UMary Communications students meet with EWTN President

Summary: Communication students from the University of Mary recently visited with the President of EWTN during the University’s Vocations Jamboree.

The staff of the Encounter, the school paper, pose for a picture with Montse Alvarado, President of EWTN News, March 14, 2024 in the lower level of the Lumen Vitae Center.

Montse Alvardo, the President of EWTN News and Lumen Gentium medal recipient, met with five Communication majors at the University of Mary for breakfast on March 14.

There’s a need more than ever to seek truth, said Alvardo, citing the heated response to the Israel-Hamas War on college campuses across the country.

The University treated attendees to a classic American breakfast including scrambled eggs, bacon and hashbrowns.

During the breakfast, Alvardo highlighted the need to adapt to the changing media landscape. “It seems like no one goes to websites anymore,” she said. “Everything is all on Instagram or social media.”

Later, Alvardo noted that EWTN creates Instagram Reels in order to promote their content and a “Catholic Netflix” will launch soon.

Going around the table, the students shared their interests and plans after college.      “Our best hire was an editor,” said Alvarado. “She works fast and reworked our entire catalogue for streaming.”

Based out of Washington D.C., the EWTN News offices sit near Capitol Hill. “People don’t realize that our outside shots are from outside the window of our offices,” said Alvarado. “They think they were taken on the roof.”

EWTN News also has a news bureau in Rome covering the Vatican along with correspondents based in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, she said.

Toward the end of the breakfast, Autumn Kotrba, a student in journalism class, handed Alvarado a copy of the Encounter, which is the newspaper that the class launched this spring.

“This might be a shameless plug,” said Kotrba, “but we wanted to give you a copy of our school paper.” Reaching into her backpack, Kotrba handed Alvarado a stack of copies of the Encounter which Alvarado happily accepted.

To read stories from the Encounter online, please visit the Encounter’s Instagram page.