February 2006
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Click on any of the cards for a better look |
| Comedic trading cards for northern Nevada politicians--that's just one of the tasks keeping students in "Daily News and The Daily Show" busy. |
"Silly" radio plays. Comedic trading cards featuring Nevada politicians. Students forming faux corporations, interviewing their first profile subjects and learning to use professional cameras to gather TV news footage.
Only a few weeks into Spring 2006 journalism courses and students at the Reynolds School are already experiencing the stress of deadlines and the fulfillment of stretching one's self into new discomfort zones.
For students in Larry Dailey's JOUR 453/653 class, online reporting, student are learning about controversies surrounding Peavine Mountain, northwest of Reno. Guest speaker Larry Randall, acting district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, spoke on Feb. 8 about the decision-making process used when crafting the Peavine Mountain Roads & Mountains Strategy. The plan offers guidelines for managing diverse uses--from mountain biking to the use of all-terrain vehicles on the mountain's 42,000 acres.
Streaming Audio
On Feb. 13, students in Dailey's online reporting class competed for exciting prizes ($5 ASUN Bookstore gift cards) with "Silly Radio Plays." The assignment, intended to familiarize students with the art of gathering high-quality audio, was to craft a two-minute audio play using seven sound effects. Sound effects included a toilet flushing, a rocket taking off and ... a transmogrifier. (Remember ... from Calvin and Hobbes?)
In Bob Felten's Corporate Communications class, student presented plans for make-believe corporations that they will, during the course of the semester, represent.
Why fake corporations?
"My experience is that students bring more energy to their work and learn more when they have this type of committment to the organization they're working for," Felten said. One faux firm makes hypothetical perfectly-fitting custom jeans, another proposes a high-end chocolate and dessert lounge chain. One innovative student group will represent a make-believe chain of outlets near college campuses from which parents can send care packages to their students.
In Felten's 203 class, student are interviewing sources for in-depth feature stories. Felten's impressed with the range of good ideas, from a visit to an abortion clinic to a story about recovering drug addicts.
The latter story is being pursued by Ben Garrido, 21, a journalism major. For the story, Garrido visited several Narcotics Anonymous events, interviewing methamphetamine addicts. This was a personally challenging idea because Garrido is a pretty straight guy.
"I got really drunk once, that's it," he said. "So this was a whole new world for me."
Garrido said he really got to know the people he was interviewing--from former drug dealers to a young girl who'd been addiction to meth. He worked hard to build the trust of those he interviewed, which he called "rewarding."
"They're very human," Garrido said. "The reasons they decide to abuse are pretty rational."
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December 2005
Streaming Audio
Rosemary McCarthy's Jour 323 students continue learning and producing radio reporting. Click here to listen to samples of their work.
Photojournalism
Every expectant parent hopes to hear one thing from their doctor, that they will be welcoming a healthy baby into the world. For Aaron and Lori Leary of Sparks, Nev., that hope was altered the moment they were told their first-born son would have Downs Syndrome. Click here to see their son's story story and pictures. This work is by RSJ student Kellee Sims. Sims is a student in Ira Gostin's photojournalism class.
Photography from multimedia class
Students enrolled in Jour 204, Introduction to Media Production, learn multimedia storytelling while they also learn to use cutting-edge software. Click here to see photographs from Larry Dailey's Jour 204 - 004 class. Many of these works represent students' first attempts at visual storytelling.
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November 2005
Streaming Audio
Rosemary McCarthy's Jour 323 students
take their microphones to the streets as they learn techniques for radio reporting. Click here to listen to samples of their work.
Shooting stars:
RSJ photo student gleans experience from Sports Illustrated pros
In October, Reynolds School of Journalism junior David Calvert was selected as one of the top 100 students and beginning professionals to attended the 18th Annual Eddie Adams Workshop in Jeffersonville, New York .
As part of the workshop, Calvert received an assignment with Sports Illustrated. In addition, one of Calvert’s photographs was featured in the Oct. 24 issue of Sports Illustrated.
"The workshop experience is amazing,” Calvert said. “Many students have compared it to four years of college in four days. It's a surplus of visual stimulation and it's inspiring.”
For Calvert, the workshop was also a chance to meet photographers he admired—to put a face to the photo credits. He also made friendships with fellow photojournalist students during the long weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday, students were given photograph assignments that took six to eight hours each day. The rest of the time was divided into lectures, slideshows and portfolio reviews.
“The weekend itself is exhausting,” Calvert said. “You're lucky or lazy if you get more than four hours of sleep. "
Workshop participants were divided into 10 teams, each with a leader, editor and producer. Calvert was on the sports team, led by Sports Illustrated staff photographer Bill Frakes.
His editor was Sports Illustrated Photo Editor Jim Colton and his producer was freelance photographer and workshop veteran Keith Bedford.
“I'm a sports guy,” Calvert said. “I couldn't have been happier with my team.”
Calvert photographed high school football one day and harness racing at Monticello Raceway the next. But beyond these experiences, Calvert, who began studying photography four years ago at Reno High School , said he most enjoyed getting to know the stars.
"It was an honor to attend the workshop, to hear stories about Eddie and to listen to award-winning photographers like Bill Frakes, Vincent Laforet and Joe McNally,” he said. “But for me, the highlight of the weekend was seeing legendary photographer Bill Eppridge and listening to him as he talked about his time covering Bobby Kennedy for Life Magazine.”
Traveling the microfilm path
UNR student Katie Palani received a $1,450 grant from the Honors Undergraduate Research program to complete her study of travel writing in The New York Times and how the writing has changed from the 1940s to the present.
“I was totally shocked that I would get the award, with a travel writing thesis and all,” Palani said. “The other kids were doing science and political science and psych papers, so I thought I had no chance.”
In her research, Palani said she’s using “microfilm and lots of copies” to review past content in the paper.
After graduation with a general studies degree, for which Palani focused on several journalism courses, she plans to apply for the Reynolds School of Journalism’s graduate program.
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