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MORE ABOUT YAW
Hofstra journalism major Yaw Bonsu landed a dream assignment when he and classmate Michelle Rabinovich ’25 became the first Hofstra students to cover Super Bowl Week for WRHU 88.7 FM, the campus’s radio station. They spent the days preceding the big game in Las Vegas at “Radio Row” in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center with professional and student broadcasters from across the country. They interviewed NFL players and coaches, community leaders, and journalists who cover the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
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Yaw, who transferred into Hofstra’s Lawrence Herbert School of Communication his sophomore year, was mindful of Hofstra’s easy access to New York City.
“Everyone in journalism knows that New York is the one of the most important media markets,” he said. “There isn’t a journalist who wouldn’t love to get a foot in the door here. Knowing that I would have access to the top national networks and local stations in the country was a really big selling point for me.”
Another major draw for Yaw was WRHU-FM, the University’s four-time Marconi Radio Award-winning station, and its collaboration with the New York Islanders, Long Island Ducks, New York Riptide, and the Long Island Nets. These partnerships give students a variety of production and broadcast experiences. Students also report live from political rallies, breaking news events, and music festivals. “I knew right away that this was a culture I wanted to be a part of,” Yaw said.
Over the past three and a half years, Yaw has completed 12 internships, including an 11-month stint working at the WABC-TV Eyewitness News sports department. He also worked at WNBC-TV, SiriusXM, TNT, and Fox News. He is currently interning at Fox Sports.
“It’s just been a domino effect,” he said “If I didn't join WRHU, I wouldn’t have met our general manager, John Mullen, who connected me with SiriusXM, or our sports director Pete Silverman, who prepared me for TNT. Each opportunity has led to another, and the foundation is Hofstra University and WRHU. The encouragement and support that I’ve received here gave me the confidence to apply and believe I could excel at these internships.”
Organizations outside Hofstra have recognized Yaw’s professionalism. He has been the recipient of four Hearst Journalism Awards – three in audio and one in television. Last year he was one of two students awarded the national Radio Television Digital News Association Foundation (RTDNA) Presidents Scholarship.
Yaw's professional experiences at Hofstra helped him land a job as a sports anchor/MSJ (multi-skilled journalist) at WZZM 13 in Grand Rapids, MI. "I believe that my internships and broadcasting work on campus have put me on the level of a professional with a few years of experience."
For students just beginning their Hofstra journey, Yaw advises to dive into campus life right away.
“There’s so much to learn and do,” he said. “I was only here for three years. Imagine what a freshman can accomplish in four years? My story and path are not special. I’m not the first person and I won’t be the last to do all the things I’ve accomplished. I guarantee it. Embrace the grind and don’t be afraid.”
» Yaw’s story isn’t unique. In fact, among Hofstra University’s 2021-2022 undergraduate degree recipients, 92% of alumni from The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication reported they were employed or had started or were planning to start graduate school within one year of graduation. Results are based on data collected from the Alumni Outcomes survey, LinkedIn, National Student Clearinghouse, and Hofstra enrollment (83% knowledge rate). Visit our outcomes page at hofstra.edu/outcomes for detailed information.