Get to know some of our College of Media students! Karys Boeriu is a Class of 2028 advertising major.
What made you choose the College of Media at Illinois?
Initially, I was drawn here because of the tight-knit community in the College of Media, but we’re part of such a huge university. There are so many people who you can meet and many opportunities that the college and the university offer. The College of Media is one of the smaller colleges, and as a result, you get to connect with the faculty and your peers. Just stepping into the College of Media, you immediately feel support, but not just academically. The support goes beyond academics—everyone genuinely wants to see you thrive as an individual. Also, the college is structured in a way to make students feel comfortable and heard, while offering a wide variety of different options and tailoring them towards each student individually.
What Media classes and professors have stuck out to you so far?
One class that comes to mind is ADV 290: Experiential Branding, taught by lecturer Penne Heede. In class, we did experiential branding work focusing on putting together creative trade shows and pop-up experiences. Heede’s class really helped bring in an industry perspective to what I knew about advertising. Also, Heede was extremely knowledgeable as she provided us all with good advice on how to get into the advertising industry.
Another class was ADV 222: Copywriting with senior lecturer Shahar Meron. He’s an exceptional lecturer, and he instilled in me the passion that I have for copywriting.
What different Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) are you a part of on campus?
A huge one for me is the American Advertising Federation (AAF). I’ve loved AAF so far. I’ve been part of two agencies in AAF—NSAC (National Student Advertising Competition) and Midnight Oil, AAF’s full-service local client agency. Recently this year, I’ve joined the executive board as well, which I’ve been super grateful for and felt privileged to be a part of. AAF has been a really huge and important part of my life so far on campus. I’m also a student ambassador for the College of Media, which means I help with different admissions events around campus. Working for the College of Media has been really rewarding for me in the sense that I get to give back to the incoming College of Media family.
What’s your favorite media related project you’ve worked on?
Being part of NSAC has brought so many fun projects. We get a brief every year from a Fortune 500 company, and what we’ll do is essentially devise an entire campaign and then compete regionally or nationally by presenting the campaign we made. One of the clients that we had last year was AT&T, and our whole campaign was about helping AT&T show Gen Z that they can discover life around them and see beyond the screen. We played into the idea of fostering better in-person connections with people. I think that’s a good example of why I got into advertising too, because I wanted to use the power of language and understanding people to do something greater than myself.
If you could talk to yourself as a freshman, what advice would you give?
I would say trust that you have made the right decision for yourself, and that every single thing that comes after will fall exactly into the places it’s supposed to. That’s how I’ve felt ever since I got here, that everything is clicking and falling into place. I think it really started with just saying yes to being admitted into the College of Media, and a ripple effect happened—everything just sort of turned out the way it was supposed to. I just genuinely think the College of Media is incredible, and I think my peers are a true testament to that. The fact that it’s a small community within a big university, which allows you to foster relationships with passionate, curious people, is a big part of the reason why.
—Interview by Izzy Phillips, New Voices Intern
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