Six Ways to Get Involved at Newhouse 

First-year students are now adjusting to their first fall semester at the Newhouse School. With classes and schedules set, what now? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in your first year, so here are six fun ways to meet other students, make friends, gain experience in your chosen field and make Newhouse feel like a new home.

1. Become a Newhouse Ambassador 

a group of people posing on a set of steps outside
Newhouse Ambassadors. (Photo by Arthur Maiorella)

If you love to talk about the Newhouse School, stop by the Visitor’s Center in the third-floor lobby of Newhouse 1 and apply to be a Newhouse Ambassador. In this volunteer role, you’ll give tours to prospective students and their families, speak at information sessions and be at the center of everything going on. You’ll also get cool merch, yummy snacks and random facts about Newhouse history! 

2. Go to events 

Newhouse frequently holds social events, speakers and panels for students, so an easy way to stay involved is to read your emails and check the events calendar! You’ll know when you and your friends can stop by a food truck, work on your resumes in a resume building session, hear a distinguished guest speak in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium and much more.  

3. Join a club or organization

Students produce Loud and Clear, an award-winning music show on Orange Television Network. (Photo by Joohee Na)

Newhouse students can get involved with more than 30 communications organizations. From CitrusTV, Z89 Radio, University Girl magazine and TNH advertising agency to The Daily Orange, Jerk magazine, Hill Communications and Orange Television Network, these clubs are a great way to gain experience for a future internship and career, build your network and make fun memories outside of a classroom.  

4. Get to know your professors 

Newhouse professors have the knowledge and experience us students aspire to have. Ask your professor to coffee and get to know them! It’s a good way to connect with them and get engaged with their class as well as expand your professional network.

5. Take a non-major elective

The Newhouse School has some wonderfully unique communications courses available. For the Spring 2025 semester (registration starts Nov. 6) and beyond, talk to your advisor, check the course catalog and look into taking a class that is not required for your major! This is an awesome way to meet other students, make friends and expand your knowledge to bolster your Newhouse education. 

6. Sit in Food.com  

L-R: Students Sam Johnston, Olivia Allison, Mira Berenbaum and Luci Messineo-Witt collaborate at a booth in Food.com. (Photo by Leigh Vo)

If you’re in Newhouse 3, head up to the second floor and immerse yourself in the hustle and bustle of Food.com! Sit and study or plan a group project at a booth. You might get asked to be in a photoshoot, give a statement for a story or be featured in a video…and you’ll definitely see friends and classmates.

Analise Piemonte is a sophomore in the broadcast and digital journalism program at the Newhouse School.

This story was originally published in September 2023