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Alumni on the Move: Cristina Brendicke ('05), Lucas Mack ('04), Lie Shia Ong ('04)

Posted: 09.14.05

Three young alumni report on their new jobs after graduating from the Department of Communication. Our new alumni also have a personal connection:

Cristina worked with Lucas at NW Afternoon before he moved to KNDU-TV and Lie Shia Ong and Lucas are friends from high school. We anticipate hearing great things for many years to come about these successful young graduates.

Cristina Brendicke: BA, 2005
Researcher
KOMO TV Channel 5 ABC
Seattle, WA

Cristina Brendicke was an intern at KOMO TV during her senior year at the UW. She graduated in June, 2005 and moved into a paid position at "Northwest Afternoon" by the end of summer.

Lucas Mack: BA, 2004
Action Cam reporter
KNDU-TV Channel 25 NBC
Kennewick, WA

After graduating for the UW, Lucas worked at KOMO TV's Northwest Afternoon for 18 months as the Audience Coordinator. He decided to follow his dreams of reporting/anchoring and he now hosts his own segment on "Northwest Today", the number one rated morning show in Yakima, Tri-Cities, Walla Walla and Pendleton, Oregon. Lucas is the Action Cam reporter for KNDU and has been working at the television station since the end of June, 2005. He started "Music Mondays", where he feature different local musicians live. "The community has really responded well to that and seem to enjoy it." Says Lucas. He would like to host his own show someday and he would like to return to Seattle. Lucas reports that "It took me a while to get used to working at 3:30 in the morning, but after getting past the transition, I absolutely love my job. This has been a great experience and the people I work with here at great!"

Lie Shia Ong: BA, 2004
News Producer
KHQ-6 News
Spokane, WA

Directly after graduating in June 2004, Lie Shia Ong attended the UNITY journalism convention in Washington, D.C. It was the largest gathering of journalists from all over the United States in U.S. history. She was able to talk to many well-known journalists, including Connie Chung and Lisa Ling.

After a year of hard work and persistence, she found her first journalism job at KHQ-6 News. Lie Shia has a message for students interested in a career in journalism: "To all the journalism students still at UW or those ready to graduate soon: Keep pursuing your dreams, work hard, make all the connections and take all the internships or jobs that you can. NEVER give up. It will all pay off in the end. I'm very happy to say that I'm now at KHQ, learning the ropes of producing and loving every minute of it."