Jack McManus ’13 was determined to be a music journalist but pretty much selected his courses at Hamilton for the love of them. He majored in American studies and minored in medieval and Renaissance studies. Not long after he graduated, he became arts editor of the Bennington Banner newspaper in Vermont.
“I may not have learned the specifics of the industry, but I did develop an amazingly useful understanding of American culture and identity in the American studies program,” he says. “By far the most useful thing I learned at Hamilton was actually how to learn efficiently – classes on things like Latino-American history and Canadian literature – showed me how to take on an unfamiliar subject and become an authority on it as fast as possible.”
McManus says his experiences at The Spectator student newspaper and WHCL, the student radio station, taught him to work collaboratively to produce a product he could be proud of.
“My highest ambition has always been to establish myself as a music journalist, and the opportunities I had at Hamilton have already been enormously helpful in my pursuit,” he says.
