Emmy Award Winning Journalist Lives in His Car Emmy Award Winning Journalism Student Lives in His Car

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS)-

For 50 years, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications has been selecting a handful of active military men and women to participate in the vigorous 10-month military visual journalism program. Military students take a variety of Newhouse classes in hopes of mastering multimedia storytelling. Military journalism student Alex Henninger was accepted into the program in January 2020. 

“I want to learn everything I can to get better at it, to have more engaging pieces and have more knowledge to pass on to the people that are going to replace me,” Henninger said. 

While most students live in off-campus housing, Henninger lives in his car. 

“I was perusing the inner depths of YouTube when I stumbled upon a video of a high school kid who was converting a short bus for when he went to college. I was like man that is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. 

Shortly after discovering the video, Henninger converted his own van into a camping van. It holds a bed, small kitchen and even a flat screen television. Every night, he parks at the top of a parking garage near Syracuse University’s campus, calling it his concrete penthouse. Classmate Alli Lotz said she was shocked when she found out.

“Alex is crazy, I’ll start with that, but he’s crazy fun. I met Alex through orientation and he said he lives out of his car and I was like who is this guy,” Lotz said. 

Living in his car is not the only thing that sets Henninger apart from his classmates. Prior to arriving at Syracuse University, Henninger was nominated for an Emmy Award.

“I was second guessing myself the entire entry system and I was like ‘no it is not good enough.’ Two days before the entries closed, I submitted it and found out shortly after I was nominated,” Henninger said.

On Aug. 8, Henninger won his first Emmy Award. 

“For my category, I was the only one that walked away with a statue and I could not even believe it. I was blown away,” he said. 

As if being an active duty military service member, Emmy Award winning journalist and full time graduate student has not kept Henninger busy enough, he also has five kids and a wife. He said urban camping has been one of the greatest adventures of his life.

“It is an adventure. I cannot wait for my kids to get older so I can tell them about it and hopefully break down any barriers or mind blocks that they might have about what they can and cannot do in life,” he added. 

He hopes to enter four more of his pieces in next year’s Emmy Awards.