Kristin Batz is a senior from Crown Point, Indiana majoring in Mass Communication. This is her first year in Fast Track. She had an internship with WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois this past summer. She is the captain of the Purdue Dance Team and has been on the team since her freshman year. She has been an active member in her sorority, Chi Omega, since her freshman year. She loves music and playing the piano. She choreographs for numerous dance teams around the state in her spare time. Her interest in is news reporting. She hopes to obtain a career with a news station after she graduates in May of 2012.

 

Sarah Blakely is a senior from Brownsburg, Indiana majoring in mass communication at Purdue. This is her first semester in Fast Track, and she is excited to be a part of the team. She hopes to be a news reporter one day, and eventually she would like to be a producer or director. Sarah has done segments for Boiler Bytes in the past and has also written for the Brian Lamb School of Communication newsletter, The Communicator. She frequently emcees for Campus Crusade for Christ’s Friday night meetings and has made a variety of promotional videos for Campus Crusade as well. In her free time, Sarah enjoys watching movies, shopping, baking, sewing, and hanging out with her friends.

 

Ellie Cameron-Krepp is an exchange student from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She is in her second year of a Communications degree, majoring in film/television production and cinema studies. At home, Ellie volunteers for SYN Media, a youth community media organization, where she has spent 5 years working as a TV producer, radio presenter and serving on the board of directors as vice-president. Ellie is thrilled to be at Purdue and involved with Fast Track!

 

Holly Campbell is a senior in Mass Communication from Muncie, Indiana and will be graduating in May 2012. With her time at Purdue Holly has been apart of many organizations including Purdue Women’s Club Volleyball, the Vice President of Programming at Delta Gamma Sorority, a reporter for Student U Productions with the Big 10 Network, an on-air personality for Boiler Bytes, an intern with the Purdue Athletics Department, and has worked on FastTrack as an anchor and reporter. Holly was also very fortunate to spend a summer in London, England where she worked for the London Chamber of Commerce and wrote for their magazine, London Business Matters. Currently she is interning with WLFI Channel 18 News and hopes that after graduation she can find a career as a news reporter and will one day be a successful news anchor. Holly enjoys all sports, spending time with friends and family, and loves her dog, Kevin!

 

Patrick Essex is a senior from Fort Wayne, Indiana majoring in Public Relations & Advertising.  This is not only his first semester with Fast Track, but it is first experience with video production! He has always been interested in music and pop culture, thus he earned an internship with a popular radio station (HOT 107.9, WJFX) in his hometown during summer 2011.  From there he got very interested in mass communication and the entertainment industry, so he is broadening such horizons with Fast Track.  In his free time, Patrick loves to play video games, take far too long of naps, listen to music, and dream big dreams.

 

Lauren Lapka is a senior at Purdue University studying Mass Communications.  Lauren is from Orland Park, Illinois and has a wide variety of broadcasting experience aside from Fast Track.  Lauren is going into her second year broadcasting for the athletic department, where she will be covering football, wrestling and baseball, as well as hosting the Boilermaker Breakdown.  Outside of school, Lauren works with Loadout Technologies covering the technology which the firm develops.  Lauren hopes to pursue a career in sports broadcasting after graduating.  Other than broadcasting, Lauren is involved in the Association for Women in Communications Clug as well as the Ski and Snowboard Club.  To see all her videos, visit www.LaurenLapka.com.

 

Hario Priambodho is a senior in Mass Communication. He was born a long time ago in Jakarta, Indonesia, a place that many consider to be far away.  Hario is still keeping his options open on what he wants to do when he graduates next year. By the time his age is a half century, Hario wants to possess his very own island, preferably in the South Pacific and go on fabulous adventures without having a shred of worry about anything. He spends most of his free time playing video games, stargazing and sometimes impersonating Tommy Wiseau when his roommates or neighbor is around.

Yoliani Santos is a senior majoring in Mass Communications with a minor in Spanish.  She is originally from Puerto Rico and is bilingual.  She currently works as an assistant at the President’s office and is also a writer for Dean-Kelly.com.  This past summer she interned at NBC Universal Studios in Los Angeles, CA with the Mun2 network in the programming and development department.  In her spare time she loves performing and traveling.  She hopes to one day become an entertainment broadcaster and a TV host.  This is her first year on Fast Track and is really excited to be doing the Good Eats segment each week!

Catherine Simpson is a senior majoring in Atmospheric Science at Purdue University. She is from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. This is Catherine’s first year with FastTrack. However, this is not her first Broadcast experience. She has interned at three previous stations including WCAU in Philadelphia and WNEP in Scranton, PA. Other than broadcasting, Catherine is an active member of her sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, and is a member of the Purdue University Meteorology Association. She is also a science ambassador and a mentor for Women in Science. After graduation Catherine hopes to find a job as a broadcast meteorologist or work as a forecaster in the private sector.

 

Kate Taylor is a senior from Fort Wayne, Indiana majoring in Mass Communications.  She is very active in Delta Zeta sorority, and also writes for Purdue’s Greek newspaper, The Odyssey.  Kate is the social media director for The Odyssey and loves to interact with others via Twitter and Facebook.  This past summer, Kate interned at WANE-TV, the CBS affiliate news station in Fort Wayne where she shot, wrote, and edited her own news packages.  She is involved with reporting for Purdue athletics.  Kate loves hanging out with friends, reading, country music, and shopping.  In the future, Kate hopes to become a successful news anchor in a large city.

 

Jessica Thayer is a senior Agricultural Communication student from Indianapolis. Her spare time is spent volunteering for the Animal Sciences and YDAE Departments, designing logos, posters, and worksheets. Jessica is a Graphic Designer for the Krannert Computing Center and hopes to develop new skills and an appreciation for broadcast in her first year here at Fast Track.

 

 

Michael Williams is a senior in the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University, majoring in Mass Communication.  Before transferring to Purdue, he studied film at Columbia College in Chicago.  Michael has worked as a recording engineer at Sonic Iguana Recording Studios in Lafayette, Indiana.  Past recording credits include Common Rider, Squirt Gun, The Groovie Ghoulies, and the Teen Idols.

 

Xue Yu (Alice) from Beijing, China, is a junior double majoring in Mass Communication and Psychology.  She has a lot of experience in Chinese writing and published her personal writing collection before coming to the States. Her main focus of study at Purdue is on media production and is excited to be apart of Fast Track. She interned with Phoenix Television in China as assistant editor in 2011 and is looking forward to obtaining a professional career in media production or pursuing a graduate degree in Journalism after graduating in 2013.