Sharon Pruitt, pictured at right with Kristin Wyninegar, was a student in the Pierre Laclede Honors College and editor-in-chief of The Current before graduating from UMSL in May. Pruitt and Wyninegar attended a gathering of college women in Washington, D.C., this spring.

Sharon Lynn Pruitt will be heading to the East Coast, but she’s already made a mark at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Pruitt graduated from UMSL in May with a bachelor’s degrees in English and a certificate in professional writing. She will pursue a master’s degree in multiplatform journalism at the University of Maryland.

While at UMSL, she served as editor-in-chief of The Current student newspaper in 2013-14 and was a fellow with the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life. She credits those two experiences as being among the top venues for developing her leadership skills. UMSL Daily profiled her work on The Current in October 2013.

“My leadership skills grew in ways I never thought possible,” Pruitt said. “I’m prepared to handle any kind of challenge. For new students, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.”

Pruitt has many other achievements as a UMSL student. In addition to studying in the Pierre Laclede Honors College, she also did an internship with St. Louis Magazine, which she said will be useful for her career goal of launching her own feminist magazine.

“That was a very hands-on experience,” Pruitt said. “It showed me the importance of doing the absolute best that you can no matter what the assignment is.”

As a marketing and communications intern and student of gender studies, she helped organize the inaugural Transgender Spectrum Conference hosted by UMSL in November 2014.

“This gave me a chance to expand my knowledge base,” Pruitt said. “Instead of just writing articles, I got experience writing press releases and doing social media marketing.”

Pruitt also was selected to participate in United Way’s Alternative Spring Break and has been a national contributor for USA TODAY College and Her Campus.