Charles Sturt University graduate Lauren Bohane aspires to a career as a foreign correspondent, but she had no idea what she wanted to do once she finished high school until her father suggested journalism.
Lauren (pictured) grew up around Bathurst in the NSW Central West and her father’s suggestion led her to study a Bachelor of Communications in the Charles Sturt School of Information and Communication Studies in Bathurst.
She says, “I’d always been interested in reading and writing, so I suppose journalism was a fairly natural progression from that.
“My dad was actually the first to suggest it, when I was in Year 12, and it was the kind of thing I’d never thought about, but made absolute sense as soon as I did think about it.”
Lauren also said she had never really considered radio as a career option before she was accepted into the National Radio News (NRN) cadet program as part of her journalism studies.
NRN is the national news service for the community broadcasting sector, produced by the CBAA in partnership with the on-campus community radio station 2MCE at Charles Sturt University.
Following the NRN radio cadetship, Lauren is now a weekday program producer with ABC Central West in Orange, and she says, “It really was the NRN cadetship that pushed me in the direction of radio, and I loved it straight away, and my time at NRN. It was such a supportive environment and genuinely taught me so much.”
Lauren says the cadet program challenged her, but she never felt like she was in over her head, “Every time I was asked to do something new, it was terrifying, but also a huge vote of confidence that I could be trusted to take that next step – from interviews, to my first ‘voicer’ in a bulletin, to preparing whole bulletins myself.
“Knowing there were people all over the country listening to my voice and my words was a feeling I never really got used to.”
News Director at NRN, Frank Bonaccorso, says “Lauren is an NRN success story and is often cited as a ‘role model’ for Charles Sturt University students who are inducted into the cadet stream at NRN.
Bonaccorso says that just two years into her cadetship, Lauren was displaying all the hallmarks of a competent producer who quickly got her head around the news agenda of the day, “Despite the pressure of responsibility, she consistently created standout bulletins far above that of a typical bulletin producer.
“Because of her aptitude, and despite a number of offers of employment from other media organisations, Lauren has since left NRN to pursue a career with ABC Central West.”
Lauren says, “I know I wouldn’t be in the place I am now if I hadn’t gone through the NRN cadetship, and I wouldn’t have the same confidence in the work I’m doing.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities that NRN and Charles Sturt University have given me, and the skills I will be able to take with me as my career progresses.”