Name: Frances Shainwald
Year/Major: Junior public relations major
Hometown: Columbia

You're a columnist for The Gamecock student newspaper this semester. Tell us about your column. I did about 12 columns and started writing for The Gamecock during the summer. I'm older than most of the students so I tried to get away from college themes and write about other subjects, including some political things, but not always. I didn't really have a theme for the column. None of the columnists did, except one, who wrote about relationships. We were allowed to write about whatever we wanted.

Why did you decide to write for The Gamecock? I've always liked to write and I'm a public relations major, which encompasses writing in a lot of ways, but I also wanted something to show I had school participation. The column appealed to me because I'm an opinionated person. Writing a column was a good way for all of us who were doing it to vent, but other students got to know what was on our minds and I enjoyed that, too.

How did you get the job writing the column? I just e-mailed the editors saying I wanted to write it. I told them I was a public relations major and I was familiar with the journalistic style of writing, which is probably a requirement they have, but they let me keep the gig so I guess they thought I was a good enough writer.

Do you want to become a journalist when you get out of school? I like public relations writing and would like to do something related to that. It wouldn't be the same as regular print journalism, but more related to public relations.

How would you say writing for The Gamecock augmented your education at the University? For one thing, reading other people's columns made me realize the different things that were on their minds, but writing a column also made me a better writer because I actually exercised those skills on a regular basis. I also was forced to think about subjects in ways that I hadn't before because each column had a deadline. It definitely made me feel confident that I could write better in my classes. I also learned that if you like to write, somebody actually will validate your talent by putting it out there for other people. It was a way of not just being measured by grades.

Have you ever gotten any noteworthy feedback from any of your columns? I didn't get any feedback about my writing skills, but for the opinion part I got some people agreeing with me and some disagreeing, and very passionately. That was fun. I think we all enjoyed that. One of the other columnists generated some angry letters to the editor about one of her columns and that made her happy because we liked to get a reaction out of people. That's part of the fun of writing an editorial or a column.

Would you recommend writing for The Gamecock to other students? Yes, it's good experience and will look good on anybody's resume for both the purpose of writing and to show that you participated in the student media. You also get to meet other writers and people who think like you do.

11/06