Meet a Student

MEET A STUDENT: MINH PHAN

The senior is the digital media editor at the Minnesota Daily.

❙INTERVIEW BY COURTENAY PARKER

Minh Phan grew up in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He’s double majoring in psychology and stra tegic communication, focusing on advertis ing. He picked those two majors because he’s interested in human nature and the different ways we look at the world. Psychology can be applied to brand strategy in interesting ways.

Q What has been your favorite part of your experience at the Hubbard School?

A My involvement with the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) is truly a game-changing—if not the best—experience that I have had at the Hubbard School. I joined the team during my sophomore year and it has been a part of my life since. The coolest part about NSAC is getting to work alongside some of the coolest, most talented people here at the J-school that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. We came together with a drive to win and we had fun while getting there. What also makes me feel so proud about NSAC is the skillset that I gained from working on our project. We push ourselves to think like professionals and work on projects that we’ll all be proud of for many years to come. It is not an exaggeration to say that NSAC is the closest any college student can get to working in an agency setting

outside of a summer internship. I cannot speak highly enough of this experience!

Q What journalism class or professor has had the biggest impact on you?

A Almost all professors have made an impact on me one way or another, but Mark Jenson has made a huge difference in my learning experience here at the Hubbard School. I took Account Planning with Mark during my junior year and have been working closely with him for NSAC since. His class is never boring because there are always relevant industry updates and professionals in the Twin Cities area

Almost all

professors

have made an

impact on me

one way or

another.

coming over to share their wisdom. One of his best pieces of career advice is to not enter the industry with the sole intention of becoming an expert, but to use my talent to influence the world for good. This completely changed my perception on advertising and has since motivated me to find a sense of purpose in anything that I create.

Q What other activities are you pursuing outside of your major?

A Outside of my time at school, I currently work at Minnesota Daily as a digital media strategist. I came into this job when the newsroom was undergoing a major transition from a print to a digital-first, so it was my job to figure out how we could do it smoothly. This is indeed a challenge for any college student to take on such a role, but this experience has allowed me to learn more about digital marketing in such a short amount of time. Along the way, I get to spearhead some very exciting projects to help increase our digital presence and promote student journalism across the two campuses. It’s so satisfying to see everything I learn at school come in handy!

Q What advice do you have for future Hubbard School students?

A Give your 200 percent to every major project/assignment that is given to you! Devote your time and effort into perfecting them not only because it’ll earn you good grades, but because those are the opportunity for you to develop your skillsets and create a work of quality that you can put into your portfolio or show to your employer in the future. Also, show up to class because that’s the easiest and only way you can