USD Magazine, Summer 2004

when I JeSSC8 met Dynamic Duo Puts USD On The Air by Krystn Shrieve H er story sounds like a movie plot. A college student studying interna– tional relations is working as a coffee shop waitress. She befriends a regular Monday morning customer, who turns out co be an international government adviser co three U.S. presidents. He rakes her under his wing and makes her a star. It's the story of Jessica Elford and how she met Pasquale Augustine. Although it's not a made-for-television movie, it is the story of how Jessica was, in fact, made for TV. Elford, a second-year graduate student, and Augustine, father of USD alumni Robert Augustine '87 and Andrew Augustine '90, are co-hosts of a local cable access show called "Jessica and Pasquale at USD," which highlights Alcala Park's programs and people. "There are so many negative things going on in the world, but there are many positive exceptions in San Diego and, particularly, at USD," says Elford, who with Augustine taped the show's first episode in September 2003. "There are great things going on at USD, and we thought the community would want co know about them. " They thought right. Their Time Warner show, which airs at 5 p.m. Sundays, has offered more than I00,000 viewers the

pasquae

chance co see cop Toreros such as Brad Holland, the men's basketball coach, and Joyce Neu, director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, as well as inter– national relations professors and professors from the law school's legal clinics. Elford, now a producer for Time Warner, gor involved in the business after overhearing Augustine and his friends chat at the coffee shop. The group of friends - all leaders in education, technology, diplomacy and the arts - included Robert Stella, a retired scare department employee and foreign service expert, and Victoria Turner, a T ime Warner producer and director. Along with Augustine, that trio hosts another cable access show, "The La Jolla Trio of Victoria's Secret Library," which focuses on international relations and features authors who write fiction about politics and international relations. "These are bright people with tremendous imaginations," Augustine says. "They are good storytellers and, sometimes, their stories are very close co reality." When she met Augustine, Elford realized that learning about the media first hand would be viral co succeeding in international relations, her chosen field of study. "Media is the behemoth that runs civilized society," says Elford, who will graduate in May 2005. "Ir's one of the key elements in international relations, and it made sense co me not only co see some practice of it played out before me, but also to be a part ofit myself"

;--;K,, Top: Communications Studies professor Eric Pierson (center) was a guest on the show created by Jessica and Pasquale. Bottom: The duo keep up with the latest television editing technology. To learn the ropes, Elford hung out at the Time Warner studio and swept the floors . Then she started moving the cameras. Eventually, she became a certified producer and began producing "The La Jolla Trio of Victoria's Secret Library. " Finally, last year, she and Augustine successfully pitched the half-hour show about USD, which is on hiatus for the summer but will return this fall. The filming location will move from the Time Warner studio co a studio in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, where USD 's communication studies students will get the chance co learn on-the-job skills. The fall lineup will feature USD President Mary E. Lyons and anthropology Professor Alana Cordy-Collins. 'Tm passionate about the progran1s at USD," Elford says. "Every one of the progran1s goes out of its way to either help the San Diego community or become part of it. T hese programs allow people co benefit just by living in San Diego."

SUMMER 2004

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