Being a journalism major at Auburn University requires a bit more than clever wording and lucky breaks according to Christian Becraft, a senior in the major. It takes zeal and the willingness to go forth, beyond one’s comfort zone in order to truly experience the stories before writing them.

Becraft is an example of how the journalism major at Auburn is not a program that just hammers out feature stories and sports exposés; it can shape perspectives and create opportunities. Becraft took advantage of each opportunity given to her by immersing herself in the stories she wrote and capturing them completely.

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Feature writing, a class in the journalism core taught by Nan Fairley, was Becraft’s favorite journalism class at Auburn.

Fairley is a College of Liberal Arts Engaged Scholar. She teaches civic engagement in her classroom by encouraging students to get off campus and into the community for their feature assignments.

“I teach my students that by telling a story, you can make a difference,” Fairley said.

In her feature writing class, Becraft wrote a story about Life Savers Ministries, an organization that sends out a slew of buses to pick up underprivileged children from their neighborhoods each Saturday. Becraft actually rode the bus one Saturday and volunteered during the daily activities provided to the children by Life Savers.

“Some of the neighborhoods were incredibly rough,” Becraft said. “Many people don’t realize opportunities to help with organizations like Life Savers are right in Auburn’s back yard in Opelika, Ala.”

For another story she wrote, Becraft volunteered at the Community Market of East Alabama, a food bank where groceries are distributed at no cost to families in need. This assignment, however, stuck with her and motivated her to volunteer nearly every Saturday for several months following.

According to Fairley, the trend of journalism majors getting hooked on volunteering through stories they have written is not limited to Becraft. Many of her students have found a passion for their story topics and continued to be involved with outreach organizations they researched for class.

In addition to her volunteer work in the community as a result of journalism, Becraft was Auburn Homecoming Queen and the president of her social sorority in 2009. She also received the Porter and Alice Harvey Advertiser Gleam Scholarship, full tuition her senior year. Yet instead of boasting her accomplishments, Becraft is humbled by them.

“Being a journalism major has led me to meet so many people,” Becraft said. “And I get to write about what I love.”