Ten students from the Visual Arts, Communication, and Design (VACD) Department at Andrews University attended the Society of Adventist Communicators (SAC) conference from Oct. 16-18, in Riverside, California. This year, the annual conference was hosted by La Sierra University, where communication students, professors and working professionals had the opportunity to listen to presentations from experts, hone their skills in various workshops, network with colleagues and employers, and explore the La Sierra and Loma Linda university campuses.
The conference provided workshops for students covering multiple areas of communication, including digital evangelism, social media, photography, podcasting and design. Each workshop was led by a professional who specialized in their work in the area. Some of the presenters were engaging and excited about their work, and showed their current progress in the field, to the interest of the students, while other presenters had a harder time appealing to the students’ expectations. Some students who attended the SAC conference in October 2024 noticed how some of the workshops were repeated from last year. The podcasting workshop even had the same presenter.
Celeste Villanova (senior, communications) described her experience attending the conference. “I had more hopes in the workshops, and a lot of the topics were pretty basic and [covered] things I learned either through my own experience with social media or in…classes Andrews offers.” However, since she was already familiar with many of the ideas and tips discussed, the experience helped her realize how much she had learned through her time at college. “I learned that…Andrews [is] ahead of its game, which is pretty cool,” Celeste added.
Even if students didn’t love all of the workshops, they made good use of their time at the conference by networking with other students and communication professionals. Communicators there came from various Adventist institutions, from AdventHealth and healthcare roles, Maranatha missionaries, to universities, churches and publications. These were some of Celeste’s favorite parts of the conference. “Meeting others from around the country, with their own ideas, perspectives and projects for ministry, was motivating and valuable for the future of my career, whether I continue to work in ministry or not.”
Karis Lyons (senior, digital communications) enjoyed the chance to network. She was able to talk with Andrews alumna Ellie Dovich, who gave Karis tips about completing her upcoming Honors thesis. “[Ellie] was able to share about her work with me to reference as examples...It’s especially helpful as there aren’t many comms students in Honors.”
On top of students gaining advice and professional connections, two Andrews students were acknowledged for their excellence in their creative work at the conference awards banquet. Nate Reid (senior, digital communications) won the award for best journalistic photography, with his photo from the St. Louis General Conference session this summer, of the past president passing the torch to the new president. Andrew Francis (senior, communication) was also awarded for his news article about changes made to Oakwood University’s campus culture.
Additionally, four VACD students, Francis, Ysa Dennis (junior, digital communication), Lia Glass (junior, digital communication), Melissa Moore (senior, English literature) and recent alumni Claudius Emilaire, won “Best Student Audio Podcast” for their podcast Reel Talk. The students developed the podcast in Professor Daniel Weber’s Podcasting class during the Fall 2024 Semester, and hope to make the podcasts publicly available in the future. Dennis and Francis accepted the award on behalf of the team.
After the awards ceremony, the VACD professors closed out the conference experience by taking the students to In-N-Out to celebrate. Over their burgers and fries, the students talked about their favorite conference memories, new people they met and ideas for their next steps in communication. Students were able to come away from the weekend thankful and inspired, because, as Celeste said, “Spending time with like-minded people with like-minded goals is always so refreshing.”
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.