Articles - Fall 2010 - return to index
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“Lane helped me define what I
was interested in doing.” |
Transfer grad heads for Georgetown
-By Chris Cunningham
Jeremy Riel never shied away from politics.
When he enrolled at Lane Community College in 2003, he thrived in instructor Steve Candee’s political science class and soon joined student government as a senator. Two years later he became student body president.
Home schooled through high school, Jeremy says, “Lane helped me define what I was interested in doing. It defined my education, especially within a social environment.”
He transferred to the University of
Oregon and earned a bachelor’s
degree in political science with a
professional distinction in written
communications.
With law school in mind, Jeremy won a Dunn Fellowship in 2007/08 and worked under the State General Counsel in the office of former Governor. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. Here he discovered “how administrations interact with the public via communications, and how politics is intertwined with the media.” The experience altered his career aspirations.
He found a graduate program that
matched his passion for media
communications in the arena of
politics. Now 25, he begins a master’s
program in communication, culture
and technology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. this fall.
“This fits perfectly with my interests in learning how the Internet and new communications on the Web—even old models of traditional media—are changing the way we communicate in a business and political context.”
Technology has given more people the chance “to participate in the political process. Before, you had to have money to get the word out, to get ideas out. Now, anybody can go on a Website and comment. And it matters.”
Jeremy started Millennial Associates consulting and helps nonprofit organizations learn how to use Web-based technologies, including social and new media. He plans to maintain the business while in graduate school.
For information about the political science program go online at 2011sitearchive.lanecc.edu/socsci or contact instructor Steve Candee at (541) 463-5188 or candees@lanecc.edu.
