Jay Carney told an auditorium full of UF students how he took an unusual path to becoming the 29th White House press secretary Monday.
Unlike the 28 press secretaries before him who had come to the job with political experience under their belts, Carney said he began his career as a journalist.
During the event held in the University Auditorium, Carney told stories of his background in journalism and his experiences as a former White House press secretary.
Carney began his journalism career as a reporter for the Miami Herald, where he covered cops, county commissions, drug smuggling and environmental issues. He later found himself wanting something more, he said.
“I wanted to trade in the palm trees and the sunshine for the cold and the gray and the snow of Moscow in what was then the Soviet Union,” Carney said.
He spent three years covering the demise of the Soviet Union in Moscow for TIME Magazine before returning to the U.S. to cover politics in Washington.
Carney also mentioned his experiences working for the Obama administration. He said working in the White House was the most rewarding and challenging three and a half years that he could imagine.
“The best thing that I found was being part of something bigger than yourself,” he said. “It’s being part of something you know matters and that you believe in.”
He compared working in the West Wing to standing in a hurricane or tornado.
Carney said his typical day at the White House included parking his car by the West Wing, waiting for somebody to tell him “he’s ready” and then getting in a helicopter with President Obama.
Jasmine Haddaway, an 18-year-old UF international studies freshman, said she felt Carney made politics seem more relatable.
Melody Zargari, a 19-year-old UF international business sophomore, also attended Carney’s speech.
“I really appreciated that he encouraged a generation,” she said. “He said that we are the forefront of our country.”
Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks as a part of the UF Accent Speaker’s Bureau at the University Auditorium on Monday night.
