Communication is an essential skill for all college students to develop. Although these are valuable assets to learn, Communication Studies is often an undervalued major that some students feel is viewed in a negative light. At Stan State students can enhance these skills through many educational opportunities.
Hannah Esquivel (Senior, Communication Studies) and Jaclyn Pernett (Senior, Communication Studies) organized the Stanislaus State Communication Studies Club, a fairly new club that officially started at the end of 2024. The creation of this club stemmed from the desire to further promote the major and change the negative light it’s viewed in.
“It tends to get a bad rep for being mediocre or undervalued. And so with our club, we want our members to have an idea of sticking with this major and what a career afterwards looks like,” Pernett states.
With Pernett serving as the club president and Esquivel as the vice president and treasurer, they’ve implemented many innovative ways to reinforce the importance of the communication studies major. As members graduate they shift meeting agendas to discuss jobs students can pursue with a degree in communication studies. As well as having study sessions and guest speakers to share their insight working in the communication field.
This club also allows students to network with other individuals who may have similar interests, career plans and aspirations with the hope of building a strong community and connections that will last beyond college.
Esquivel says, “I believe the driving force behind it was to create a community on campus for a major that we found a lot of value in. I feel that particularly if you have a strong sense of community within that major, there are so many new opportunities that can happen for students here on campus.”
She continues, “And I think it’s a kind of an incentive to continue into the field after graduation. So if you establish a community now, you know, there are so many students going into multiple fields all with that background in communication studies, and I think that’s a wonderful thing.”
Pernett continues the conversation, noting that building a strong community within this major has helped her immensely. “From my personal experience, that has made a huge positive impact in my life, and, ultimately, it has saved my life. And that goes for many people.”
Beyond the work Esquivel and Pernett have done to start and support the club and its members, faculty of the communication department have assisted in bringing the vision for this club to life.
Dr. Veronica Dawson (Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies) in particular, has acted as the faculty advisor for the organization. Dawson guided Esquivel and Pernett through the process of creating the club after the idea sparked in her fall 2024 organizational communication course.
Dawson is passionate about this field and an advocate for what the Communication Club has to offer. She says, “I think it’s a great networking opportunity, knowing your classmates, beyond the classroom.”
She feels that in the classroom, students are on their phones and computers more and more, and they don’t really talk to each other.
“And so having a club or a space that it’s outside of that sort of official form of, you know, communication where you’re talking about a particular subject. You can just be you and you can talk about things that you as an individual are passionate about around communication with others. I think it’s really valuable” she continued.
Dawson, the current Communication Studies internship director, shared her expertise in this field with the club’s members, both individually and as a group:
“I talked about internships in one of their meetings, and I got to see them kind of at work, and they have a really nice meeting space in the student center. And they’re really friendly, and just a good group of people.”
The Communication Studies Club isn’t just for communication studies majors. It’s open to all students who are willing and interested in learning about communication in general, especially since it applies to every major and career.
For those interested in becoming a member, make sure to look out for all future meetings and activities, check them out on Warrior Life.
