President: Mark Malijan
Year: Senior
Area of Study: Visual Journalism with a concentration in psychology.
Why Join? I started the NPPA chapter at WWU because when I started as a photographer I had no outlet or resource to go to. Russ Kendall, my photojournalism teacher and boss at The Bellingham Herald, suggested starting a chapter. My goal with the chapter was to provide a resource and community where photojournalists can go to. This is a tough industry, and we can only thrive if we work together.
Goals and aspirations: To work for a major newspaper, and eventually turn to freelancing as a sustainable career.
Vice President: Justin Steyer
Year: Senior
Area of Study: Visual journalism
Why Join? I have been a member of NPPA for several years, and always felt WWU needed to create a student chapter... so we did.
Goals and aspirations: Goals would include employment in a few weeks. I am working as a multi-media intern, shooting video at The Seattle Times right now. Ideally, I would like to continue working for them after the internship ends... but we'll see. I would like a job that converges still photography with multi-media at a major metropolitan newspaper, Web site, and/or periodical.
Secretary: Carolyn Copstead
Year: Junior
Area of Study: Double-major in Visual Journalism and Economics, and a minor in French.
Why Join? I wanted to join WWU’s NPPA chapter because I wanted to connect with other students who were interested in and/or studying journalism and photojournalism. I believe that when people work together, they can accomplish much more and be more successful than by working alone. I hope that our NPPA chapter can be a place where students can come together to share ideas and help each other become better students and photographers.
Goals and aspirations: A fantasy of mine is to have one of my photographs featured in a major national magazine, such as Time Magazine or National Geographic... but I'm sure many other photojournalists would tell you the same thing. For now, I am pursuing this path because it is something that interests and moves me, and I'm not sure where it will take me, but I'll let you know when I get there!!