Beverly Danquah '19CPS

I’m Beverly Danquah, a senior studying communications with a concentration in journalism and a triple minor in business administration, legal studies, and international studies. On campus, I am the features editor of the university’s award-winning, independent, student-run newspaper, the Torch. Last year, I was inducted into CPS’s honor society for my leadership on campus, my community service, and maintaining a high GPA, and I now serve as the secretary of the honor society. In the spring, I continued my academic success while studying abroad in Italy, Ireland and Rome on the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship.

I am currently the Chair of the Young Producer’s Club at the Apollo Theater, overseeing and managing production of about 6-8 events a year. I was an intern at the Apollo Theater in my senior year of high school, and since then, have grown to be one of the faces of their internship program and championed a number of events targeted towards inviting a younger audience to the Apollo.

Post-undergrad, I hope to attend a leading graduate school and attain an international relations related master's degree.

I have interned at the New York City Council’s Press Office, CNN, ABC News, MSNBC, fashion company Moda Operandi, and Saturday Night Live (where I am Writer's Research Intern). I am an alumnus of the New York Times Student Journalism Institute and a peer mentor of six sophomore students as part of the R.I.S.E. network. I've also interned in the Metro-North's Corporate Communications Department where I contributed to the marketing team from concept through implementation on promotional campaigns, advertising, field marketing, and social media.

My interest in focusing on international relations stemmed from an experience I had whilst an intern at CNN. In the spring of 2017, I was CNN’s NYC bureau’s youngest intern, and a week into my internship, President Donald Trump implemented a travel ban on 7 Muslim-majority countries. I felt like I didn’t understand the executive order well enough to have an accurate reaction to it, but more than just the mere order, I was interested in what the policy would mean on an international scale. The show that I was interning for, Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter, aired after Fareed Zakaria 360. I took the time to watch Fareed’s show from the studio, then spoke to the show’s guests, ACLU’s President, Anthony Romero, and Communications Director, Michele Moore, subsequently. They encouraged me to pursue a background in law and to acquire as much knowledge about the world as we see it today, as I could be one to help shape the world that we live in tomorrow with my reporting. After my encounter, I became keen to the fact that there were many pundits on different news networks who were speaking from a place of emotion-based opinion as opposed to fact-based opinion. In that moment, I knew that I wanted to be a news correspondent with a focus on constitutional law or foreign affairs.