Andrew Bueno

On March 12, 2003 Deirdre Medley had the opportunity to sit down with Andrew Bueno, who was a Communication/French major at the time, and interview him regarding his experience in the Communication Department.

Deidre: "I am here with Andrew Bueno, communication major at Andrews University, who is also the Communication Club President. Can you tell us a little about that--or maybe about how the club got started?"

Andrew: "The Communication Club got started about two and a half years ago. It was originally started by Erin Heldstab and Sarah Newbury, two departmental employees and students of the department. And they had a vision of a club that would one day incorporate all aspects of student life in the Communication Department--spiritual, physical, mental, social needs--and they presented the idea to the department; when Dr. Steyn [chair] approached a few of us at the beginning of our Junior year (which was last year) we decided to take that off and make it happen. So we had some elections, and I was honored by becoming the President. I have a wonderful staff accompanying me--and we went from there."

Deidre: "That sounds really exciting, Andrew. What are some of the events that the Communication Club sponsored for the students and faculty to participate in this year?"

Andrew: "Well, late in the summer Dr. Steyn contacted me about having a corn roast. Some sort of event, a Fall Festival, something to start off the school year with a big bang. And we had some friends of ours, the Dowers, who have a home out in the country and were willing to sponsor a corn roast at their house. So we thought, what a wonderful opportunity--to bring the kids together--to get out and roast some corn and bob their heads into buckets and get apples and eat doughnuts off a string. We were also honored at the time to have Bettina Krause and Reger Smith visiting us from the Communication Department at the General Conference. It was a great time for students to interact with people who are really out there in our church making a difference in communication. We were able to network with them and communicate, and have fun. It was a really fun experience."

"From there we went on to sponsoring the college days for the Juniors. That was this last October. It was a challenge to create a booth at this event that was attractive to students. You walk into Johnson Gym and you are faced with fifty plus booths--and where do you go?  Each person is selling popcorn, doing something--come to my booth, become our major. Well, the Communication Department was blessed to have a prime spot in the gym and we decided to do something that would really attract their attention. With the help of Ellete, Dr. Steyn and several other people we were able to come up with a 'news show' kind of set at our booth where we would interview potential college students about the Communication Department, about things they were planning on doing in life and at Andrews University. And we had weather segments and news segments and it was broadcast on television right there in front of them. We even had a roaming camera that went around the gymnasium interviewing students. It was a great opportunity to connect with potential students--to get our face out there--to show the University that we are active and that we are here to make a difference."

Deidre: "That is really awesome. Now since you had that chance to interact with those Juniors and potential students of Andrews University do you have a bit of advice or anything that you would like to offer to students who are upcoming Freshmen or upcoming Communication majors?"

Andrew: "Yeah, I would say that the Communication Department is an exciting, innovative, and really challenging department to be a part of. I remember being in high school and thinking, 'I've got two years left in high school, what am I going to do? I'm going to get to Andrews and I don't know what major I want to be.' I really dislike science and heavily dislike math--heavily dislike anything in the math-science area. I had heard about the Communication Department--about journalism, writing, and speaking (of all things, as you know, I enjoy doing). And I thought, 'What a wonderful combination.' "

"And I was also able to talk with students who had graduated with Communication majors and they said it had opened doors to other areas. Just because you are a Communication Major doesn't mean that you can't enter medical school, law school, or any other school. I'd say that the Communication Department provides you with the basic and necessary tools and skills to function in life and society. If you graduate with a Communication degree you can get a job right away. You can go out there and work. Unlike some majors that require graduate degrees and master's degrees which is--you know--more schooling, more money and more time. The Communication Department is a stepping stone, I'd say, to life and to the world."

"I think it is a wonderful place to anybody who is interested in communication. We offer a wide range of possibilities ranging from international communication, public relations, journalism--it is a very fun and exciting department and program to be a part of."

Deidre: "That's awesome. As an aside I just want to kind of reflect. As you were talking about the incoming freshmen and the things they could do and how awesome the communication major really is I was thinking back to my freshmen year here at Andrews University, and your face was the very first one I saw in conjunction with communication. I think you were running a booth in the cafeteria for some sort of I don't know if it was the spaghetti thing that they had and you were with Shelly and I was just like 'Wow, that's going to be an interesting guy. And I'm sure I'm going to interact with him a lot during my experience at Andrews.' And of course that's--"

Andrew: "Little did you know how much experience you would actually get--the last four years."

Deirdre: "No, I had not a clue. Very interesting. I just wanted to mention that because I just thought about that. But also, in the realm of communication--yes we are communication students, we study here, we take awesome classes that we are able to apply to our lives. But how does one go about receiving practical experience in communication?"

Andrew: "I believe starting out on campus in the setting we are now is a prime example of how to get experience. When we are students at Andrews University, unfortunately sometimes we don't realize all the experience and possibilities around us to get involved. The University provides a lot of venues in a lot of areas ranging from the radio, working in the student paper, to departments like ILS (International Learning Systems), and different departments on campus that really cater to journalism, communication, and broadcast majors. So, I believe that starting out locally and on campus is a good place to go."

"From there I believe our churches are the next stepping stone that we should go to. As you know both of us had the opportunity of being GC interns at the General Conference session in Toronto in 2000, for the communication department. And that was a wonderful experience. And you know it was a small little ad published in the Student Movement. It was an e-mail that we got that no one even paid attention to. And I thought what a wonderful opportunity--to go to Toronto, a paid trip to go and work. True, we were slaves. And we ran around from one side of Toronto to the other faxing things and photocopying things--but it connected us. We were able to meet those people who later came and visited us on our campus."

"From there I believe it is important to look globally. Too often we grow up in these close-knit Adventist circles where we think that is all we are capable of doing. And we don't look outside of that--we don't realize that there is a whole world out there needing us."

"And an example that I'd like to share with you is a possible internship that I might have this summer. One day, last summer, while I was bored browsing the Internet at work--when I should have been working--I came across this web site that had some information about the embassy at Burkina Faso. This French speaking country in Western Africa. And I said to myself, 'Wait, an embassy in Burkina Faso, what are they doing there? Why do we need an embassy in every capital in every country of the world?' And I got to thinking, 'Who works there?' They have to be Americans, obviously first of all--because it is the US embassy."

"So I sent them an e-mail and I said, 'My name is Andrew Bueno and I am a Communication, French major at Andrews University. And I would like to know, how does one get a job there? How would one get a job at your embassy?' And I'm sure they were amused when they got that. Not knowing that I didn't realize there was a whole system that I'd have to follow through to even get a job."

"But they referred to me to www.state.gov where I found an internship application. Well, I filled out the application and it happened to be like twelve pages in length. And I put it off until the night before I had to get it done--stayed up nine hours doing it."

"And as I was doing it--as you know my family is from Europe--I thought, 'Let's go to Europe, how fun would that be, to live near my family.' And I got to thinking, 'Everyone wants to go to Europe. Everyone would love to live in Paris, London, Rome, Milan.' And I was like, 'Andrew, pick somewhere where nobody wants to go.' So I picked, Hanoi, Vietnam. I figured, 'Well, we've gone to war with this country. Probably the connections and the ties aren't too strong--nobody would like to go there.' That was in November, I heard back from them in January, via e-mail, congratulating me that I had been accepted into the preliminary application process for an internship in Vietnam. I was shocked and kind of scared in the beginning. I didn't really want to go to Vietnam. I wanted to go to Paris. And later on in February, I received a security clearance package, and that took another whole nine hours of late night work--filling it out. Letting them know who my fourth grade teacher was and who was my next door neighbor in 1995--they were going to find out who I was. And I sent that in, and I heard back from them on Monday, that they had received my packet, and I'll be hearing back from them in May."

"And I just thought that it is a great challenge to all Andrews students and Communication students out there to aim high. I had applications for the White House, for an embassy in Australia, and Canada, for major corporations.  Why do we have to have to think that we are not capable of a lot just because we come from private, Adventist institutions? We are capable of many things. And if I get this internship I think it will be a good example and go to show communication students what we are actually capable of doing and what our department really prepares us to do."

Deidre: "Well, thank you Andrew. Thank you so much for coming and joining us this afternoon."

Andrew: "Thank you too."