J. William Maxwell Outstanding Communications Student

Vanessa Amber Siguenza, Journalism

Vanessa Amber Siguenza is an exemplary student majoring in Communications with an emphasis in journalism. Her zeal for print journalism has propelled her to become a tech-savvy broadcast journalist increasing awareness on equity and social justice issues. She has demonstrated her commitment to higher education by staying on the Dean’s List and earning a 3.93 GPA. Her journey in journalism began in fall 2020 at The Daily Titan, a student-run newspaper dedicated to voicing students’ concerns. She started as an Assistant Opinion Editor and eventually became an Opinion Editor and Assistant News Editor. She produced over 100 stories through Blox, edited newspaper layouts, managed story budgets and mentored students in the COMM471 class. In fall 2022, she was selected as a recipient of the NBCU Academy Fellow Scholarship Award. Thereafter, she pursued a collaborative investigative project on police brutality in marginalized communities where she was mentored by Hannah Rappleye, an NBC investigative reporter. Currently, she is an editorial student assistant for CSUF’s Strategic Communications team. Her tasks include highlighting the academic achievements of faculty, alumni, and students, analyzing SEO content on WordPress to oversee readers’ interactivity, and strengthening the institution’s brand through empathetic storytelling. Vanessa is minoring in Sociology and will be pursuing her M.A. in journalism with a concentration in Mass Communications Theory and Research in the fall..