About this blog

This blog is an assignment for my Advanced News and Feature Writing class at the University of Northern Colorado. In this class I cover a beat on the University Program Council. The UPC is a student led group that uses student fees to bring entertainment in the form of speakers, concerts, comedians etc. to campus.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

That's a wrap...

I came to UNC to become a teacher. I loved history, and I thought the best way to harness my passion was to share it with students. However, shortly before beginning the education program, I realized that was not what I wanted to do.

Another passion I had when I entered college was photography, but I did not know how harness this passion. One day I was reading The Mirror and saw a job posting for staff photographers. I immediately went to apply.

After a few months as a photographer, I was becoming increasingly intrigued with journalism. I loved it. With my new found enjoyment for journalism and an academic void created by dropping the education program, I decided to double major. I still loved history, so I continued with that, but I added journalism as my second major.

Journalism was a nice compliment to history. Between history and journalism, I was writing all the time, getting better and better. However, I am a photographer. Writing was surely not my strong suit. I had to work hard at learning to write as a journalist.

My experience as a journalism student has been good. I have developed as both a writer and a photographer. Even though they are two different aspects of the journalism, I feel that they complement each other well. One thing I wish the JMC program offered are more advanced photography classes geared toward journalism.

Overall, I think my experience as a journalist has made me a better writer and a more informed person. I hope to use my skills as a journalist in whatever my future endeavors may be.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Boys Like Girls

Last year the University Program Council at UNC has chose to end the programming for the year in style by bring a popular band to play in the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.

Last spring, UPC brought in the Denver band Flobots. They performed to a crowd of around 2800 students and people from around the Greeley community. The Flobots had achieved success during the previous year due to their positive lyrics that called youth to action to become involved with our countries political process through voting. Their music and success coincided wonderfully with the message of then, candidate for president, Barak Obama and the national movement of young people to become involved in the political process.

This year, the UPC has one-upped themselves by scheduling, arguably, a much more popular band to round out the years programming. On April 11, 2010 two bands will take the stage at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion. Ann Arbor, Mich. based band My Dear Disco will open up for Boys Like Girls.

My Dear Disco, a relatively unknown band, brings a unique mix of electro-pop, funk, rock, and techno to the stage while the hit group Boys Like Girls will perform hits such as “The Great Escape,” “Up Against the Wall” and “Five Minutes to Midnight.”

There is much anticipation for this event already. Events such as these large concerts, while expensive, attract large student audiences and are a great use of student fees.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Feature Writing 101

Completing my day-in-the-life story for Advanced News and Feature Writing was a challenging experience that came with many difficulties and learning experiences.

While editing other student's stories, I realized that my story lacked the banter of observed quotes that went on during the actual event. This would have added greater detail to my story and brought it more to life.

Other than this mistake, the reporting was easy. I enjoyed attending the event and doing interviews with sources gets easier and easier the more I do it. I also enjoyed being able to use observations of the people, setting and attitude as detail in the story.

In this kind of feature writing there is a balance between details and conciseness that must be found in order to make the story interesting but readable as well. I think my story does a nice job of this, but as I said before, more quotes of what people said during the event rather than in interviews after the fact would have been better.

Overall, this assignment was a success. Even with the difficulties I encountered I believe the story turned out well and I will be able to use what I learned for the next assignment.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Blogging...This is something new

This is my first experience with blogging. As with all new endeavors, there is a certain amount of uncertainty. Blogging can be a great tool to develop skills as a writer by having people comment and criticize your work in a less formal forum than that of print. The purpose of this blog is to gain familiarity and experience with this form of new media and to use blogging as a tool become a better journalist.

I have several years of experience working as a student journalist. I started in high school, writing a few articles for The Warrior over the four years I was at Grand Junction Central. Although I enjoy writing, my main passion is photojournalism. As a sophomore at UNC, I started working as a staff photographer at The Mirror. I covered all kinds of events, including news and the arts, but I quickly developed a knack for sports photography. The following year I took over as the photo editor and continued to hone my skills as a photojournalist. Last year I had the opportunity to cover several big events, including campaign stops by president Barack Obama and Joe Biden. This year, I have returned to my position as a staff photographer. I have also started an internship with the UNC athletic department in media relations. This, along with opportunities in class, has allowed me to begin developing as a writer.

For my Advanced News and Feature Writing class, I am covering a beat on the University Program Council. By covering this beat I hope to develop my skills as a reporter by writing frequently and practicing my interviewing technique. I have never covered a beat before so it will be a new experience for me.

I have several strengths as a journalist. Working as a photographer and then moving in to writing has been an advantage for me. Many people might think they are two very different jobs, but they have much in common. As a photographer you have to tell a story with a picture and a caption. Clarity and conciseness are key elements of writing. Working as a photographer has afforded me the ability to be clear and concise in my writing. With strengths comes weakness as well. I am a terrible proofreader and no one in their right mind would hire me as a copy editor. Like photojournalism, I am developing a passion for writing as well. I like attending events and talking to people about what happened.