Meeting Obama Was A Lifetime Experience – White House Correspondents’ Assc. Award Winner, Precious Erese

Boston – By Emman Okuns

It was a moment she did not dream about – that she would be honored by the presence of the first family of the United States of America; so when it came she was not only engulfed in surprise, but deep emotion of joy.

For Precious Osagie-Erese, 2015 White House Correspondents’ Association scholarship award recipient, meeting President Barrack Obama was an experience of a lifetime, something that could pass for as an act of divine providence.

An opportunity for the scholarship application had been presented to her, with the criteria of writing an essay and producing her resume.

Precious, a Nigerian and daughter of Alex and Agatha Osagie-Erese of Edo extraction applied, unknown to her that it would become an exercise that would bring her to an enduring international limelight.

What happened next was a stunning moment – when she was informed, along with two other successful candidates and told by email that she had won the prestigious award of $7,000.00.

“I did not believe it,” she told Alltimepost.com in an exclusive personality interview done over the phone.

Because of her love and passion for Nigeria, she had always resented negative reporting about the country, knowing that there are a lot of good things about Africa’s most populous nation that the international media would not report.

That was a narrative she had always wanted to change, so when the opportunity came, as a first step she did her piece on Nigeria, portraying positive aspects of the country – an essay which eventually earned her the prestigious award.

The topic was: How will a White house Correspondents’ Association Scholarship help me shape the news agenda for America and the global community?

Precious subsequently received an invitation to the annual correspondents’ dinner for the award presentation – an occasion where she was honored by the presence of Barack and Michelle Obama, among other dignitaries.

“Meeting Obama was a lifetime experience. Michelle was very warm and inviting and wanted to know why I wrote about Nigeria,” she recalled.

Precious did not leave the venue of the event without a highly complimenting message from Mr. President himself.

Obama told her he was proud of her and that they were there to witness the award ceremony.

A rising star in the field of journalism, Precious Erese is a senior at Howard University, Washington D.C., studying Broadcast Journalism with a minor in English.

She told Alltimepost.com about her aspiration to be an executive producer of a prime time news show that focuses on domestic and international issues.

“I plan to use journalism as a platform to highlight catastrophes as well as triumphs happening around the world.”

Her intellectual capability and insatiable desire for excellence have brought her in close contact with “who is who” in the American media.

For example, she interned at CNN under the tutelage of veteran journalist/news anchor, Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room where she created and produced the first ever “Intern Newsroom” newscast.

Prior to that, she worked with CBSNews.com where several of her articles were published, all put together, forming part of her enviable and robust resume as a youngster in the noble profession.

“I also worked with FOX Business Channel. This summer, I will be in Atlanta working with HLN (Headline News) at the CNN center headquarters,” she hinted.

Precious is the Editor of her Award-Winning school newspaper, The Hilltop and a member of Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity.

As it is often said in journalism that the profession is not for the half-hearted people, precious had some words of advice for those who aspire to become journalists: passion, hard work and prayer.

“Anyone who wants to do journalism as long as you have passion for it you will excel,” she added.

Precious poured a lot of encomiums on CNN news anchor, Wolf Blitzer whom she saw as a grandfather because of his extra-ordinary strength of character, care, great human relations and mentoring. She was full of admiration and adoration for the CCN news guru.

Her words: “Wolf Blitzer was my favorite grandfather, Santa clause and mentor. He is just excellent at what he does; He is very calm and saves a lot of situation – a great person to work with – one of the light-hearted people, always reminded us to be calm and gave a lot of gifts.”

Precious is very proud to be a journalism student, a profession she cherishes and sees as one that would take her very far in life and provide a platform for her to realize her ambition in the news industry.

Even at the college level she has started to see her prospects. At Hilltop where she has been the editor since the past one year, her experience has become a vivid example of how journalism can open several doors.

Hear her: “As an editor, I got to work with the president of the university and other people that matter,” saying that she was able to question a lot of things, such as wanting to know why school tuition was increasing.

Before becoming an editor of the newspaper, she was a writer who worked her way up.

When asked about the role this aspect of her profile played in her scholarship award, she had this to say: “Extremely helpful, I believe it was one of the reasons I received the award; what I learned at the news organizations would stay with me forever.”

Asked to speak about her experience at the prime news organization where she worked, she said: “the experience showed me what I wanted to do with the news; it gave me a clear understanding of the news and various information that fly out, made me want to invest more in investigative journalism; the things I learned will make me better in my career.”

Following her scholarship award in May, she sought and had an audience with the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Professor Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye in his office in Washington D.C.

She told Alltimepost.com that it was a courtesy visit to inform the ambassador of her accomplishments and explore other opportunities for scholarships.

Precious is back to CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia where she is currently serving as an intern and would welcome more opportunities for scholarships to support her academic pursuits.