Don Orlando (Director of PR at St. Vincent College) -- Personality Feature

            The world of journalism was once a place where copies were made on carbon paper instead of by copiers and computers.  That was the world in which Don Orlando became a journalist.

            Orlando is the public relations director at St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania.  His responsibilities for the university include media relations, press releases, advertising, publications and community relations.  His ambition to pursue journalism started at a young age and was fueled by one driving force: his love for writing.

            “When I was little, my brother and I used to play at home and put newspapers together,” Orlando said.  “We would interview our parents and write stories about them.  We would even take pictures to go along with the stories.”

            He continued to polish his writing throughout high school by working as the editor for his school newspaper.  He said working with the school paper helped him develop interviewing skills, his favorite part of the job today.

            “When I’m interviewing someone, I always start out by saying, ‘Tell me your story,’” Orlando said.  “I love talking to people and hearing what they have to say because I am always learning something new.  No matter what they are talking about they know more about it than I do.”

            He further improved his interviewing skills during college.  Orlando went to St. Vincent College, the small, liberal arts school that he now works for.  The university’s curriculum had a variety of core requirements, including history, philosophy and religion, so it forced him to study a broad range of subjects.
          “Even today I could be writing about anything from science to education, and I know just enough about the subject to be able to ask good questions in an interview,” Orlando said.

            Straight out of college he went to work for a weekly newspaper in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.  He worked as an editor and spent most of his time writing stories. 

The experience he gained from his first job helped him become a better writer and improved his communication skills.  Although he enjoyed his work as an editor it became redundant over time, and Orlando knew he was ready to look for a new job. 

His search lead him back to where he started, St. Vincent College.  He is now the director of public relations at the university, and although he is still writing stories like he used to the way he reaches his audience has changed.

            “I am communicating to a completely different audience now,” Orlando said.  “I used to write for news media, now I am mostly a Web writer because that’s where perspective students look to get information.”

            As a PR director for a college, he said his biggest concern is for the students’ safety. 

            “You have 2,000 young people, and they’re out doing all kinds of crazy stuff like drinking and driving and hanging out of windows,” Orlando said.

            His biggest concern from a PR perspective is that a student should die at the university.  In an event the worst should occur, however, his team has a plan.  They would come out with accurate information as quickly as possible and deliver it to the public.

            “We tell everything we know as soon as we know it,” Orlando said.  “We tell the whole truth, because if you don’t say it then, the truth will come out the next day and make your team look like phonies.”

            With the development of Internet sites like YouTube and Twitter, Orlando finds it difficult to be the first to reach the public with breaking news stories.  He says PR is more like damage control now because the public can view a story on YouTube and already have an opinion on the incident before they hear the real story from a reporter.

            “Although the Internet makes communication easier, it is scary how quickly communication can occur,” Orlando said.  “A week ago my daughter was on a cruise ship that crashed.  Two minutes after the crash occurred, someone on the ship had already posted it on YouTube.”

            Although the means of communication has changed since he started out as a journalist, his passion for writing has not.

            “If I weren’t working for St. Vincent College I would be writing for a newspaper somewhere,” Orlando said.  “There’s no greater satisfaction to me than writing something that reads well and communicates clearly to my audience.  I will continue to work to achieve that satisfaction.”