“Busy day” has to be a gross understatement. Tonya is public information officer at University of California, Merced, and had to handle hoards of media people the day that first lady Michelle Obama spoke at the campus’ first full graduation.
Press readers may recognize Tonya’s name. Before taking the UC Merced job two years ago, she was managing editor of the Tracy Press.
I talked to Tonya on the phone earlier this week to get an idea what it was like being in the eye of Saturday’s media storm.
“Oh yes, it was a very long but also very exciting day,” she said. “The campus was packed with people as never before, and I had to work with television crews and TV, radio, online and newspaper reporters from around the world.”
All told, she said, there were 160 media credentials issued from representatives of 62 media agencies of all stripes — electronic, online, wire services, newspapers and bloggers, too.
Getting those 160 people credentialed in the six weeks before Saturday’s “big day” took many hours for Tonya and volunteers in her office. One of those volunteers who helped Tonya on Saturday was Bronwyn Ashbaker, who was a Tracy Press Our Town editor and columnist and now lives in Alameda.
“Then on Wednesday, the first reporter arrived — from the Los Angeles Times. A lot more followed on Thursday and Friday,” Tonya recalled.
Saturday started out at 5 o’clock in the morning for Tonya, and she walked the last reporter out the door at 8 o’clock that night.
“The media people were out there in the open without shade where Michelle was to speak at 11 o’clock in the morning, it was a hot day — 101 degrees — but they survived,” she said.
Providing enough space for the 15 television camera crews in front of the outdoor stage was a challenge, but surprising enough, they all were very considerate, and it worked out very well, she reported.
Tonya provided information to the media representatives about the 10th UC campus and the student campaign to get Michelle Obama as the commencement speaker, but she was not an on-camera source of comments.
“I got them in touch with UC Merced students, mostly those who developed the ‘Dear Michelle’ campaign, for interviews,” she said. “That campaign’s success in bringing Michelle to our campus was so unique that it became a major part of the story.”
The campaign started last November when three student leaders began discussing possible speakers for the newest University of California campus.
“They identified Michelle Obama as their top choice, but they knew they had to work very hard to get her,” Tonya said. “Most of the campaign’s efforts were organized through a Facebook page.”
She also noted that David Cheng, a freshman from Hong Kong, produced the “We Believe” video that has received a great deal of interest on YouTube.
Another highlight was sending 900 valentines to the first lady. It worked, and she agreed to be the commencement speaker.
Tonya said Michelle’s staff did a good job of focusing her talk on the students, especially since many were the first members of their families to graduate from college — and from a brand-new one at that.
“The students who did have a chance to meet Michelle said she was warm and welcoming — hugging each of them individually and telling them how inspired she was by their ambition and drive.”
And no, Tonya didn’t have a chance to meet the first lady personally. She was having one of those very busy days.
• Sam Matthews, Tracy Press publisher emeritus, can be reached at 830-4234 or by e-mail at shm@tracypress.com.
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