Going to school in hopes to get a degree in advertising, I loved my topic for my second story, the Super Bowl commercials.
I, of course, had my personal favorite/worst ads from this years Super Bowl and it was tricky to not include my own opinions in the story. I ended up writing about the following commercials/ads:
-Budweiser
-Go Daddy
-Oreo ad on Twitter
Pretty much everyone watches the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl commercials, so getting quotes from students would be a piece of cake...or so I thought!
Unfortunately, interviewing students around campus was no easy task for story #2. Some of the responses I received were:
"Uhh...they were weird?"
"Commercials are meant to be fast-forwarded, not watched."
"I'm not sure."
"I didn't watch this year."
"Ummmmm......."
With all of those lovely, helpful quotes, I knew my story would be a tad difficult this time around. Luckily, I found a few students that had great input.
To make my story complete, I surveyed students, professors and local citizens for their best/worst ads for Super Bowl XLVII. This part of the story process was neat. I felt like I was taking votes for something big and monumental, like the presidential elections.
Calculating the totals, I realized that I had ended up with 89 votes. One more vote and I wouldn't have had an odd number. Ughh!
Overall, I liked how my story came together in the end!
Off to write Story #3,
Brooklynn Holman
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Article #2: A walk in the park!
When I decided what to write for article #2, I knew I wanted to write about security at schools. It was an easy choice given the fact that it's something I care about. For more than a decade we have all been there, big eyed, mouth open wide while looking at a t.v. or computer screen while the reports of these attacks started to come through. Many of us have been blessed enough not to have been in the middle of something like that. Most of us will never forget.
From one of the first mass shootings many of us remember at Columbine High School in 1999, to the most recent one at Sandy hook Elementary, school shootings are becoming more of a horrible trend than we would like it to be. So i asked myself, what has changed in schools? After so many of these attacks, what security measures, if any, have that schools started to put to use? How is the security at my school, Seminole State?
There was a main person I wanted to talk to, the Director of security. As I conversed with her, there were things we both agreed on that have become useful at the college. But as our conversation came to an end, I thought "not much has changed." Unfortunately, its not entirely up to the Security Director of a school to increase or better the security. If there are no funds, there's no security.
As I wrote, rewrote and finished my article, so many thoughts ran through my mind. I started to think what would I do in the even of an attack at my school? Where would we run to? To hide, or not to hide? It's a scary thought to know that you're not protected at school anymore, mostly colleges, which are an open campus.
Just yesterday, February 12, the school sent an email saying that a male student reported being accosted by three men while he was walking away from the campus on College Drive. The men got away with his iPhone 4s and are still at large.
But at the end of the day, we can not only sit around thinking of ways of how to survive, we have to think of ways to be heard, because our safety, our lives depend on it. I hope my article shows that there are things out ther that can be done, that schools CAN be safe again, but unfortunately we need the funding to do it.
To conclude, this article was a walk in the park! I had great quotes from the Director of security at school and another staff member. Sometimes you might not be sure about an article idea, but I found that as long as it's something you're passionate about, you don't have to think twice!
Sorangel Santiago
Staff Writer
Seminole Scribe
From one of the first mass shootings many of us remember at Columbine High School in 1999, to the most recent one at Sandy hook Elementary, school shootings are becoming more of a horrible trend than we would like it to be. So i asked myself, what has changed in schools? After so many of these attacks, what security measures, if any, have that schools started to put to use? How is the security at my school, Seminole State?
There was a main person I wanted to talk to, the Director of security. As I conversed with her, there were things we both agreed on that have become useful at the college. But as our conversation came to an end, I thought "not much has changed." Unfortunately, its not entirely up to the Security Director of a school to increase or better the security. If there are no funds, there's no security.
As I wrote, rewrote and finished my article, so many thoughts ran through my mind. I started to think what would I do in the even of an attack at my school? Where would we run to? To hide, or not to hide? It's a scary thought to know that you're not protected at school anymore, mostly colleges, which are an open campus.
Just yesterday, February 12, the school sent an email saying that a male student reported being accosted by three men while he was walking away from the campus on College Drive. The men got away with his iPhone 4s and are still at large.
But at the end of the day, we can not only sit around thinking of ways of how to survive, we have to think of ways to be heard, because our safety, our lives depend on it. I hope my article shows that there are things out ther that can be done, that schools CAN be safe again, but unfortunately we need the funding to do it.
To conclude, this article was a walk in the park! I had great quotes from the Director of security at school and another staff member. Sometimes you might not be sure about an article idea, but I found that as long as it's something you're passionate about, you don't have to think twice!
Sorangel Santiago
Staff Writer
Seminole Scribe
New Stepping Stones
Interviews? Check. Drafts? Check. Designs? Check. All ready for print… if only it was that easy. It is only the second issue of the newspaper this semester and the challenges are already slamming me in my face.
Besides writing, I found a new hobby
that I will incorporate into my studies here at Seminole State. It is designing
spreads in Adobe InDesign. I first learned how to use this software in last
semester’s newspaper class but this semester, I feel unstoppable. I decided to
step out of the editing chair and be the designer for the student magazine,
“Save Your$.”
The magazine class is practically my
favorite class this semester. It allows me to break out of the strict AP style
used in newspaper and incorporate editorializing into my articles. The best
part is that each of us holds different titles in what needs to be done. Not
being an expert in design, I choose to sign up for this position because I love
a new challenge.
Last Saturday, three other classmates
and I went thrift store hunting in downtown Orlando to do a spread for the
magazine. Finding tons of designer items like Michael Kors, Jessica Simpson and
Elle, the excitement of planning the article and visualizing the design in my
head made me all hyped up.
The next thing to do on my list is to
purchase a DSLR camera, preferably Nikon. After hours of research, reading blog
posts from professional photographers to photography professors, I gave up my
Sunday of sleeping in and went hunting all the way on Colonial Drive in Orlando
with my sister and ended up falling in love with the Nikon D5100 or N3200. These cameras seem the perfect fit for all the necessities a journalist needs in order to be
successful: audio input, compatible lenses, video and special effects all in
one.
Contact ME:
This semester so far has been the most
enjoyable one here at Seminole State. Please email me @ Sabira.Mawji13@gmail.com to have your letter to the editor submitted in the next
page. Tell me what you thought about the articles in this issue and if you have
any suggestions or extra comments. If there are any errors or comments you
thought were not objective, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will
have it discussed with the staff.
Sabira Mawji sabiwashere.com
@SabiraMawji
Monday, February 11, 2013
First Strike
When I first started this class, I wasn't sure what to expect. I like writing and believe myself to be a decent handler of words, but my past experience with real reporting adds up to a solid "0".
Needless to say I was nervous when I decided to cover Seminole State's "Heritage Jubilee". I selected to cover the event due to the challenge it would provide to cover, as African American cultural reverence and smooth jazz are not things that I was at all intimate with.
On the night of the event I took about five pages of notes. I used all of them the next day when I wrote my first draft. If I recall correctly, it used over 1000+ words to say what was eventually more eloquently covered in half that amount. Still, I credit myself for having a draft that was remarkably clean of errors for a first try.
In conclusion I enjoyed covering the event. I was taken out of my comfort zone in both spectating the event and later interviewing its coordinator but ended up with a strong story and a bit more confidence in my reporting. Until next time, that is.
- Bryan Hohns
Copy Editor/The Guy in the Back of the Room
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