Practicial Information

I understand we go to college to get educated. But I think college should be more about practical learning and how to gain skills for a particular career. I say this because so many people are walking into the work field not knowing career skills. They know a lot about different subjects like history, and math, and politics. That is great, but that isn't going to fly for careers. Yes they want you to know things, but that isn't going to help you in a career. So, I believe college should go more towards practical vocational education compared to learning about a specific topic. I also ask myself why do people study Political Science? I love politics myself. Anyone that is around me knows I know everything happening in politics and I have opinions about them. I have taken a few courses about government and politics at Wittenberg, but I wasn't a major because I don't see what you can do with it. All you can do is go to law school. That is wonderful, but it isn't helping you prepare for your career. These days you need to find a major that has practical learning abilities and a major that will guarantee you a job.Don't just study something because, "I'm interested in it, and it sound cool." Ok, when you are looking for a job, it's going to be hard for you because you weren't learning the practical tools for that career you might be looking at going into.

That is something we all need to think about.

Crime at Wittenberg

In the last year at Wittenberg, there have been a total of two different shootings. One happened during homecoming. The other happened over Spring Break on N. Fountain and Cecil Ave. This is a scary thing to be near. I grew up in a very safe neighborhood in Columbus. You don't hear of any of these things. But to hear about a murder happening on the campus even if it wasn't student involvement is really scary. There have been reports or burglaries, theft, cars broken into. I'd like to understand why Wittenberg's campus is not safe? I'd like to understand why Wittenberg's police aren't doing their job to protect the campus and all they do is give citations for underage drinking. This is a serious issue and Wittenberg police need to begin to crack down and do something about this.

Progress as a journalist

I have taken eight different journalism courses while at Wittenberg University. When I first came to Witt, I didn't even know how to write a news lead. I have improved so far on that. I didn't even know how to write a news article. Now I feel much more confident about what I need to do in the future when I write a news article. I want to improve my organization of how I write a story moving forward. That is the only thing I feel like I need to improve on.

I have taken a variety of courses from law of journalism, media literacy, making news, interviewing, media & politics, broadcast news, beginning journalism, advanced news writing. All of these courses will help me understand the field of journalism as I grow as a journalist in the future. I think that Witt's journalism program is really going far. I think the fact they encourage you to do an internship for credit towards the program is a great thing. The courses really make you diverse in the field. You need to do internships in this field most of all. I''m about to do my fourth internship this summer. Those internships are key to the news broadcast industry. I feel like I understand broadcast journalism from the internships I've done, and print and the media industry from all of the course work I've done while as a student at Wittenberg- and I believe that is how you focus on a career and learn to be a journalist. 

Greek Life

Many have the stereotype that all people do in fraternities is drink all day long, and party all day long. That's all they can think of. They also say that they will help you get a job if you need it. But that is really far from the truth. In a fraternity you make friends that last a very long time. It is an opportunity to learn about maturity during your college years. You learn about leadership, and how to make decisions.

I remember when I was being recruited for a fraternity. I never thought I honestly would go coming into college. I remember someone telling me when I first went to college, "Want to go to a frat party?" I was thinking to myself..."what's that?" I also remember someone that fraternity trying to recruit me and I said, "Ï'm not interested", thanks. However looking forward it really is a great experience. I was Philanthropy chair for a year for my fraternity. I was very proud of the work I did. I held a relief brunch for Haiti, I did a cancer research benefits brunch and got my fraternity involved in food and clothing drives. I really am proud of the opportunity it gave me. I'm unsure where else I could have been able to do that at. But you can make it what you want it to be. I know that I have been able to do that. You can also get support and assistance on grades, and or even other issues you may have going on.

But don't tell me all fraternities do is drink all day long because that is for sure not the case. 

Summer plans

This summer I plan to take a course on screen writing for the documentary institute. I'm very excited about this course. I have a strong interest in documentary film-making. This course is going to give me hands on experience in producing, filming, writing and editing a documentary. I find documentary films very interesting. I am not a big fan of other movies as I am in documentary films. You get to explore different topics you wouldn't be able to explore otherwise from this experience. I hope to potentially pursue a career in broadcast journalism, but this may give me an idea of going into film.

Later this summer I plan to begin my internship at WSYX/WTTE-TV's in Columbus, OH as a news intern. As a news intern, I will be in charge of of working with the producers to write the 11:00 news scripts. As well as those responsibilities, I will be out in the field working with a reporter when there are live shots, or helping to gain information for live shots when needed. I will also be working on the phones, checking beats, and listening to police scanners for shootings, fires, accidents. I will be responsible for assigning stories to reporters to go out if I hear something happening on the police scanners coming into the newsroom. I love television news more than anything else. One I have a stronger appreciation for television news. I believe you actually get to see the story much better by watching television than reading it in the newspaper. The reason I say this is a news report is followed by sound bites, the visual video which is evidence of the story. You have no idea but a newspaper may fabricate things. There is no proof sometimes if the story is accurate from what you are reading. People say that in television you only get sound bites. But that is true for newspapers too. A quote is a sound bite in reality. There is no difference. A television newsroom is also very exciting, because news typically comes first there. In television if there is any breaking news, they are first to broadcast that news unlike a newspaper that is published once a day.


I talked with a producer at NBC4, and he told me that in television news people are relaxing and happen to watch the news. When someone is relaxing they don't happen to be reading a newspaper. It happens to be over coffee. So television news has a form of entertainment to it- even though the news could be sad at times.

Later this summer I plan to be in New York City for two weeks in August with my family.

State bill 5

Governor Kasich took office and his first 100 days, he has done more harm than good to the state of Ohio. He has made it harder for teachers, police officers, fireman and nurses to bargain for collective bargaining. At the same time unions will no longer be allowed to strike if they disagree with something happening in the government. This goes back to my earlier argument that I was trying to point out earlier that as college students we do need to pay attention more towards these issues. Yes this might be a political issue, but I can guarantee everyone knows someone that is a teacher, or has plans here at Wittenberg to become a teacher. As a friend of those that educated you in high school and got you to college, and your friends that are going to become teachers, we should very much look after them and stand up for them. The government wants to cut their pay, end their union rights. How do we expect our teachers to give the best education to our students if they don't get these basic rights? I believe a lot in my high school teachers. I will never let them down. I've heard people say, we need to pay teachers based on performance. My question is: How do you determine that? How do you examine a teacher that is an English honors teacher to a Special Education teacher?? Are you going to base this on a test that a student takes in one day based on anxiety? College kids need to wake up and understand that their kid's education is at risk if they don't stand up for those that educated them.

The inner city schools are bad- there is no question about that. But, it isn't the teacher's fault. It has a lot to do with the student's parents at home. Are they going to bed on time? Are they being fed properly? Are they getting their homework done at home? Are they living in a safe area? Are they being disciplined?

This fall voters will have the chance to go to the polls to vote to repeal this awful law. It is everyone's obligation as a citizen to vote and get out there. There is no excuse for not voting. GET THIS LAW REPEALED. It's awful.

Do I like to blog?

Honestly, I find blogging like writing a journal about what I believe in everyday. Or what I find everyday when I go somewhere. But do I think blogging is journalism not at all. Sadly, many Americans rely on blogs to get their news everyday. Blogs can be used for controversial topics, and also as away to manipulate people's thinking on a specific topic. For example, if I wanted to read things that talk about how bad the republican party is, I'd read a blog for that information. They are for sure slanted in a very interesting direction.

That saying that: Did I like blogging? It was interesting. Not sure if I'd want to blog for a living. I think that's also why I wouldn't want to have my own FOX News talk show. I thought about going into radio news, which I still am interested in doing. But I will not do a liberal news talk, I'd want my show to be strictly on journalism or be a discussion about different issues out there. I feel like a blog is not journalism, it's all opinionated journalism. Great if you want to do that, and great if you want to be a columnist for the New York Times, than this is great practice for that.

I plan to stay in television news and hopefully all my shows will be fair and balanced.