Hello! My name is Laura Blanco, and I am 20 years old. I am a student journalist at Barry University, studying Television and Digital Media with a minor in Journalism.

At Barry, I am a current member of the Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta Honor Society, and the National Society for Leadership and Success. I was a Staff Writer for our student newspaper, The Buccaneer, during the 2021-2022 academic year and was 2021 STAY WOKE Speech and Debate Competition Coordinator. Additionally, I was the web manager and a show host at our student radio station, WBUJ 99.5 The Mix during the 2021-22 academic year. That year, I was also the Vice President of Barry's Florida Public Relations Association (also known as PR Buccs).For the Fall 2021 term, I was named to the President’s List for having a 4.0 GPA; in Fall 2022, I earned a 3.9 GPA and was named to the Dean's List.

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I graduated cum laude from Doral Performing Arts and Entertainment Academy as Class of 2021 and was in the TV Production program: FirebirdTV. Through this amazing program, I had the opportunity to compete in district, state, and national competitions which have given me real-world experience. I was also a part of the second cohort of Telemundo Academy two years ago. In 2020, I received a Suncoast Student Production Award Nomination alongside my group for a piece we created. Senior year, I won two Suncoast and National Student Production Awards alongside my team for the weekly show we would produce, "The Rise", for which I was a producer, writer, anchor, editor, and cinematographer in its first two seasons. I consider myself well-versed in all aspects of production ranging from anchoring, writing, editing, filming, and producing. During my senior year, I won 1st Place in our national competition STN for the Action Sports Editing category, as well as FSPA 2021 Multimedia/Web Journalist of the Year.

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I graduated summa cum laude with my Associate in Arts in June 2021 through Doral College, which I consider to be a very big accomplishment as I will be the first to graduate college in my family. 

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I was also heavily involved in community service which is my other passion; Key Club, National Honor Society, and National English Honor Society are just a few. Through Key Club, I led our school's Middle School Homework Tutoring program for three years. I was named a 2021 Miami Herald Silver Knight nominee in the Vocational-Technical category for my service.  

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I hope to continue giving a voice to those whom I create stories and touching people's lives through my service.