ALUMNI NEWS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Nearly 40 College of Communications alumni and supporters gathered at SideBar in New York City for a “PSnbcUniversal” happy hour and pep rally late last summer. The spirited and well-attended event was hosted by Penn State alumnus Linda Yaccarino-Madrazo (‘85 Telecom), who was named an Alumni Fellow in 2011 and serves as president of advertising for NBCUniversal. The event featured a visit from the Nittany Lion mascot, Berkey Creamery ice cream and stickies from Ye Olde College Diner.
First pitch to children’s magazine leads to first publication Children’s author Jennifer Lynn Melnick got a strong start to her career, with her story, “Amelia Pepperpot Can’t Ah-Choo” appearing in the December 2013 issue of Highlights magazine. That’s not bad for her first story ever submitted to the renowned children’s magazine. Melnick, who earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2004 and her master’s in telecommunications studies in 2006, has worked as an editor, journalist, technical writer, corporate communications specialist and graphic designer. The Hazleton, Pa., native currently works as a freelance writer and illustrator, while running her own doll business, in which she creates art dolls from various fabrics and clay, as well as reproduction 18th century Queen Anne dolls. Still, writing has always been her passion. She has been writing stories since first grade and finally decided to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a children’s author. “I’ve always known what I wanted to do, and I finally reached a point where I thought, ‘Why keep talking about
wanting to write for children? I should just do it,’” said Melnick. “The worst that could have happened was that my story wouldn’t have been accepted. And Jennifer being that it had yet to be published, Lynn Melnick I had nothing to lose.” Melnick’s story is about a young girl named Amelia Pepperpot, who has an odd infirmity — she can’t sneeze. No matter what her parents and siblings do to try to coax a sneeze from Amelia, nothing works. “Amelia felt a bit out of place, so I took her inability to sneeze and turned it into something quite useful,” said Melnick, who is also a self-taught illustrator. “I enjoy doing both because I can have my characters look exactly as I envision them. My mother is a talented artist and has a degree in commercial art, so it seems I’ve inherited her creativity.” Melnick credits her parents, Peter and
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Irene Melnick, for encouraging her to pursue her interests. “I couldn’t ask for better parents,” said Melnick. “They’ve always provided my brother, Michael, and me with plenty of art supplies and encouraged us to create. They were tolerant of our little messes and they always proudly displayed our creations.” Melnick isn’t new to the children’s book market or writing. For her master’s thesis, she extensively studied the history of children’s books, as well as the children’s book and e-book markets. Additionally, Melnick has amassed an impressive collection of antique children’s books. She knows writing for children is not easy, though. “People may think you can scribble a few words down and children will love it, but it’s more complicated,” said Melnick. “Children have limited attention spans and if your story or illustrations don’t hold their interest, children will let you know. They have large imaginations and so story ideas are limitless, but children can be the toughest critics.” l
SPRING 2014