HopCommNet: Socializing, Supper, and Plenty of Stories!

The mid-semester is here!  

Whether you are having fun in the sun, visiting family, or taking time to relax, we want to hear about your spring break. Show us what you are up to by tagging us on Instagram, @jhu.hopcommnet.  

But before you head off for the break, we’ve got some activities worth registering for ahead of time. Our in-person Improv Workshop is already near full capacity, so sign up now or secure your spot at the top of the waitlist. Event details are below.  

• March 27: Improv Workshop  

• March 30: How to Be a Story Catcher Webinar  

• April 8: AI in Communication Q&A  

• April 17: Crisis Communication Workshop 

COMMnections Webinar: How to Be a Story Catcher 

Great stories are not invented. They are caught. 

Register for this webinar featuring Aaron Calafato, Creator of 7 Minute Stories (the #1 short-form extemporaneous storytelling podcast in the world) and Lead Podcast Strategist and Executive Producer for Indeed and Glassdoor. 

On March 30, Aaron will explain the often-overlooked step great storytellers rely on first: how to catch story ideas in the world around us. The webinar will provide simple tools and everyday exercises that help people notice, capture, and develop powerful story ideas in real time. 

Location: Zoom 

Date: March 30 

Time: 12:00 noon ET 

Register for How to Be a Story Catcher.  

Improv Workshop: Social Games and Supper with DC Improv 

HopCommNet and StoryLab are bringing DC Improv to the DC campus for a social event!  

On Friday, March 27 (the week after spring break), we will be serving a free dinner at 5:30, then play some fun, guided group games.  

This beginner-friendly improv workshop is a fun, interactive way to practice your communication skills (quick thinking, creativity, collaboration) with other students at AAP.  

“Specifically for this workshop, it’s going to be more game-oriented […] If you have no prior improv experience, the main idea is that you’re just gonna be relaxing, cutting loose, and having fun with your friends. And at the same time, gaining these vital, professional skills — active listening, quick wit, creative thinking.” Matthew Giombetti, StoryLab President.  

This is one of AAP’s biggest club events of the year. But space is limited. Register or join the waitlist on Hopkins Groups.  

Unfilled spots will be given away to those on the waitlist at 5:45p.m. ET! 

Location: Hopkins Bloomberg Center (555 Penn), 8th floor 

Date: Friday, March 27 

Time: 5:30p ET 

Register for the Improv Workshop.  

Student Story on the Power of Improv 

Recently, HopCommNet’s President Gillian Henneberry shared a story about how improv improved her confidence as a communicator.  

Watch the YouTube video [3 minutes]. The condensed transcript is provided below. 

The way that people know me now at Johns Hopkins is that I am that student [who] dressed as a fork in the middle of class. 

It was Halloween, so I was dressed up. But also, we were doing an entertainment education in-class activity where everybody wrote scripts to add to a Disney movie. And I raised my hand (because I’m a teacher’s pet. That’s not changed), and I asked, “Are we going to be expected to read our scripts out in class?” 

And my professor went “Ooh, yeah Gill, that’s a great idea. Let’s do that.” 

And I went “No, no, no, no, no! If that’s going to happen, I’ll do everybody’s scrips for them” because I didn’t want the whole class to think ‘Dang, Gill made us do this thing.’ 

And my professor said “You showed up with that fork costume. You have to do all of these in the fork costume.” 

So I got up there. It was the movie Cocoa, and when I was Miguel I was really short and I had a child’s voice. And when I was his dad, I had the beard or the hair [using my hands as the prop], and had a deeper voice. And I was acting out each person’s line. 

And I’m saying this because that would have mortified high school Gill. She would have seen that, and she would have gotten severely red, and promptly crawled under the desk to hide. 

And that was something I think improv specifically — being in a space where other people were just doing those sorts of silly things anyway, ended up making it so that I was just more comfortable being silly in other parts of my life.  

And it ended up being one of the best classes here. The entire class remembered me after that. But it was like ‘wow, Gill is fun.’ And that’s not how people remembered me back in high school. 

Networking Q&A Recap 

We had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Danielle Leek during our February General Meeting last month!  

Dr. Leek provided several tips for students who are learning how to network. Here are some of the highlights from that Q&A session:  

• Be memorable by being human. The best recommendation letters don’t go to the students who had the best papers; they go to the students who she got to know personally: Their interests, their culture, and their shared experiences.  

• Reach out to a professor you haven’t had for class. Sometimes these are the best connections since you are both excited about the same research or work. You can ask “tell me the story about how you got started in this position” and ask for their advice to get into a similar one.  

• Be clear about what you are asking for. You can be honest about asking for internship advice, for seeking reassurance on career goals, or just wanting to get to know them or their work better.  

• Don’t be afraid of short meetings. If someone is only available from 2:05 to 2:15, that can still be a worthwhile discussion. 

HopCommNet’s next Q&A session will be on April 8: Using AI in Communication with Dr. Petkov! 

Communication Careers Recap 

We learned a lot about job-searching, AI, and crisis communication during our panel discussion with Wanting Zhou, Meaghan Bresnahan, and Crystal Borde.  

Here are some of the highlights from the panelists. 

Job Seeking:  

• Say what you want to everyone (even with acquaintances at the grocery store). Opportunities often come in surprising places.  

• You don’t have to marry your first job. If you don’t love it, use that time to learn about what you like and don’t like.  

Career Skills: 

• Even with AI, writing is still one of the most important skills! Especially for crisis communication, fast, efficient writing is important.  

• Focus on the right audience. In a crisis, we tend to focus on the loudest critics, but it is usually more strategic to speak to the undecided people in the middle.  

• Use AI as your critic. You can ask “is this writing biased” or “does it translate well in this other language,” but you still need to do the strategic work to understand who your audience is. 

HOPCOMMNET EXECUTIVE BOARD: Elections Coming Soon 

Grow your communication skills and become a leader in the AAP community by serving on HopCommNet’s 2026 to 2027 executive board! 

HopCommNet’s leadership team is graduating. Several positions — including President and Vice President — will be up for election. Applications for all open positions will be posted on HopCommNet’s website in April. 

View our Leadership Team page to learn about HopCommNet's executive board positions. 

See you at our improv workshop on March 27!