By Bryan Ottoson
J Alumni News staff
When most college-bound students must decide between two or more universities, the decision is usually far from random selection.
But for one journalism graduate student from England, the decision to study at Nebraska was made in an unlikely manner — the luck of the draw.
Lesley Owusu of Slough, England, said she narrowed her decision to 10 universities for undergraduate studies but could not make up her mind.
To settle the matter, Owusu said she placed her top picks into a hat, reached in and pulled out one piece of paper. She was headed for Nebraska.
“It was a spontaneous thing,” she said.
Although none of the other six foreign students who were interviewed gambled on fate the way Owusu did, all seven said they were grateful for the opportunity to study in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at UNL.
According to COJMC 2001-02 enrollment records, 37 of the 1,047 students registered in journalism are from 22 countries other than the United States.
Despite the different reasons and various challenges the seven study-abroad students have faced, they said they benefited from the skills and knowledge they gained from their professors in the COJMC.
Yulia Holko of Lviv, Ukraine, said the COJMC has given her an advantage compared to her counterparts in her home country. The college’s online newspaper, NewsNetNebraska, has provided her with newswriting and broadcasting skills, she said.
“I would have never learned this stuff in Ukraine,” she said.
Holko, a UNL news-editorial junior, said she was one of 250 people chosen from among 3,000 applicants to study in the United States.
Holko, who began classes at UNL in fall 2001, said she entered the program to gain experience in journalism, to learn about the freedom of the press in the United States and to perfect her English.
Kim Nyoni’s college choice was easy.
Nyoni of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, said he had applied to several U.S. universities; UNL was the first to respond.
“It was the first college to accept me,” he said.
Nyoni, a UNL broadcasting junior, said he had an interest in UNL because friends of the family lived in Nebraska.
Nyoni said he was studying broadcasting because he would like to be a national news correspondent for a major news organization like Fox News or CNN.
“I like to be where the action is,” he said.
Nyoni said his only complaint about Nebraska was the weather.
“I’m not a big fan of the cold,” he said.
Owusu, who earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting at UNL, said she had always wanted to pursue a career in journalism and would like to be a news reporter for CNN or the BBC.
Owusu said she enjoyed the positive relationships that developed between faculty and students. “They want their students to do well,” she said.
Kai Rieke, a UNL news-editorial senior, agreed.
The UNL journalism instructors have always been willing to offer him assistance when needed. “They have treated me very well,” he said.
Rieke, who came from Nordhorn, Germany, said he liked the small classes in the COJMC compared to the 200 to 300-person lecture halls in most German universities.
Rieke said he choose UNL because he had two friends already at the university, and he was offered a tennis scholarship. Interviewing people and writing a story in a second language was a challenge, but it has helped to perfect his English, he said.
Rieke said he would like to be a sports editor for Radio and Television Luxembourg, a German based media organization.
Resat Karacan, a UNL advertising graduate student from Turkey, said he appreciated his advertising professors for opening his mind to new ideas.
Karacan said he came to Nebraska because his father, Ali Karacan, had conducted economics of agriculture research at UNL.
Resat Karacan said he wanted to work for an international advertising agency in Chicago, New York or San Francisco.
The main adjustment to studying in the COJMC was the college’s emphasis on working individually on projects instead of in a group effort, he said.
Holko said she was also accustomed to teamwork. However, her biggest challenge was developing a taste for American food, which is still a work in progress, she said.
Along with the challenges, there have been rewards.
Holko said she appreciated the interaction between professors and students, which she found was lacking in most universities in the Ukraine.
Shirin Hornecker, a UNL advertising graduate student, said she was thankful for her COJMC professors.
“It feels like they care about you,” she said.
Hornecker came from Munich, Germany, to study marketing and play golf at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. But her freshman and sophomore years were unrewarding, she said.
However, Hornecker said her situation improved when she accepted an athletic scholarship from Robin Krapf, the UNL golf coach.
Upon earning her master’s degree in advertising, Hornecker said she would like to work for an advertising agency in Munich.
Shannon Tanaka, a UNL advertising senior, said she liked taking several classes with the same people. The interaction helped sharpen her advertising skills, she said.
Tanaka came to Lincoln from Calgary, Alberta, in Canada, to play for the women’s soccer team. A soccer teammate convinced her to study advertising, she said. After graduation, Tanaka said she would like to pursue a career in sports marketing.
Karacan, Owusu, Tanaka, Rieke, Nyoni, Hornecker and Holko all agreed that the skills they learned in the COJMC would be valuable assets for their respective careers in any country.