At a very young age, Cam’ron Hardy, junior journalism major, discovered that he was able to best express himself through writing. He cannot recall a time in which he did not have a notebook handy, to jot down his thoughts.
Through hard work, dedication and a mentorship through The New York Times, Hardy has been able to pursue his passion while kicking off his career in journalism on a high note.
“I’ve always liked writing, it is the best way for me to express myself because I can take the time and then just sit and just get it all out as opposed to just trying to force a lot of stuff to come out verbally,” Hardy said.
He was a campus reporter the spring semester of his freshman year, a campus editor the fall of his sophomore year and then has been news editor since last spring.
Hardy was selected to be a part of The New York Times Corps program, a two-year mentorship that pairs student journalists with journalists from The Times.
Hardy has been partnered with Kathleen Kingsbury, The New York Times’ opinion editor and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. He and Kingsbury talk once a month at minimum. They discuss any questions that Hardy may have about his career, to give him the best chance for success.
The program also hosts occasional meetings, activities, speakers and training sessions. The program emphasizes the need for open communication, to ensure that the students are getting all the career advice that they need.
“There’s not much I have to do, just stay active in journalism and write for The Daily Eastern News still and communicate with the people that are running it,” Hardy said. “So, I think that’s the main thing, just keep working, keep progressing and stuff.”
Hardy and 19 other students from across the country were chosen to participate in the program. Those who complete the program will be given an all expense paid trip to New York to tour The New York Times’ newsroom and meet their journalists in person.
After the students in the program graduate, they can then apply for the Newsroom Fellowship Program at The New York Times.
Hardy was able to learn about the opportunity through Bill Ruthart, an Eastern alumni and writing coach for The New York Times. Ruthart previously served as the Editor-in-Chief at The Daily Eastern News during his time at Eastern. Hardy method the privilege of meeting Ruthart through in the newsroom, as Hardy currently serves as the news editor.
Ruthart came to Eastern to visit during the first day of the EIU-UPI strike, Hardy was hard at work reporting on the strike, but felt that it was very important to make a connection with Ruthart.
“I was pretty excited to talk to him, but I’m like ‘Dang I can’t talk to him now because I’m super busy. I have this huge story, and this is day one, so I need to lock in on this,’ but he’s sitting right in front of me,” Hardy said. “So, I start a little conversation with him like ‘Hey, what do you do? What’s your name,’ all that good stuff and we’re talking briefly and I’m typing away.”
Joe Gisondi, journalism professor and adviser for The Daily Eastern News, then went to a conference with Ruthart in New York, where they discussed the mentorship program and decided that Hardy would be a perfect candidate.
Gisondi then relayed the information to Hardy, who then applied for the program.
“I applied, that took a while because I wanted to make it perfect because when you hear of New York Times, I think that’s the pinnacle of journalism,” Hardy said. “So, I’m making sure everything is spelled properly. I want to make sure it’s written in the best condition.”
Shortly after applying, Hardy was contacted by The New York Times to set up an interview. After the interview, he was told that he should be receiving a call soon, to which Hardy nervously waited for.
The highly anticipated call came through while Hardy was working at Target.
“So, I’m way in the back of the store, I sprint to the front of the store so I can answer it by myself, outside and I didn’t make it, I got halfway through the store,” Hardy said. “She called me and she’s like ‘well, I hope I’m calling with good news,’ at that point, still at work by the way, I jumped up waving my arms, I almost yelled, and I kid you not, I fell to my knees.”
When Hardy was in the fourth grade, he began writing his thoughts and feelings in a notebook for his teacher to read and write back to him. This form of communication taught Hardy that he can express himself more greatly through writing.
“So, that was my teacher, Mrs. Molby, she was very instrumental and imperative to my writing start,” Hardy said.
During his sophomore year of high school, Hardy took a news writing class in which he was assigned to give his teacher an idea of what he would want to write about.
He has always had a love for films, so he asked if he could write a review on the “Joker”. His teacher, Mr. Smith agreed.
“I was super happy to go see it. I was super happy to sit down and write it and I was like, in that moment, I didn’t know that’s what I want to do with my life,” Hardy said.
For the past year, Hardy and Drew Coffey, senior television and video production major have produced the podcast, Two Dudes Talk Movies. During their podcast, Hardy has been able to share his passion for films with others by reviewing and sharing his opinion on films.
Hardy also said that his love of films was developed by watching films with his parents, especially his mom.
“My parents were instrumental to my admiration for cinema,” Hardy said.
Audra Gullquist can be reached at 581-2812 or at agullquist@eiu.edu.
