have found that an easy way to make this a part of my everyday life is to

seek out those with a different background than myself. I have also come to learn the
value of this in journalism. This idea was stressed heavily in my broadcast newswriting
course that I completed the spring of my sophomore year. My professor pushed us to seek
out sources that were different than us to give our stories more depth and diversity. Since
then, this is something that I continuously strive for.
Keeping in mind my long-term goals of covering health and wellness stories, I
have noticed a problem in the way that mainstream media and both major and local news
sources cover health. They report only what is published by the large medical
corporations that hold intense power and clout. I want to be a journalist who looks at
every angle hidden behind this control that mainstream medicine, and food and
pharmaceutical companies hold. We talked a great deal about the politics behind food in
this course, and as a journalist entering the industry with a particular interest in wellness,
I hope to expose some of the politics behind food so that consumers can make more
informed and educated choices about what the food they choose to put inside their
bodies.
Although I am fortunate to have some idea of the career path I would like to
pursue after graduating, I am also trying to keep an open mind. Perhaps other
opportunities will present themselves that may lead me down an entirely different route.
However, I know that the foundation I have built at Elon is strong and has thoroughly
influenced my development as a professional and as an individual.