Sophomore Annie Renaud is a multitalented student that excels in her two main passions: journalism and Russian language and culture. As she transitions as next year’s editor-in-chief, she plans on improving the newspaper’s website by including videos to correspond with stories. (Ash Dean/Photo Editor)
Communication major and Central and Eastern European studies minor sophomore Annie Renaud has a passion for journalism. As the rising editor-in-chief of The Lamron, she is not only prepared, but eager for the challenges ahead.
Renaud is a rare out-of-state student here at Geneseo, hailing from Glastonbury, Connecticut.
“A lot of times, people will ask, ‘How did you end up at Geneseo?” she said. “My brother was applying to schools and was looking at Binghamton … and that’s how I found out about the SUNY system.”
After a visit, the “small-town feel” and all the opportunities Geneseo provides had her hooked.
Now an Erie Hall resident assistant, a member of the improv troupe Currently Known As and the current news editor of The Lamron, Renaud is versatile in personality and talent. These talents expand beyond extracurriculars and into academics, where she excels in the study of Russian language and culture.
Her skills made her eligible for the United States Department of State Critical Language Scholarship program, and this summer Renaud will be traveling to Nizhny Novgorod in western Russia, fully-funded.
“I’ve been taking Russian since middle school and I really lacked that immersive experience,” she said. “You stay with a host family who are supposed to not know any English, so you can really use your language at home.”
Nizhny Novgorod is a historically imporant city, according to Renaud. In addition to her experiences there, the students accepted into the CLS program will attend cultural excursions across the region.
“I’m definitely nervous … but I’m excited at the same time,” Renaud said. “I’m excited to pick up the language more and travel to a country that I’ve studied for so many years … to be surrounded by the buildings and paintings that we’ve talked about.”
After her return from Russia, Renaud will begin preparing for her position as the paper’s editor-in-chief. Her long list of goals can be narrowed to a few big projects: featuring video clips and print-issue PDFs on The Lamron website and preserving archived The Lamron issues in book format.
“My big project is to get videos on the website,” she said. “I’ve looked at other college student newspapers and sometimes they have a video to correspond with the article … I’ll be in a television production class next semester, so hopefully that will serve to help.”
Renaud will be running a team of 14 other e-board members alongside rising managing editor English and communication double major Alexandra Ciarcia. Both Renaud and Ciarcia are veterans when it comes to late nights in the office during production, but those long hours are some of Renaud’s favorite memories from this past year.
“I love that we have a quote board where we write the funny and crazy things we say late at night,” she said. “And when we watched the Cubs winning the World Series … We were so excited about the Cubs winning, but I don’t think any of us are really into sports that much.”
Although Renaud still has two years left here at Geneseo, and many more late nights in The Lamron office, she hopes to pursue journalism after graduation.
“I love journalism,” she said. “It’s where my heart is.”