Category Archives: Blogs & Bios

BRADY MCCARTHY

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Coming up with an idea for my enterprise story was not very hard. I just thought of topics I might enjoy writing about, and what would be relevant. After less than a minute I came across the idea of writing about the current media transition in the snowboarding industry. When I went home for winter break, I learned that my home mountain Seven Springs wouldn’t be producing their web edits anymore. They were doing it to pursue a heavier social media presence, and at first I was upset. After noticing that Think Thank was putting out content throughout the season instead of their typical full movie, I soon realized the snowboarding community as a whole was going through a media shift.

To locate my sources I contacted a few friends that work in the snowboard industry and ride for a few companies to see if they were down to let me interview them on the current media situation. Luckily they were all happy to help me out and share some knowledge. I also contacted a few people I didn’t know, such as Justin “Stan” Leville, to  get some opinions from their perspective.

Choosing my sources was relatively easy. I tried to get well-rounded perspectives from different people in the snowboarding industry. I contacted Ian Macy, who produces content for a few different companies and ski resorts, to get a filmer’s opinion on the media shift because he is the one standing behind the camera filming stuff.

I also tried to get an opinion from a riders perspective, because they are the ones actually being filmed for the content produced. To get a rider’s perspective I contacted my friend Cameron Dunmyer, who rides for Oakley and Gnu Mid-Atlantic. I also quoted one of the riders from the DC video series I was talking about in my paper, Brady Lem, because in the video he gave his opinion on starting to film street so early in the season.

Lastly, I contacted “Stan” because he runs a snowboarding news show, “Last Resort,” where he shares his opinion on subject matters within the snowboarding community in a satirical way. I thought having his opinion would be important because many people watch his show, and he is one of the voices of the snowboard community.

The presentation of snowboard media has been a controversial topic for as long as I can remember. I knew going into the story that I wanted to write something neutral that focused more on the factual side of things, as I didn’t want to offend anyone. Instead of focusing on what the best way to portray snowboarding media is, I just focused on how it is being portrayed and how it is different from the past.

Over the course of my research, I gathered an insane amount of information regarding how the snowboard industry is today, how it was, why it changed, what’s better for business, how it’s going to be in the future, if it’s a good or bad thing and many other opinions. I would have loved to write a longer paper that involved all of these topics listed — and many more — but it would have been confusing for the reader if they were not an active member in the snowboard community.  To keep it simple, I focused on what the media used to be, what it is today, unbiased factual reasons about why it changed, and how it could possibly be in the future, making sure not to offend anyone in the process.

My rough draft was hard to put down on paper because I had an overwhelming amount of information, prior knowledge and an opinion of my own, so I wasn’t sure what to include in the story. After finally figuring that out, putting words on paper became relatively easy. The hard part has been editing and figuring out AP Style. Because I have very little background other than participating in class, I struggle to notice when my AP Style isn’t correct, and therefore don’t realize to look it up and fix it. I also struggled with quote placement, but after realizing my faults I added more quotes and fixed the positioning of them to make the story a more enjoyable read.

The most surprising thing about writing the enterprise story was how willing people were to give me their opinion, even though they didn’t have to and wouldn’t benefit from it in any way. Part of me believes that was what made the experience such a great one. It allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and think about something that is such a major part of my life in a different light. It forced me to think about it not only from one perspective or opinion, but in a way that everyone could understand, relate to and feel unbiased about. Writing the enterprise story was a great experience, and I am glad I picked the topic that I did.

Bio:

Brady McCarthy is a first-year student at the University of Utah. He is 19, and a Pennsylvania native. He plans to attend business school with a focus on marketing. His favorite activities include snowboarding, skateboarding and doing anything fun with his friends.

 

Jager K Chynoweth

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MY STORY: Technology advancing Utah’s music scene

 

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This news story brought with it its own struggles, but definitely helped me to become better and smarter writer. My original topic idea was to address the opioid crisis in Utah and how marijuana legalization may alleviate the problem. I quickly found out that I bit off a little more than I could handle with article’s time requirements and my everyday responsibilities. I struggled to get in contact with interviewees, and when I did I had a lot of rain checks and no shows.

I quickly changed topics and settled with a topic closer to home. My idea for my topic on advancing music technology and its correlation with the rising hip-hop scene in Utah came from friendships with a few of Salt Lake’s local producers and rappers.

I knew my friends would be great sources for my article because a lot of their rising success can be attributed to the technological advancements happening in music today. After switching topics, my interviewing and writing process went very smoothly. It was a topic I was interested in and I felt like I could help bring attention to Utah’s growing music scene.

I definitely noticed that the writing process goes a lot smoother for me when I have strong knowledge of the topic at hand. I was able to achieve this by doing my own outside research on the topic and then conducting thorough interviews that I later reanalyzed. After experiencing all the turmoil with the first topic, it was a relief to see the outcome I had with my current story.

BIO:

Jager Kole Chynoweth is enrolled as a student at the University of Utah. He is majoring in Strategic Communication, while focusing on digital marketing and advertising. When he is not in school or working he loves to hike and backpack Utah’s amazing landscapes with his husky.

Kara Rhodes

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MY STORY: Processed with VSCO with c1 preset

  • Women in STEM underrepresented in Utah but begin to rise in the field

MY BLOG: Reflection 

ABOUT ME: 

Kara is a University of Utah Student graduating Spring 2019 with two B.S. degrees–in Communication and Gender Studies. Kara has a passion for making a positive change in the ever changing world today. Journalism assists her by making her Gender Studies degree applicable to the world. Kara began her love for writing by reading all the Junie B. Jones novels and creating a blog in her adolescent years that dramatically explained why boys didn’t like her.

When Kara is not studying at the University she is participating in every yoga opportunity that she can. Licensed with a 200 HR YTT (Yoga Teacher Training), Kara is passionate about yoga. Music, fashion, and film are other hobbies that Kara enjoys talking, writing, and speaking about. She dreams of leaving her home state, looks at dog videos on Instagram, and reads books she wishes to understand.

LINKEDIN:

Nicole Cardwell

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My Story:

Is the air we are breathing, causing disabilities?

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REFLECTION:

We were asked to write about something that interested us or that we could make newsworthy. I was in Houston for 18 months and came back to Utah in the middle of the winter. This is when I realized how bad our air was. There was a drastic change and I couldn’t believe I had lived here my whole life and never thought that it could really affect my life and health. I started to look more into this and since then I’ve had a desire to help others be aware of what’s happening and what can be done.

I started with the big guys that record air quality and contacted the manager, who was happy to help me. I wanted a perspective from a student that was studying climate change at the University of Utah and I decided to look through the colleges to find what would best fit. I contacted a department and they directed me to the geography department that helped me find Rebecca Steve. She was very helpful and open to meeting with me and sharing information about her future project.

I had my goal of where I wanted the story to go and worded my questions and follow up questions around that. After having all of the information, I made an outline and organized things by putting it down and filling in the gaps. It was harder with the more scientific definitions and phrases but I made sure I understood it, and put it simply.

The writing process flowed and I had other people go over it before our peer reviews and that helped me. I made sure they understood that it was supposed to be a news story and that helped them critique my paper and make it feel and sound descriptive. It helped to have the peer review because he was able to help me through every section and gave good suggestions. It helped to see his paper and his style. It definitely helped to have all of the writing exercises before and getting used to writing outside what I’ve always known.

I think I could add more of the personalities and back stories for the people I interviewed on my blog. That says a lot about why they are there and what has made them passionate about what they do and why. I think I could add why I decided to research this information and my theory and experience as well.

AUTHOR BIO:

Nicole is a student at the University of Utah in the Communication major. She is a 1st degree Bachelor student and will graduate in the spring of 2019. She is passionate about making goals and working hard and had many plans for the future. 

Nicole plans to go into marketing for Science, Health, Environmental risk and wants to work with public health. She hopes to help with non profit organizations and programs to help with Utah’s environment. 

On her 18-month mission in Houston, Nicole taught English as a second language in schools, libraries and churches. She is fluent in Spanish and her parents are from Mexico and El Salvador. Since then, service has been a priority for Nicole and she enjoys helping those in need. 

 

Everett Olsen

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Blog: 

The idea for my enterprise story originally stemmed from my experience at “The Peoples Cvlt’s” third concert, hosted inside the Goldblood Collective. I happened to be one of the only 20 or so people in the audience for the group’s first show. Seeing the rapid progression in the number of fans the group had gained for this performance, immediately had me asking myself, “How?”  

After I had decided on my topic and the angle I was going to work, it was time to reach out to members of the groups for interviews. I first reached out to Max Bradshaw or Mad$haw, a friend from high school who happened to be co-producing for the group. While Mad$haw himself preferred to stay behind the scenes, he gladly introduced me to the other producer, Sean Mota (4k), as well as other group members Teague and Kiefy Kush.

I wanted to make sure for this story I captured the setting properly for my interview, to get the most intuitive and honest answers I could from these creatives. To do so I stopped into Mad$haw’s basement studio on a Wednesday night, the night the group meets and collaborates each week. Although I came to the house ready as a journalist, I chose to put this on the back burner, and simply talk with the group members casually building rapport until I felt ready to get down to business.  I think in doing so I was able to capture much more natural and honest responses from these artists.

Bio:

Everett Olsen is a junior at the University of Utah studying communication. After an intensive two-year search for a major, Everett has found an outlet for his voice though journalistic writing and reporting. Born in Salt Lake City, Everett developed a love for the outdoors as well as a profound passion for music. He plans to cover more stories and events that parallel these personal passions, as they seem to yield his best writing.

Becca Carr

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MY STORY

Utah Cops Struggle to Enforce Texting and driving law 

MY BLOG

While looking for a topic to do my story on I started off with a Google search. I looked at local cities and came across a Salt Lake Tribune article about lawmakers killing a bill on texting and driving that could save lives. I then started to focus on the police and what the double standard was for them using cellular devices. From doing my interviews I moved my story more in the direction that because the law in place for texting and driving is so hard to enforce is it worth even having.

At first, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to connect to the people I needed to interview. I then started to think about people I knew and family connections, using sources that I could reach out to. I then got in contact with Rich Ferguson and Eric Johnson. Rich is Chief of Police while Eric is Detective Sargent. By talking to them I asked if they had anyone I could talk to that was a Highway Patrol Officer. I then called Jeremy Horne who was a Highway Patrolman for 10 years. After I had my main interviews I decided that it would benefit my story by having someone giving their opinion and thoughts about texting and driving, so I took it to campus and found Audrey Emery, a senior at the University of Utah.

I think the sources I got were the best I could have gotten for my story. I found police officers that are high in ranking and also found a specific officer that worked as a highway patrolman. I also think that information that I looked us about specific laws in place and looking up different counties news I found great information that benefited my story.

The main obstacle that I faced was looking for interviews. I didn’t know where to start because I knew I had to talk to people in high-ranking positions. But after I talked to a family member and got my resources together, it was smooth sailing from there.

I got a lot of information about police and the double standard, thoughts on texting and driving, how the law is enforced and so on. These questions gave me a lot of information that I had to narrow down. I narrowed it down to how and why police officers enforce the particular law of texting and driving along with what the solution can be for texting and driving. I decided these as my main focus because this is what most of my interviews focused on and what seemed more important.

The writing process was a little bit difficult to start. I have never written a news article and had never interviewed someone before, so the task was scary. As I started the process I started to become comfortable with talking to people and asking questions. I also had to learn how to narrow down information and make sure what I was writing down was correct and okay to quote.

I think what surprised me most through this whole process and story was that law enforcement doesn’t even enforce the law against texting and driving because it’s so difficult to detect the particular use.

ABOUT ME

I currently live in Salt Lake City, Utah where I am a Junior at the University of Utah. I am a communications major with my focus in strategic communications. As I continue to pursue my degree in communications – focusing on advertising, branding, marketing, and public relations – I hope to gain on-the-job experience that will help in my career. By doing so, I would ideally get a job with a respectable cosmetic company where I can work with the marketing or public relations team. Although the focus of my major is not journalism, I have found an interest in it and have piece of work that I am excited about.

Alexis Lefavor

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Blog

I used to love Ichiban Sushi but in recent news I found out they were closed down by the health department. I noticed that they were popping up everywhere. I have noticed recently that sushi has been a trend. It can be really expensive! Ichiban Sushi has sushi that is advertised for half off. My story talks about how they opened back up. I want to make local sushi lovers aware of this restaurant. I also want to make people aware of the health department’s website. They are required to post all of the health inspections at established restaurants. I was not aware of this until I started doing my story.

I used Yelp and Facebook to find my sources. I read many reviews positive or negative. Many of the negative reviews matched some of the reasons that lead up to the closing of the restaurant.  I interviewed people who left these reviews and asked about their experiences. I also interviewed somebody from the health department to figure out how they run the inspection.

As I got more information from my sources, I felt I was really able to write my story. The information I received is what guided my story and made the focus. The hardest part of this was trying to find people to interview. I also reached out to the Sandy Ichiban for comment and didn’t receive anything from them. I was hoping to incorporate into my story how they were planning on making sure they were able to stay open and not face another closure. I think it’s really important for restaurants to ensure that their customers feel safe eating there, especially anything with raw meat.

About Me

My name is Alexis Lefavor. I am a junior at the University of Utah majoring in Communication. I hope to graduate by Summer 2019. My focus is strategic communication. I have always been interested in marketing, branding and public relations. I hope to find myself somewhere in one of these fields in the future.

Victoria Tingey

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Me 1Blog:

When I was coming up with ideas for story topics, I tried to think of something interesting that would grab the reader’s attention and also create a subject that could hold true meaning. As I ran through a couple ideas, I remembered our old Murray Theater located on the corner of downtown State Street. This is a building that truly captures the charm and history of Murray. It has an old-fashioned neon sign that welcomes people as they drive by. There is such an appeal about the building that has held so many memories for citizens of our city. It was used for great live entertainment, shows, concerts and also hosted Judy Garland and more recently Adele.

I was able to locate my sources by speaking with city developers directly in charge of the downtown area projects and gain their insight on the building. It was helpful to get information from their perspective and understand their thoughts on the building. They were the best sources to be able to communicate with because they have all of the information on the building. They are the people who are directing the project to reestablish the building.

I didn’t really encounter any issues during this project. Everything ran pretty smoothly. I was able to get information right from the start. They were all willing to speak to me and help me contribute to this story. I was given a lot of information so there was a lot that I wanted to make sure to include for this story. I wanted to maintain though focus of repurposing the building and finding out the history as well. I wanted to make my story unique and informative on what people have to look forward for this future of this unique building. I wanted to capture the essence of what it stands for and what it means to Murray.

The writing process was interesting because I gained new insights and knowledge. It was fun to put my story together. I feel like I learned so much on the special qualities of the building during this process. There were details that I had to leave out of the story to make sure that it met the requirements, however, I did include as much detail as possible.

I would say the most surprising aspect of my story was that I found out so much new information on the building. It was amazing how much history was a part of it that really added so much character to the Theater. I loved being able to learn more about it and piece together information. There are so many great qualities about this downtown theater. I believe it is important to keep as much history alive in our local cities and try to repurpose building that keep our city alive and unique. I really appreciated the opportunity that I had to research information and create a story out of the Murray Theater. It was such a wonderful experience. I appreciate the Murray city directors who took time out of their day to let me ask them questions and teach me more.

This was a great opportunity and I have grown to love this special little theater with so much character and charm even more so. This city definitely has an exciting future!

About Me:

My name is Victoria Marie Tingey and I am a student at the University of Utah. My plan is to graduate in Strategic Communications and later get a job in marketing or Public Relations. I love the University of Utah and I am grateful to the opportunity to attend. I plan to graduate in the spring of 2019.

I have a passion for learning and setting new goals for myself. I love to write and learn skills. I grew up playing tennis in high school. I love to travel and learn about new places. History has also been an interest of mine as well. I also love photography and the outdoors. I am proud to be from Utah. I enjoy having all four seasons within our state.

I am excited to learn and to be able to broaden my views and perspectives on writing. I love to accomplish things and better myself every day.

 

Lois Brady Reflection Blog

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For my enterprise story I chose to write about women in the film industry because, as a woman looking to be a filmmaker, I feel passionate about the changes taking place in the industry in the wake of movements like #MeToo and #Time’sUp which are finally drawing public attention to the issue of inequality and sexism in film.

This past semester I took a film course called Woman Directors that had a huge impact on the way I think about film, particularly when it comes to defying common tropes in film writing. In this class I was introduced to the concept of “The patriarchal language of film,” which includes not only the literal language we use to talk about films but also the assumptions about how a film is written, directed, shot, and performed and the  gender inequality behind the camera as well as in front of it. I interviewed the professor who teaches this class, Dr. Sarah Sinwell, for this piece because she introduced me to new ways of thinking about film and the roles women play in building the collective narrative of film and media. Her ideas on the importance of finding ways to include and value diverse voices in filmmaking, especially when they don’t adhere to the traditional cinematic structural ideals, helped me to frame my understanding of where I wanted to go with this story.

In particular she emphasized that different institutions have different values when it comes to filmmakers and there is a difference in promoting equality in, for example, the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance Institute. When films are awarded at the festival it is based on their merits as a film within its category, they aren’t necessarily focused on who made the films, though some festivals have mission statements like Sundance’s that value diversity and try to promote equality. The Sundance Institute, however, recognizes that much of the actual inequality of opportunity occurs before a film is even submitted to a festival during the process of finding funding and support for the actual creation of the film and so has created programs specifically to aid female filmmakers. With this distinction in mind I was able to better focus on the actual source of the problems I wanted to address and better frame my questions for future interviews.

Read the story here.

Bio.

Deaven Dell

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MY STORY: Utah Speedy Drivers 

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MY BLOG

ABOUT ME: 

I am a Junior at the University of Utah studying Strategic Communication BA. I work full time at the Jewish Community Center here in Salt Lake as an Aquatics Supervisor. I love swimming, hiking and biking. I have a passion for music and dancing and enjoy expressing myself through creative outlets. I love connecting with other people and learning new ideas. I am very active in my church and enjoy connecting with my inner spiritual self through prayer, scripture study and attending church meetings.

LINKEDIN

 

Sarah Terry

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MY STORY: Salt Lake City youth respond to revealed intentions behind Bears Ears and Grand Escalante Staircase shrinkage

MY BLOG:

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ABOUT ME: 20 year old Sarah Terry moved to Salt Lake City in August of 2015 from Los Angeles, CA. She currently is the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera Public Relations / Marketing intern, and is enrolled full time at the University of Utah Honors College as an Art History and Strategic Communications double major and Ecology minor. When not at work or school, Sarah can be found snowboarding at Brighton resort. She loves reading, yoga, music, art, climbing, traveling, and hanging with her friends in the Chi Omega sorority. Sarah plans to continue with Arts Administration, hoping to eventually assist in the operation of non-profit art organizations. Sarah can be contacted at sarahterryy@gmail.com, and can be followed on Twitter at @scterrywrites.

Noelani Blueford

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Photo by Codi Shandel Kline

MY STORY: 

ABOUT ME:

Does a poor conversationalist make a for a good interviewer? You tell me.

I’ve always struggled with chatting and small talk, preferring to keep them talking so I can listen. In polite conversation, many people find this behavior a little bit rude. When it comes to interviewing, however, it’s a valuable skill.

I’m a senior at the University of Utah studying Communications. When not in classes, I work for an online used bookstore. My free time is spent playing board games and gardening.

Courtney Ruttan: About Me

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 University of Utah students voice their opinion on Bears Ears

Reflection Blog: Response to My Story 

ABOUT ME: Courtney Ruttan is currently a sophomore at the University of Utah. She is studying strategic communication and plans on pursuing a career in Luxury Real Estate. Courtney was born in Glendora California and was raised in Park City, Utah. Courtney is passionate about environmental issues, health, and the economy. She enjoys spending her time with family and friends as well as enjoying the outdoors. In the summer she loves to wakeboard, go out on the boat, travel, and catch some sun rays. In the winter she enjoys snowboarding, sledding, and snowmobiling. Courtneys plans on enjoying all this beautiful life has to offer. 

LINKEDIN: Courtney Ruttan

Brandon Ong

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MY STORY 

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ABOUT ME:  Brandon is a sophomore majoring  majoring in strategic communication at the U. He is choosing a minor in business or Korean. He is currently applying for internships and looking to study abroad next year. Eventually, Brandon would like to work in the public relations field. Evidently, journalism is not his strong suit.

MY LINKEDIN:

 

Isabella Gentile

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MY STORY

Young Entrepreneur Will Stop at Nothing to Quench his Thirst for Success

MY BLOG

When presented with the freedom of choosing my subject for the Enterprise Piece, someone immediately came to mind. I knew of Ethan Cisneros from mutual friends on campus, and noticed that he had been featured in news stories before. His soda shop, Thirst, was a frequent conversation topic, and I knew he would be a great subject to do a story on.

When determining what sources I wanted, I knew the most important voice would be Cisneros himself. I wanted allow him the opportunity to tell his story in his own words, so I reached out to him first and foremost. I had an idea of what I wanted to cover, but he gave me even more content than I could have hoped for. He provided me with the answer to every single one of my interview questions, as well as answers that gave me additional directions to take. After just one interview, I knew I had my hands full with a fantastic story.

I then moved onto a Thirst employee, Connor Nelson. I had seen Nelson featured on Thirst’s Instagram before, so I knew that would be my outlet to reach him. I chose Nelson because he is someone who sees and observes Cisneros every day in a work environment, so I wanted his insight on Cisneros’ mannerisms throughout a typical work day. Nelson confirmed what I had already expected. Cisneros is just as pleasant to work for as he is hard working.

Thankfully, I encountered no ethical issues or obstacles in my research. Everything I needed was presented to me very easily, and I found the story writing itself before me. The only obstacle was the surprising amount of material that I was granted from my subject. I had original intentions to include several different elements in my story. Kiley Money from ELK Clothing, individuals from Cisneros’ fraternity, reputable members of the Entrepreneurial department here at the University of Utah, etc. But Cisneros provided me with more than enough content to build a riveting story.

Though the continuous theme of my story was Cisneros and his entrepreneurial climb, I found myself unable to pick merely one focus. He balances so many elements in his life, it seemed unfair not to address them all, and give credit where deserved for all of the projects he has devoted and currently devotes his time to.

And so, a great story was born. But after I got it all down on paper, it was nearly triple the required word count. The content flowed in more heavily than I had anticipated. Once I began the writing process, I knew it would be difficult to achieve a clean, newsworthy draft. It took a lot of revising to effectively summarize my story into a layout I was satisfied with. I completely rearranged my entire piece at least three times, and the addition and removal of different elements took a lot of time. As the due date came down to the wire, I dove even further into the editing process. Maybe a better way to put that would be the “hacking away at my story” process. Like previously mentioned, it took a lot of editing and collaboration with Professor Becker in order to achieve the story structure I wanted and determine the relevant pieces of information needed to be featured. I learned one very pertinent lesson about my writing during this process.

What I realized within my craft is that I am a wordy writer, always have been and always will be. I have a tendency to gather a lot of information, and once I put these details into my story, I have a hard time letting go and prioritizing. It’s important to be able to differentiate great details from exceptional details, or as Professor Becker put it, know when to kill your babies. But overall, I am satisfied with my piece, and though it’s still lengthy, I feel it’s important to do Cisneros justice for all the work he is doing. He stands out among everyone else his age, and that’s a story worth telling.

 

ABOUT ME

I am a student living in Salt Lake City, currently enrolled at the University of Utah. I am spending my four years attaining experience and knowledge to someday work as a creative director for a respectable company, ideally. I am majoring in Strategic Communication, so I am learning skills in marketing, advertising, branding, as well as public relations. Though I am not currently pursuing a career in journalism, I do have a piece of work that I am proud of and I believe to be worth reading. 

Jake Phillips

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My Story:

BEYOND THE WATER CYCLE

My Blog:

I initially had a difficult time gaining inspiration for my enterprise story. I am honestly less than passionate about journalism and found it hard to find an interesting topic which I felt capable of tackling as a student journalist.

I wanted to do a story about the environment but didn’t know where to start. That winter had been especially dry and the inversion had trapped a lot of pollutants in the Salt Lake Valley so I thought that now would be a pertinent time to write a story about the environment.

Inspiration for my story came during a class one evening where my journalism class interviewed Patrick Shea, former director of the Bureau of Land Management. The class was interviewing Shea to practice interviewing subjects and writing profile pieces. While the class was interviewing Shea mentioned that he taught a class about water conservation to fourth graders at Rose Park Elementary.

I decided to write about water conservation education in Salt Lake City. I started my search by calling the city’s Department of Public Utilities, but I did not get a lot of information from officials there. I decided to ask my professor for Patrick Shea’s email so I could try to interview him.

When I contacted Shea he invited me to tag along with him when he went to Rose Park Elementary School to teach his class.  I was really excited to be allowed to come and see how Shea was teaching this group of fourth graders about water science and conservation.

Being able to go with Shea to Rose Park Elementary and eventually on a field trip with the class was crucial to me writing my story. Being able to talk to the students in the class and their teacher gave me an interesting perspective on why teaching water conservation to students is important and how the students were reacting.

About Me:

I am originally from Greenville, SC, where I lived for most of my life before moving to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah. I am a sophomore at the U where I am studying strategic communication. I began newswriting while taking a required journalism class in the spring of 2018.

Cali Felts

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My Story:

New Development in Holladay, Utah

My Blog:

For my enterprise story, I chose to write about a possible new development site in my hometown of Holladay, Utah. I was curious to look at all of the different aspects of this new project, which is slated to be built on what has been an empty lot for years. Looking at the benefits and drawbacks of what will come about of Holladay was my goal for the story. I am personally against overdevelopment, which is why this particularly sparked my interest. This lot would be going from an empty lot where nothing occurred to bringing in more than 3,000 extra people into the town.

Finding information about this site was fairly easy considering how many news sources were covering it. I was able to go out and ask citizens of Holladay their opinions of the new development, and I was even put in touch with Cindy Taylor from Ivory Homes. Ivory Homes also has a website specifically for the proposal, including a slideshow attached that explains every little detail of the project. There are signs all over Holladay, an Instagram account against it and a website Holladay citizens created in opposition to the new development proposal. There have been multiple hearings about all the proposals and a time where Holladay citizens have been able to voice their opinion on the development.

After doing this whole project, my vision has shifted about overdevelopment. I still do believe we need to save some forest and not develop everywhere but at the same time, this lot was originally a mall. Holladay was built to accommodate the traffic of the mall and can handle the traffic of this possible new development – not to mention the economic bonus it would bring to Holladay.

About Me: 

I am a freshman at the University of Utah studying communications. I plan to graduate with a major in Strategic Communication and minor in Marketing. Upon graduation, I want to work in public relations for a company.

I grew up in Utah and was lucky enough to attend the University of Utah starting in the fall. In high school, I was part of a service group and held a leadership position in my high school dance company. I am interested in singing, dancing, traveling and boating. I work as a nanny for multiple families and absolutely love it. I am currently a Chi Omega at the University of Utah and I am travelling whenever I can get away.

 

Emilie Nielsen

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emilie 1My Story:

Is Social Media Reality Ruining our Actual Reality?

 

Blog:

For my enterprise story, I wanted to take on and bring up the issues involving younger generations. For young people, social media is king, queen and court as it literally rules the lives of many.

As this takes on even greater relevance in our lives, particularly with the current focus on Facebook, privacy and what we give up when we share our photos, stories and thoughts, I wanted to talk to some of the people who deal with this issue on a daily basis. I chose the sources whom I knew would have the knowledge of growing up or dealing with the stress of creating the perfect life on Instagram.

I wanted to have both young girls’ thoughts on this and the reflections of administrators and counselors to see what the prevailing view of social media was.

Estelle Andreasen was someone I wanted to bring into this story. I met her in Denmark where, she shared, she would skip class multiple times a week. This piqued my interest so when I decided to write this story I wanted to FaceTime with her and ask her thoughts on why she wasn’t going to school, or what was elevating her anxiety.

Sisters Annie and Emma Black were girls I wanted to talk to, knowing that they are fraternal twins who are different in almost every aspect of life. Annie — the more social media-minded of the two — and  Emma, who could never use social media and be content, each had points of view I wanted to include in the story.

Amber Black is their mother. I wanted to ask her about her most interesting insight into her daughters’ social media use. The girls had just gotten their first smartphones and I thought to ask Amber whether a major shift in  attitude would make a difference in how her kids use social media and its impact on their anxiety and social stress.

Debbie Perry is a counselor at Woods Cross High School. I thought that she would be an interesting person to ask about social media and phone usage at the school and what are the major generational differences that affect the phone usage.

I also wanted to talk to Deanne Kapetanov, the principal at Mueller Park Junior High School, to see how social media has affected the school dynamic and if its use has caused any problems at the school.

 

About Me:

I was born and raised in Utah and am now a senior at the University of Utah majoring in strategic communication.

I love photography, traveling and spending time with friends. I have always loved  Denmark, and was able to travel there for a study abroad year when I was a college junior. While there I was able to meet many different people from all around the world which broadened my love and desire to travel.

I have had many different jobs, including photographer, model, sales representative at Reynolds Car Wash, baby clothing boutique Over the Moon and Pictureline, which is a camera store.  I modeled in Denmark, where I also worked as a photographer for the main newspaper in Aarhus, the country’s second-largest city.

 

 

Kelsey Mae Rathke

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MY STORY:

MY BLOG: 

My desire to write about urban beekeeping came from the many conversations regarding my own experiences with honey bees. My hope was to communicate how safe they are and how easy they are to keep for those who are interested.

Prior to writing this story, I knew Albert Chubak – the designer of the hive that my family uses. He has been a great resource as we have grown into beekeeping. Albert provided additional resources for the story, advising that I reach out to Beth Conrey as an additional expert and advocate for pollinators and Marlene Jacobsen Schnabel for her experiences with novice beekeeping.

Albert and Beth are extremely involved in the bee community in the United States. They both own businesses working with bees, regularly attend honey bee conferences as speakers and create material around beekeeping. Marlene has extensive experience bee keeping on a personal, non-business level, and can speak to her growth in the hobby.

Initially, I wanted the article to be more educational and less fun. However, preparing for the interviews and then consolidating my notes from the interviews redirected me toward highlighting particular opinions and experiences. The interesting pieces of what I had gathered were stories, not lists of facts.

My writing process truly began with preparing for the interviews and brainstorming the direction of those interviews. Once the interviews were complete, I condensed all of my notes into bullet points and sifted through what would be interested to someone with no experience with bees. I then wrote my first draft with only two additional major editing drafts. Through the editing process, I moved pieces of the story around and rewrote the lead. Through this process, I learned how important it is to have another person take a look at your work. Collaboration with multiple voices really helped strengthen the article and moved it in a more interesting direction. It also really keep me in line with what information I needed to explain to the reader that I had originally assumed they would understand.

The biggest surprise that came out of the interview and writing process for me was learning about why honey is so beneficial (antimicrobial, antibacterial, antiseptic, etc.) I was also surprised that Marlene was so successful in beekeeping and learning that she had started multiple hives on her own and helped get hives going for family and friends.

AUTHOR BIO:
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Kelsey Rathke is a Utah native and University of Utah Utes enthusiast. She is a senior associate in Digital Servicing for Discover Financial Services, and a junior at The University of Utah studying strategic communication. Rathke has extensive experience in corporate writing and is currently enrolled in a news-writing course. She is an honors student at The U and will be the Marketing Officer for the Crimson Transfer Honor Society for the 2018-2019 academic year.

Ellie Cook

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MY STORY

IMG_1066_preview ABOUT ME: Ellie Cook is a 20-year-old undergrad studying Communications and Psychology at the University of Utah. She also is a writer for the humanitarian fashion magazine “Trend Prive”. She is also an animal and genocide prevention activist, as well as someone who frequently volunteers with children and animals. Ellie enjoys spending her leisure time participating in community theater and works as a model/actress for NIYA management. Ellie aspires to one day put her love of writing to work by publishing pieces aimed for teen audiences in regards to mental health, in hopes of reaching out and contributing to the well being of troubled teens.

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Paula Garcia

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MY STORY: The cruelty-free cosmetics market is booming image1

MY REFLECTION BLOG

ABOUT ME:

I am a journalism student at University of Utah and a cat mom. I am passionate about feminism, social justice, music, makeup, animals, and blogging. I run a blog called Ask Nicely (https://asknicelyblog.wordpress.com) in which I cover music and lifestyle news. I am of Ecuadorean and Spanish descent.

Instagram: daydreamdoom

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