When The Hill News last caught up with Moniyah Person-Henderson ’23, she was a 5th former preparing to embark on a journey to Fairfax, Virginia, where she would be attending the Washington Journalism and Media Conference at George Mason University. Despite her minimal exposure to journalism itself, Person-Henderson developed a keen interest in its art, expressing her belief that “writing is the bare minimum people need to know.” Although journalism had never been at the forefront of her career aspirations, Person-Henderson the conference fueled her love of writing, allowing her to discover her hidden passion for journalism.      

While she had high expectations going into July 10-15, no amount of anticipation could have prepared Person-Henderson for the experience that she would go on to describe as “one of the best decisions” that she’s ever made. “WJMC taught me communication, how to network, how to pitch ideas,” she explained, “and as someone who wants to go into business and computer science in the future, I found it very enlightening that I learned how to pitch to individuals in a business setting.” 

While Person-Henderson found herself proud of the work she was completing, some of her greatest inspiration was drawn from professionals she had the opportunity to speak to throughout WJMC. “I met incredible people. I met Brian Lamb, who is the CEO of C-Span. He created a news casting company that delivered news that was completely unbiased– all he did was deliver the news. He was an incredible speaker, he interviewed a lot of us students, he asked us questions politically, it was a very interesting, mature conversation,” Person-Henderson explained. 

With each day, Person-Henderson became more fascinated by field work.  Each day she would wake up at 7 a.m. and have breakfast as a group around 7:45. Students were led in small groups by faculty advisers and George Mason’s own communication professors.  Prominent journalists, CEOs of major media, and even recent college graduates also head the program, leading students in discussions.  Furthermore, Person-Henderson had the opportunity to tour the U.S. Capitol and visit museums, like Planet Word in D.C.  She conducted interviews, listened to speakers, and talked with knowledgeable and successful journalists, asking questions and learning about their own experiences.  Her workday usually ended around 10 p.m.   

“I’m grateful to Hill because Hill has taught me how to have a set schedule and complete tasks within that schedule and that’s exactly what we did at WJMC. So, although it was very tedious, it was nice having that schedule and set order that I was already used to because of Hill having a similar set order of when we do certain activities,” Person-Henderson explained. 

With 300 total students attending the conference, Person-Henderson was also able to meet peers who shared her passion for journalism.  “I created incredible friendships, I met so many amazing people– people I still talk to this day,” she shared. “It was really incredible to share my experiences with others,” she said.   

After her time at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference, Person-Henderson expressed her encouragement towards students considering this experience for themselves.  

“If anyone has the opportunity next year, I completely recommend going, even if you’re not into journalism, you learn so much, you meet so many amazing people, and it’s just such great memories that you make with people that you’ve met in such a short amount of time. It even made me more confident to go and attend college because then I knew that I would meet people that had similar values and likings just as me, so I was so incredibly grateful for this experience.”