Image Courtesy of the Career and Professional Readiness Center
By Elizabeth Egan, Features Editor
Marnique Olivieri-Panepento could not contain her smile when she returned to class on Jan. 24, after finding out she was being recognized for not one, but two senior awards.
Every year the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University offers seven awards to honor seniors for excellence in various aspects of the communication school. The awards include the Mark Hellinger Award, recognizing excellence and promise in the Jandoli School of Communications, Mary A. Hamilton Woman of Promise, recognizing a female student who has excelled in and out of the classroom, the Mosser Award, for outstanding achievement in the strategic communications curriculm, the Koop award, for acheivment in the broadcast curriculum, the Jandoli Award, for outstanding achievement in the Journalism curriculum, the Paul Wieland Award, for achievement in the sports media curriculum and the Fr. Cornelius Welch Award, for a senior who has excelled in photography.
Olivieri-Panepento will be recognized for the Jandoli Award as well as receiving honorable mention for the Hellinger Award.
“I wish I could remember my first reaction when Dean Chimbel told me,” Olivieri-Panampento said. “I was simply so shocked.”
To inform Olivieri-Panepento of her award, Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli School of Communication, came into one of her classes and called her into the hallway saying they needed to chat.
“If you know me, I’m not considered an overly smiley person,” Olivieri-Panepento said. “When I walked back into my classroom, I couldn’t contain my happiness.”
Olivieri-Panepento said she is still trying to figure out exactly what the awards mean to her, but knowing the significance they have in the Jandoli School makes her extremely proud.
“The first moment where I felt like I truly belonged in the school was when I passed my first story in JMC-201, an introductory newswriting course,” Olivieri-Panepento said. “During my freshman year, I was challenged in ways that made me question if I wanted to pursue journalism. By my second year, I was positive.”
Outside of the classroom, Olivieri-Panepento has honed her journalistic skills by writing for TAPinto Greater Olean, PolitiFact, The BonaVenture, Her Campus and Positano News. She felt that all of these experiences helped her to grow her talents as a journalist.
Olivieri-Panepento is not the only one to be confident in Panepento’s abilities as a journalist.
“The simplest way to place Marnique’s skills and talents as a journalist into context is to say that she would have been right at home in any of the newsrooms in which I worked,” Rich Lee, a professor in the Jandoli School and co-editor of TAPinto Greater Olean, said. “She knows what needs to be done to put a story together. She asks the right questions, she meets deadlines and her writing sparkles.”
Anne Lee, a lecturer in the Jandoli school and Co-editor of TAPinto Greater Olean, said Rich always had a smile on his face when Olivieri-Panepento would turn in stories for PolitiFact.
“I remember how quickly Marnique would raise her hand when we had an idea for a TAP story in our Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 class,” Anne Lee said. “Marnique is pleasant. She is classy. She is lovely. She works hard and appreciates the ideals of journalism.”
Olivieri-Panepento will be honored along with the other recipients in a ceremony on May 3. Soon after, her time at Bonaventure will come to an end.
“I can’t believe I won’t begin another semester here,” Olivieri-Panepento said. “I’m still figuring out my post-graduation plans. All I know is that there isn’t a doubt in my mind about the Jandoli School preparation, and I’m beyond excited to see where it takes me.”
