Photog was on scene for debate
Manalapan High School grad Jacqueline Hlavenka shot behind-the-scenes pix
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

Jacqueline Hlavenka

Witnessing historic events can be inspiring, but getting to be one of those entrusted to capture it for posterity is an honor few people are awarded. Jacqueline Hlavenka, 21, of Manalapan, a senior at Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y., knows that firsthand.

The 2005 Manalapan High School graduate was one of a select group of people who were chosen to photograph the preand post-debate hoopla that was part and parcel of the third and final presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain and held at Hofstra on Oct. 15.

Hlavenka said she took photographs starting the Saturday before the debate and right up to the day of the debate. She said the excitement level and the level of pride among the student body was palpable during the days spanning the event. More than 500 demonstrators showed up at Hofstra to add their voices to an American tradition.

A press credential was issued to Hlavenka following a background check conducted by the U.S. Secret Service.

Although she did not photograph the debate itself, she did get to work in "Spin Alley," which is where the national media set up shop to cover the event. It was in "Spin Alley" where she snapped a picture of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney appearing with talk show hosts Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes; it was one of some 300 photographs she took during the pre- and post-debate time frames.

JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks with television talk show host Sean Hannity as Hannity's Fox TV partner Alan Colmes (r) looks on. The picture was taken in "Spin Alley" on the night of a presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain at Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.

Hlavenka was a student volunteer photographer for the Commission on Presidential Debates, which sponsors the debates. She was awarded the coveted assignment after applying to be a debate volunteer through Hofstra's Educate '08 campaign over the summer.

She said the fact that the dean of the School of Communication was familiar with her work on the Hofstra newspaper, The Chronicle, may have helped in her selection for the position. One twist to the assignment was that although her major is print journalism, Hlavenka was given the photography assignment.

She worked directly with representatives of the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Hlavenka said she took to the photography assignment like a duck to water because she has been a "point and shoot" photographer since she was about 8 years old. She said she started carrying a camera with her years ago "because you never know what might happen, what you're going to see in the course of a day." She continues to keep a camera handy today.

Although her major is print journalism, Hlavenka said, "Combining visual material with the printed word is really interesting and really the way of the future. I thought I could do and it turned out I could, and I love doing it."

Hlavenka is scheduled to graduate from Hofstra in May. Her achievements include First Place Photography/College, Spring 2007, Issue 11, Newsday School Journalism Awards, Pulse Magazine; First Place Photography/ College, Fall 2006, Issue 10, Newsday School Journalism Awards, Pulse Magazine.

She is a writing composition peer tutor at Hofstra and a member of the Society for Collegiate Journalists, and she has worked as a photo correspondent for the Washington Post's Youth Vote Blog and as an intern at the Village Voice and Interior Design Magazine in Manhattan. One of her proudest achievements so far is her Newsday Award from the Newsday School of Journalism, which she received in 2006 for a photo essay she did for a Newsday story about a women's shelter in Glen Cove, N.Y.

Hlavenka said she will intern with Conde Nast's Cookie magazine next semester.