More Road Connectivity in Columbia Area

Tonight for the 5 and 6 pm shows, a fellow reporter and I tackled some road improvement plans around Columbia. I spoke to MODOT (Missouri Department of Transportation) about one specific project that is underway in the East Columbia area. I went live from the current end of Stadium Boulevard as it intersects HW 63, and the plan is to connect this part of Stadium from HW 63 to I-70. If the plan is approved, it will improve traffic conditions significantly for residents who frequently travel in this area. MODOT recently finished an environmental study of the area and they are looking to do some detailed aerial mapping of the extension site before construction plans are finalized. Overall the project aims to improve infrastructure, add connectivity and help residents travel faster and easier through East Columbia.

Link to my story

Quote of the Week

"In the arena of human life, the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action."-Aristotle

This week for me is one of honor and recognition. After an application and interview process, I was chosen as one of the 39 seniors to represent the University of Missouri in their yearly tradition, the Mizzou 39. The Mizzou Alumni Association and the Alumni Association Student Board honor 39 seniors based on academic achievement, leadership, and service to the Mizzou community. The honorees represent a variety of majors, activities, and organizations across campus. Also, each of us 39 seniors chooses a faculty or staff member as a mentor to honor, for their guidance and support throughout our college career.

The mentor that I chose is Mr. Greeley Kyle. Here's why... As a broadcast student, Broadcast II is the most challenging class that I have experienced at Mizzou. It is in this class where we begin shooting, writing and editing video news packages independently. This class began my adventure working towards being a full-time reporter at KOMU. Greeley is a legend of the journalism world. His bare-knuckles journalism concept is challenging and stressful at times, but he pushes students to succeed and exceed their personal goals. I have never been so captivated in a lecture or so frustrated by a grade that I am immediately motivated to improve. Greeley instilled in me a passion for journalism that I will never lose. He is the person I go to when I need a listener, a comforting word, a laugh, or just someone to vent to in times of frustration. Juggling the student world and the journalism world is not easy, and I need someone like him for advice and constant support. His time spent with me at Mizzou has shaped me into the journalist and young adult that I am today and for that I will be forever thankful.

Mizzou 39 week began last night with a candlelit ceremony at Jesse Hall celebrating and officially recognizing the group of seniors who were chosen. We were praised for our leadership and accomplishments. We also reflected about our time at Mizzou, while thinking about how we will continue our service to the university after graduation. The ceremony ended with singing the Alma Mater and heading to the Heidelberg for a reception. On Wednesday night, we are all attending the MU vs Colorado Basketball game and we will be honored during halftime on the court. The week ends with a formal reception and banquet at the Reynolds Alumni Center. Our mentors and family members will attend this dinner with us as well. I am very excited for the coming events-to cheer on the tigers on Wednesday and get spruced up for a lovely banquet on Friday night. What a great way to meet some new people and share my love of Mizzou with my peers as well as thank our mentors for all they have done for us. Mizzou 39 is truly an honor and experience that I am grateful for and will always remember.

Link to the Mizzou 39 page on MU's website

Working the Web

This week my web adventures included a training in Adobe Illustrator. I met with some other students in one of the labs on Monday night. Similar to photoshop, Illustrator was simple at first but has wide creative potential. Learning the basics was fun and exciting. Now I can confidently use Illustrator to create graphics for reporters who have stories that lead to or need more visuals on the web. During my komu.com shift, I can use Illustrator to boost up the online content of any of the news stories. I learned how to make bar graphs to visualize important data, as well as create maps or other labeled images to further explain important information.

My komu.com shift at the station went pretty smoothly. We were extremely busy because the students who worked before us somehow managed to incorrectly crop all of the images for the web and unfortunately posted them resulting in terrible errors on the website. So my job quickly became clean-up. My co-worker and I had to resize and repost all of the images for the dayside reporters, which was good practice, however we had the nightside reporters to do as well. Luckily due to the Olympics, the newscast was pushed back to 10:30 pm so we had a little more time. I assisted sports in capturing the Mizzou basketball game-we beat TEXAS! YES! I also edited and posted video from the newscast for the reporter's stories. It was a busy night. Next week my goal is to make an Illustrator graphic so stay tuned...

Links to the stories I posted/produced

County Health Assessment

Minimum Wage May Lower

Columbia Photo To Close

First Nation Report

Tonight's First Nation Report at the 5pm show included news from President Obama about the recession with both positive and negative prospects for employment.

Enjoy!

Camera Controversy

A surveillance camera proposal has members of the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter alarmed. The proposal is to allow surveillance cameras on the streets of downtown Columbia. The cameras would be roving, mobile cameras on a trailer. The ACLU believes these cameras are an infringement of a citizen's to be on public downtown property. Current surveillance cameras are operated by private property owners. The proposal to add the new random, roving cameras will be on the City of Columbia April ballot. Here are my live reports from the 5 and 6 pm shows. Enjoy!

Link to my story

Quote of the Week

"There's No Place Like Home"....or There's No Place Like Home Away From Home

This week my thoughts begin with a tale of two cities, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ and St. Louis, MO. Being in St. Louis for the spectacle that is Mardi Gras this past weekend, sparked my mind into a dilemma that is coming quickly, where to move, live and start a career after school. Even though the nature of my business can send me anywhere across the nation, I wanted to take some time to appreciate the cities that I call home.

I was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ. I went to school in Scottsdale and enjoyed 18 years of sunshine and bliss. I lived in a beautiful safe suburban neighborhood, went to great schools and enjoyed every aspect of my Scottsdale community. I am constantly appreciative of my supportive parents who provided me with a loving, adventurous childhood. Even though I adored AZ, I always believed college meant going away. Arizona State University was a safety option but for me, I wanted and yearned for a new horizon. This is what brought me to Missouri. Columbia has been my wonderful college home for the past four years, however St. Louis is the city that has captured my heart.

My first taste came from my peers at school. Mizzou is filled with in-state students who hail from St. Louis or Kansas City. I happened to form close relationships with a lot of people from St. Louis, and ended up living and working there for a summer at Fox 2 News with a broadcast internship. I had one of the best summers of my life. I lived with a family who was looking for a renter and despite a bit of a messy house and a precarious waterbed, my time in St. Louis exceeded my expectations ten fold. I grew and excelled at my internship, gaining great experience inside and outside of the newsroom with talented reporters, producers and communications coordinators. I traveled all around the city gaining insight into the vast variety of culture and spirit found in St. Louis. Since that summer I have made frequent weekend visits to St. Louis to enjoy the usual attractions like the arch and the zoo, along with sunny days at local wineries, brewery tours, concerts and an occasional game at baseball heaven. St. Louis has become a home away from home and a great little escape when I need a hiatus from crazy college Columbia.

Even with this great city just two hours away from my cozy apartment in Columbia, being here in Missouri many miles away from AZ, has only made my love for home stronger. Going back into the constant sunshine, visiting family and friends and feeling like an AZ native again is something I long for when breaks from school roll around. Simple things like my local Scottsdale grocery store, knowing where to go to get the best pizza in town, laughing with my high school buddies or enjoying hikes and holidays with my family are so important to me. Having my heart in two places is a challenge when deciding where I want to be upon graduation. Choosing family or friends, home away from home (St. Louis) or back home in Phoenix is tough. However I do realize how lucky I am to be young and ready for a new journey. Landing in an unknown place or landing in one of my homes after my time here at Mizzou would be a blessing. I am excited for what is to come! Good news is, St. Louis or Phoenix may be my new home or just a plane flight away.

First Nation Report

This evening's First Nation Report including the snow monster that is sweeping through the east coast as well as new information about Former Governor Blagojevich.

Enjoy!

Hearts For Haiti

Columbia continues to extend help for Haiti. Four local middle school students are running a Valentine's Day fundraiser to help earthquake victims. The valentines are part of the program Hearts for Haiti. Each valentine costs one dollar and all of the money goes to Mercy Corps and the Crudem Foundation for Haiti relief. Each card includes a picture and a saying about Valentine's Day and giving to Haiti. Card sales have been successful so far across Missouri. For the rest of the week continuing through Valentine's Day, the cards will be sold at a variety of local businesses and are also available to order online.

Due to the inclement weather of ice and snow, the live truck was having audio problems so I was not live for the 5 pm show. However I raced back to the studio and made it for an in-studio hit at the 6 pm show. Enjoy!

Link to my story

Quote of the Week

"To Look Forward and Not Back, To Look Out and Not In, and To Lend a Helping Hand"-Edward Everett Hale

Community service along with a passion for philanthropy have always been a big part of my life. Starting young in middle school and high school with service clubs, volunteering outside of school with my church and my community theatre, then continuing on my path of service in college. The non-profit that my service focus has stayed with through my years at Mizzou is the Make-A-Wish Foundation. As a Chi Omega, this is our national philanthropy and each year my chapter raises over $15,000 through a series of events on and off campus. These events include a ice cream social at Cold Stone Creamery, a volleyball tournament, a trivia night, and generous donations from family and peers. Money that we raise goes to local Make-A-Wish chapters to grant the wishes of children in and around the Columbia area. Over the years we have sent two children to Disneyworld, thrown a few birthday bashes and even turned one little girl into Hannah Montana for a day. This work with children has been extremely fulfilling and heartwarming. The Make-A-Wish Foundation, their message and their actions have left quite an amazing impression on me and I will continue to serve with them when I graduate. Serving kids is something that has always been close to my heart and I look forward to continuing my work in the wish-granting process with this organization.

Besides my work with Make-A-Wish, over the past month my own focus along with a majority of the community across our nation has focused on help for Haiti. After the devastation of the earthquake just weeks ago, the Columbia community as well as communities across the United States have come together to raise money for Haiti relief. The response has been overwhelming. The Columbia community alone has already raised over $32,000 for the American Red Cross alone, along with many other local organizations that have sent money, supplies, doctors and aid. Two of my good friends planned and organized a benefit concert called Hear For Haiti. One the of local music venues downtown donated the space for free as well as many different restaurants and other businesses have donated raffle prizes and free food for the event. The support is overwhelming. Just by going door to door asking for help for Haiti, not one business turned us down. A local t-shirt company also agreed to make and sell shirts promoting the event, donating all t-shirt sales to the Hear for Haiti fund. I have been part of the communications team, spreading the word about the t-shirts and the concert to make sure we have a huge crowd for the big event. Tickets are $10 and all of the money from these as well as the money from raffle tickets and t-shirt sales will be donated to Haiti relief. I have helped with getting the message out on KOMU. We have done a live interview with one of my friends who started the concert idea as well as mentioned the concert during our coverage of other Haiti fundraisers. It is so fulfilling to see how my friends and I can start such a huge project in only a few weeks with so much community support. Tickets are selling out fast and with all of the publicity and donations, the concert is sure to be a success. Help for Haiti has really put many people's lives into perspective and has allowed definitely allowed me to step back and appreciate how privileged and fortunate I am. To see every person that I know so willing to help and support the cause is very exciting and I am proud to be part of such a giving community here in Columbia. Through my stories at KOMU to raise awareness of how the community is helping, along with my own contributions to the relief effort, Haiti has really connected the world on a new level of service and I hope this passion for helping others remains.

Working the Web

This past Wednesday started yet another one of my adventures as a web editor at the station. At first the only tasks I could successfully complete were cotweeting reporters and hounding them about writing their web stories before they race out the door. These were the only tasks because only one computer was working behind the desk and the paid desk person needed to use it for updates, etc. As a web editor for my capstone class along with my partner Eliza, we both use the extra computer which was trampled by a terrible virus early in the day. I had my own computer so I made sure to keep the website (komu.com) refreshed so I could look over and edit the existing content from the day.

As always the tech dudes at the station rescued our sad, sick computer and by about 8:30 pm we were back working in full force. I began to capture, photoshop and create reporter images from their video cards to the ACM. Some of the images uploaded at the previous shift were not properly sized for the web so I had to redo those before posting them on the correct story. I made some new images, cotweeted reporters, direct messaged a few viewers who had questions and also added categories and web extras to a few stories. I am becoming way more comfortable and quicker at my web editor tasks. I am excited to begin making interactive graphics once I am more comfortable with flash and illustrator.

Links to stories I posted/produced

100 Years of History

School Budget Cuts

Hybrid Tomatoes

First Nation Report

Here is my First Nation Report from the 5 pm show this evening.

Not the most upbeat of stories, but very important news...

Creole Cuisine For Haiti Relief

On Tuesday for the 5 and 6 pm shows, I did my live report at the Community United Methodist Church. Partnered with Sterling Food Service Management of Columbia and the American Red Cross, traditional creole cuisine and Caribbean music made the church cafeteria quite a busy place. The dinner was held as a fundraiser for the International Response Relief Fund for Haiti. All dinner ticket sales went directly to the Red Cross. The Mid-Missouri Chapter of the American Red Cross has raised $32,000 since the earthquake just three weeks ago.

The food looked great and the musicians were very talented. The dinner was packed with people and quite a monetary success for a good cause. The church will be hosting benefit dinners once a month from now on as long as Haiti needs help.

Here are my live reports from inside the cafeteria as the dinner proceeds behind me.

Link to my story

Quote of the Week

"Use your talent (everybody has one) in anyway you can. Don't keep it for yourself like a miser-spend it like a millionaire! " ~Lucy MacDonald

This week I am going to delve into my past. Before I jumped head first into the world of journalism, I had and always will have a huge passion for musical theatre and performing arts. In high school I was involved with a local community theatre Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre. I started singing and dancing at the ripe young age of three. I continued my musical performing and developed my talent as I grew up. Freshman year in high school, I finally mustered up the courage to try-out for a local community theatre. I was given a part in the musical Peter Pan and this began my exciting adventure ultimately doing about 15 shows during my four years of high school. I discovered my talents and shared them with my family, my friends and the community. The adrenaline, excitement and passion of performing was such a positive part of my life. I learned how to work hard during practice and ultimately take my work to the stage. Sharing my talents and being taught by others with a vast array of talents, was an experience that I take with me on a daily basis. I learned how to be confident in front of a crowd. I learned how to solve problems quickly and think on my feet. I learned how to be mature during a disappointment and rightfully humble when I succeed. I worked with adults and children of all ages expanding my ability to interact with the awareness and respect of cross-generational differences.

These new talents as well as the ones I used while performing in a show, have become helpful tools during my adventures in journalism. Even though I am no longer regularly performing in musical theatre, it has made me a more confident, enthusiastic journalist. The skills that I acquired on and off stage during my performing days give me the ability to engage with my audience while I am on air, or to be confident in the field during interviews or phone calls. The poise and enthusiasm that theatre has taught me directly translates into the talents that I need and use in communication today. I am thankful for my past experiences and I will remember the quote's challenge to continue to share my talents on a daily basis. By sharing mine, I can also discover others and grow in journalism just as I grew in the theatre world.

Once I do settle into a city in the near future with a job and a new life, one of my goals is to reunite with singing, acting and dancing and feel the bright lights of the stage again. Sharing joy with an audience through performance is something that I miss and will always remember as I interact with others in the professional world.