Down to Business: Rene Cardona

Rene Cardona has had a busy summer of research.
Cardona, 21, of San Benito, has spent time studying online and print editions of newspapers to get ideas for this fall’s revamping of the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College’s student-run newspaper, The Collegian.
Cardona, a senior English and sociology major, will be the newspaper’s editor for the upcoming academic year.
He has also done a summer internship as a research consultant and assistant for University of Wisconsin–Madison doctoral student Erin Fanning Madden, gathering information on how regulations put into place after 9/11 and because of border violence have impacted residents’ diabetes, cancer and reproductive health needs.
So far he has interviewed 10 people he found randomly and through friends and neighbors.
“You get to know a lot more about your community,” he said. “I’ve grown as a journalist and have been able to combine the social science and journalism. It’s not that far apart.”
Cardona joined The Collegian his sophomore year as a reporter.
“It sounded fun and I figured it would be a good learning experience,” he said. “I learned about writing and working in an office and the pressure of deadlines.”
Last year he moved up to a copy editor position before being named editor this year.
“I wouldn’t say I feel that much pressure,” he said.
Cardona hopes to spread his enthusiasm for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign to other staff members.
“I want us to get serious about everything with The Collegian: content, layout, everything,” he said. “We need to adapt to the changing news industry.”
He was born in Harlingen and is a graduate of San Benito High School, where he was in the National Honor Society and the South Texas Engineering Math and Science Club.
He received a University Scorpion Scholars four-year scholarship to attend the university. Cardona majored in environmental science and chemistry before settling on his double majors.

Daniel Perry is an informational writer at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. For more information, log on to www.utb.edu.