By Ricardo Lopez

Erin Geismar has an obsession with saving.

In October, the senior journalism major at Ithaca College vowed not to buy a single item of clothing for a year. Her frugality began when she interned for SmartMoney magazine and reported on personal finance.

Her business writing also includes a college newspaper blog about student finance that advises saving and avoiding credit cards — tips she sticks to. In a single trip to the mall, the 21-year-old bought a pair of boots on a store credit card, walked to a different counter and paid off the card in full.

“Students should not have credit cards until they are responsible,” Geismar said.

Geismar has wanted to be a journalist since she was 4 and watched Katie Couric on television in the mornings with her father. In addition to business reporting, Geismar has a passion for writing about social issues. She enjoys spending time getting to know her subjects and profiling them in depth. Last year, she won Best News Story from the Associated Collegiate Press for a piece on homeless people in Ithaca, N.Y., who had chosen to live that way.

After graduating, Geismar hopes to join Teach for America, which places recent college graduates in schools to teach at-risk students in urban and rural schools.

For Geismar, the Institute is a chance to experience something new and work in a demanding setting before she graduates in May.