Meghan Hall, this year’s Hellinger Award recipient
Photo courtesy of Meghan Hall
BY: CASSIDEY KAVATHAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The Mark Hellinger Awards ceremony returns to New York City to honor the class of 2022 recipient Meghan Hall, honorable mention Sarah Orcel and Jandoli School Alumna of the Year Denise Doring VanBuren.
“It’s just an amazing day and makes me so proud, proud of the school, proud of the graduates of the school,” said Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli School of Communication. “Every year, it’s one of the biggest days for the school.”
On Oct. 10 at Hearst Tower, the 62nd Hellinger Luncheon and Awards welcomes students, alumni and St. Bonaventure administration for the celebration of achievements.
“It’s a lot of fun for one, but it’s also a fantastic networking opportunity for students because so many of our alumni are there as well as other supporters of the university and administrators,” Chimbel said.
The Hellinger is named after Mark John Hellinger, an American journalist, theater columnist and film producer. The award was established in 1960 by Jim Bishop, who worked with Hellinger at the New York Daily News and considered him his mentor. The Hellinger is considered one of the most prestigious awards in the Jandoli School.
Hall feels grateful to receive the honor.
“Winning the Hellinger is a huge honor for me, especially considering that’ll be the history behind the award but the people who won the award before me, it’s really humbling to know that I am now part of that group,” Hall said. “It’s an honor that I’m very, very grateful for.”
For Hall, the achievement is extra sweet as she follows previous Hellinger winners Cameron Hurst and Michael Hogan.
“It’s a really nice feeling to know that I’m the next recipient after those two. It’s kind of a funny little thing about the Jandoli school, it’s passing down the award to somebody else that you know,” Hall said. “While it’s really nice to come after those who I’m also looking forward to seeing who the next winner will be.”
Hall has attended every Hellinger ceremony since her freshman year and is excited to share the tradition with the next generation of Jandoli students.
“It was always an event that I really looked forward to and that I found that I got a lot of value out of. I hope that the students who are going this year will find the same thing, especially if it’s their first time going,” Hall said. “It’s really cool to me to know that it’s such a robust community that comes together to celebrate.”
Chimbel found that Hall is a great fit for the honor as she was student government president, the Ideal Bonaventure student and on the presidential search committee among her other achievements.
“She and I started at the same time. We both started in August 2018. As I was learning about the Hellinger, it became pretty clear to me early on that it was likely Meghan was ultimately going to be the Hellinger recipient for her class,” Chimbel said. “She’s so impressive and such a good representative of the school, giving up her time and talents.”
Orcel, honorable mention, impressed faculty during her time at Bonaventure.
Besides honoring students, the event will honor alumni with Doring VanBuren, broadcast journalist, retired vice president of public relations at Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation and 45th president general of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
“Denise Doring VanBuren is somebody who has taken what we teach in the Jandoli School and gone and used it in many different ways and has served both as a journalist as a communicator, as a public relations, public service and advocacy work,” Chimbel said. “She spent the last three years leading the largest public service organization in the country, Daughters of the American Revolution, which leads to what you can do with a Jandoli School education.
The luncheon will feature Key Note Speaker, Margaret Sullivan, a journalist and author who has worked for the Buffalo News, Washington Post and New York Times.
“We think about where we’re going to be located and figure out who’s somebody that might be there that would be somebody that would be inspiring for students to hear from and that would bring kind of a level of interest in the event and a level of excitement about the event,” Chimbel said. “She worked at the Buffalo News for 32 years from western New York. She’s very familiar with Bonaventure.”
The event comes with prestige and a sense of community.
“It’s just great to see all the different generations of Jandoli school students and graduates,” Chimbel said. “There we’ll have people who graduated in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. It really ties so many years and parts of the school together.”
kavathcj20@bonaventure.edu
