{"id":6277,"date":"2016-11-29T15:33:52","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T20:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/12\/06\/crystal-brockington-awarded-the-furman-metropolitan-fellowship\/"},"modified":"2022-11-06T20:28:53","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T01:28:53","slug":"crystal-brockington-awarded-the-furman-metropolitan-fellowship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/crystal-brockington-awarded-the-furman-metropolitan-fellowship\/","title":{"rendered":"Crystal Brockington awarded the Furman Metropolitan Fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crystal Brockington \u201918 has big dreams for a career built on the spoken word, but her polished oratory skills went silent when she found out she\u2019d been selected to receive the Furman Metropolitan Fellowship (FMF).<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really speechless,\u201d Brockington said, \u201cbut also just really excited knowing that my talents and everything that I\u2019ve put forth has been recognized. It was really overwhelming just trying to take it all in.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to professional coaching on resume creation and interview skills to help her pursue the internship of her choice next summer in New York City, Brockington will receive an $8,000 stipend to cover her living expenses\u2014pretty handy for a political science and communication studies major who aspires to be a television news anchor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really interested in broadcast news production,\u201d Brockington, a native of Conyers, Ga., said. \u201cThat\u2019s an area that isn\u2019t too big at\u00a0Furman\u00a0. . .\u00a0and so, being able to go to New York, the heart of media, opens a lot of doors and opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brockington was chosen from a field of 14 finalists that had been plucked from an applicant pool of nearly 100. Every Furman junior was eligible for consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all,\u00a0she has the talent to succeed in that arena. Second,\u00a0she has the drive to pursue her passion, which is in that sector. Finally, she has a\u00a0personality that\u00a0makes me happy to give her the internship,\u201d Max Dutcher \u201912, one of the FMF directors, said when asked what set Brockington apart.<\/p>\n

The Furman Metropolitan Fellowship <\/a>was founded in February of 2015 by Dutcher, Jeff Broad \u201912, Peter Griffin \u201911, Roe Morris \u201911, Philip Mabry \u201911, and Zach Rosen \u201911, who all live and work in the Big Apple, \u201cto create a bridge between Furman University students and New York City internship connections and community.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the finalists were interviewed individually by members of the FMF team, and Brockington particularly impressed the team with her\u00a0mock newscast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was impressed by\u00a0how genuine she is, how energetic she is, and how driven she is\u00a0to succeed,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cBut also how talented she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brockington has never been to New York, and without the Fellowship she likely would be waiting a little longer. Instead, she\u2019ll be connected with many of the 600 Furman alumni in the city\u2019s metropolitan area in addition to professional contacts.<\/p>\n

In fact, after Rosen talked to the CEO of MediaLink, a strategic advisory firm with offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, the firm agreed to assist Brockington with finding internship opportunities at morning talk shows. Rosen, who was also a communication studies major, is the senior director of Strategic Partnerships at Index Exchange, an advertising technology start up that enables brands to connect with audiences across digital media in real time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been wanting to get to New York for years\u00a0. . .\u00a0I definitely don\u2019t think I would have been able to have this experience without this opportunity,\u201d Brockington\u00a0said. \u201cI\u2019m really excited to be living in a city. I expect to learn\u00a0so many things about myself, and I\u2019m excited to meet so many people from so many different backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Saba \u201917 and Martin Eguiguren \u201917 were last year\u2019s inaugural recipients. Associate Communications Studies Professor John Armstrong encouraged Brockington to pursue the grant, which has already given her something invaluable\u2014confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter speaking to all of (the FMF founders) and knowing that they believe in all of my talents, my passion, and my drive, it\u2019s comforting to know that they are supporting me in\u00a0going\u00a0where I want to go in my professional career,\u201d Brockington said.<\/p>\n

To learn more about FMF or to get involved, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crystal Brockington \u201918 has big dreams for a career built on the spoken word, but her polished oratory skills went silent when she found out she\u2019d been selected to receive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":6278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,51,32,61,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-communication-studies","category-politics-and-international-affairs","category-the-furman-advantage","category-top-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}