Thursday, April 18, 2013

Life as a UF Telecom Student

The Center for Media Innovation and Research is a great facility for students to have access to at the University of Florida.  It not only allows students to keep up with current journalism but it allows students to prepare for the future of journalism.  The equipment and resources available for students is state of the art and truly offers a unique learning experience while students are developing professionally while in school.  Some of my best experiences have came from the Integrated News Facility where I have been given practical, hands-on experience.  I not only have a passion for news but a passion for sports as well. The UF College of Journalism has given me several opportunities to not only study what I love, but practice what I love while in school.  I have anchored the sports segment for the WUFT news as well as reported for the 5 pm newscasts.

Each day that I had to report I attended the 9:30 morning meeting where I pitched my story ideas to the News Director and received my assignment for the day.  I would then make phone calls, conduct interviews, write a script and edit video all in a days time to have a package ready for that evening's newscast.  I gained practical experience as I had real deadlines to make and real news to cover.  My favorite story I covered while reporting was actually on a Gainesville family who overcame homelessness.  Their story is very inspiring.  

The college also gave me the experience to tour the ESPN College Game Day set and meet many prominent people such as Desmond HowardKirk Herbstreit and David Pollack just to name a few.  




I have also spent some time working for ESPN radio where I have been privileged to interview not only collegiate athletes but pro athletes as well.  One of my favorite things I have been able to do while in school is to produce feature stories for Gator Zone which also airs on Sun Sports.  My latest story was on the UF Men's Swimming team which highlighted their SEC win.





Overall, the UF College of Journalism has provided me with nothing but the best possible college experience that I could have asked for and I look forward to applying my skills and knowledge when I graduate and accept my first job.  

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Book Review: The Tipping Point

When starting the Tipping Point I kind of dreaded having to read one more thing for school.  What started out as what I thought was a waste of time, turned out to be rather helpful.  Actually, it was a good tipping point.   What is a tipping point you might ask?  Simply stated, it is a little thing that can make a big difference.  Kind of just like my attitude when starting the book.  My adjustment of my own attitude led to positive effects of how useful the book turned out for me personally.

Overall, this book talked a lot about change.  Change is something that is unpredictable, a process that many people dislike, and is one of the few inevitable things that will always happen in life.  In an interview with Gladwell he brought up several questions that would make the reader think. Questions such as why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does?  For example, why did crime drop so dramatically in New York City in the mid-1990's? How does a novel written by an unknown author end up as national bestseller? Why do teens smoke in greater and greater numbers, when every single person in the country knows that cigarettes kill? Why is word-of-mouth so powerful? What makes TV shows like Sesame Street so good at teaching kids how to read?  Gladwell said that the answers to all of these questions are all the same:  ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics.  And that is where the Tipping Point comes into play.  It is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us. 

I thought the comparison of change and an epidemic were genius.  Why?  Because if you think about what an epidemic is in a social situation, it potentially could have a lot of power.  Epidemics blow up, and die out quickly.  Epidemics can start very quickly, powered by the smallest, tiniest change.  We as humans think that change should happen slowly over a long period of time.  Change happening at a rate so slow we should barely recognize it.  When it doesn't happen that way we act surprised and wonder why.  Gladwell explains that change can be and most often is an epidemic and we shouldn't be surprised when it happens quickly. 

In the business world, we can use epidemics to our advantage.  When we need people to get on the same page we are on and move in the same direction that we want to go.  The question then becomes 'how do you create a tipping point?'  Gladwell teaches that in an epidemic the thing introduced must be widely disseminated. It has to be sticky enough to be retained by each new person.  Finally, it has to be operating in a context that nurtures it.  Those are the things that are obvious.  Some tipping points are not so obvious.  For example, an epidemic does not spread through random people interacting.  They happen through just a few people who are playing vital roles.  Qualities of those people playing vital roles include knowing a lot of people, having the ability to takes the new thing being introduced, sifts through its real-world complexity, organize and translate it down to the simple relevant new bit.  The final quality is having the ability to be a salesperson and making people desire to have the product that you offer or the change that you want to implement. Some examples listed in the book had to do with the production of Sesame Street and Blues Clues. In making the show child's psychology was considered. What sounds like a small thing, made all of the difference.  The Tipping Point is a book that challenges you to think differently.  If you can think differently, you can act differently and when those two things are combined you can see big results. 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

You Have to Love "Sports People"

As an avid sports fan, I tend to make friends with people who share the same passions.  Robert Lopez is a sports junkie much like myself.  You can catch him on ESPN radio basically everyday of the week and before long you'll turn on Sports Center and he will be right there in your living room.  Next meet a fellow sports princess, Katie Gillen. She is always involved in some sporting event and can be found on WUFT and Gator Zone. Without any further a do, meet Jillian Baach. She's also a sports fanatic...one that can tell you anything you need to know about Women's basketball or softball.  Jillian not only loves sports, but she spends quite some time enjoying her TV shows.  I wouldn't be surprised if she had her own reality TV show one day!

Networking is Important

With graduation rapidly approaching, it is very important to know people in the same field as you who can offer encouragement and positive criticism.  Some of these people happen to be my fellow classmates who happen to be very talented.  Meet Keaton Webb, a sarcastic yet intelligent young man with a great sense of humor.  He owns the show on Tuesdays producing WUFT First at Five. A fun fact about Keaton, he eats at Chic Fil A like its his job.  The next colleague who I am privileged to know is Alex De Armas. She is going to do big things in her career and I am excited to see where life takes her.  She recently just got a great job in Fort Meyers and NBC will be lucky to have her.  Next I would like to introduce you to my good friend and partner in crime Casey Liening.  Casey is best known for her creative and interactive stand ups, is an awesome anchor at WUFT and she is no stranger in the kitchen!