Do you have what it takes to be a journalist? Radio, print or right here on TV? It's not a question too many high school students ask themselves, but those who have a drive to perform the public service head to communication schools across the country and the Empire State. 

It's campuses like St. Bonaventure's tucked away in Western New York that help keep the public in the know for generations. They are set to receive $750,000 in federal aid to help expand and renew their school of communications, which goes a long way for Dean Aaron Chimbel.

"It will take a facility that is more than 40 years old and turn it into one of the most modern state of the art best facilities for communications school in the country," said Chimbel.

That's great news as broadcast journalism majors like Jah'Neyce Washington have benefitted from previous upgrades.

"Four years later, I can most definitely say that it it's been well worth the while," Washington said.

Helping the journalists of tomorrow find out exactly how they want to make a difference.

"Local journalism has an impact on not only us but our community," she added.

St. Bonaventure runs a serious program for what is often a grueling and thankless profession - ranging from the streets to the courts.

"I was asked to do the starting lineups. So I announced the starting lineup and it was the JV coach of my high school senior. And he said something that really struck me," said freshman sports media major Jack Haskell. "He said I was really good - 'You should think about going into that like for a living.' I just kind of took his word for it and ran with it."

Haskell wants to bring more fresh voices to the sports world. And one year in, he knows what the improved comm school provides.

"We're a small school, less than 2,000 undergrads. We're no Syracuse," he noted as a CNY native. "I think this is one of the only campuses in New York that you can comfortably walk everywhere on foot. But it's just the tight knit family community that we have here."

Of course, communications schools aren't just for reporters and sophomore Sydney Labayewski will be the first to tell you.

"It's very interchangeable too, if you want to do radio, go do radio. Same with the TV or newspapers. So I think just having the opportunity and finding out what you want to do, you can definitely do that here," she said.

Heavily involved in a college news broadcast that regularly gets nominated for awards and fills a niche in a rural part of New York state.

"I always get like that rush of like relief after the newscast where it's like, we did a good job," Labayewski added. "You can tell everything ran smoothly. I'm kind of like an adrenaline junkie on that."

These students may not see much of what $750,000 in upgrades can bring, but they're poster children for what a baseline in communication already is.

"Democracy cannot survive without a free press, without an independent, nonpartisan press that is out to find the truth," he said. "That's what we've been doing here for 75 years. That's what we're going to be doing for 75 years into the future, and hopefully a lot more after that."