What I've Learned

Perez/ Dec. 9/ Blog Post

Coming into this course, I had no idea what to expect. I have never really considered myself a good writer. After completing this course I have realized how much potential I have. This class has taught me how to write in a way other than writing essays.

Another thing that I learned was what it takes to write an actual news article. When reading the paper one might think that a journalist just sat and wrote about a topic when in reality so much work goes into writing a piece. I applaud all journalists. It is a job that consists of a lot of hard work and dedication.

My favorite part of this course was when we covered Public Relations. That is a field that I would like a career in and it was nice to get a peek of what I will be getting into.

I personally enjoyed this course. It thought it was an overall great semester!

Picture Blog Quinshaw Gentle

These was the two pictures I took at the end of the "Branding Me" presentation by Herbert Lowe

What I Learned in Comm 255 Quinshaw G

Gentle/ Dec 9/ What I learned this year

Some of the things I learned this year about Journalist and Public Relations changed some of my perspectives on what I want to do after college with my career. At first, I wanted to work in the public Relations field for a company’s special event team.  After learning how organizations deliver their messages to the media, while keeping their public image as positive as possible and how PR practitioners differ from journalists. I decided my true interests are Sport Cars, Video games and Electronics. I want to follow one of these beats as a reporter or blogger.

I learned the Associated Press Stylebook offers guidelines for news writing. And many public relations offices and publications, such as magazines and newspapers, use AP style as a standardized writing style, this was one of the most complicated things to deal with this semester.

My favorite thing we did this semester as a class was the exercise were the journalist had to solve the cafeteria food mystery and submit the story by the deadline. I never realized until now that it takes an entire team to create just one article in a Newspaper. I have a new found appreciation for all journalist and that is thanks to Comm 255.

Creating a Winter Wonderland

This in my first year I have my own little home to get ready for the holidays. I am a busy college student and taking all this time to deck the halls with balls of holly doesn’t seem like something I can get done.

So I made myself a little winter wonderland.

It was easy and done in less then an hour!  All you need is: one set of net Christmas lights, (the ones that are meant to lay over outside bushes) one set of icicle lights, one to two pads of scrapbook paper, and one to two rolls of ribbon.

So grab your supplies and lets do this in 1,2,3!

1: To give a nice starry look for your windows hang the net lights behind your curtains. ~Check

2: Now hang the icicle lights up against the wall in a nice swoop pattern (that then almost forms a chevron pattern with how the icicles fall) ~ Check

3: Last but not least pull out the scrapbook paper and start making those beautiful 3-D snowflakes.

Here is the link to how to create the 3-D Snowflakes

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/549509592007991475/

Hang the snowflakes in alternating heights and spacing to create a snowy day effect. ~Check

Now sit back and enjoy the wintery ambiance~ Check

What I love best about this winter wonderland is the fact that I can leave it up until Mach 20^th (the first day of spring) and living in Wisconsin I probably could keep the decorations up till May without it being out of season.

What I Took Away From COMM255

In this class, I learned more about the foundation of news gathering and news writing. By gaining this knowledge, I now appreciate journalism in a whole different aspect. I never truly understood how much work journalists actually have to do in every single piece they write. Also, I didn't really appreciate how timely and accurate they have to be with every single article they write.

Another beneficial aspect of this class was the use of social media, mainly Twitter, for more professional purposes. This was the first time I've ever had to use my personal account to relay news to classmates, followers, and other potential viewers. This also served as a great way for the class to interact with each other outside of the classroom. We were all one simple "#Comm255" search away from reading everything our classmates were sharing.

Thank you all for a great semester and I'll hopefully see you around!

-Zachary Ketzer

John Wall Post Game Interview 12/8/2014

Last night John Wall, a NBA player for the Washington Wizards, broke down in tears after talking about the death of his 6-yr-old friend, Miyah Telemaque-Nelson. She passed away Monday morning of Burkitt's Lymphoma.

More on this heartbreaking story can be seen at this link.

-Zachary Ketzer

What I learned in Comm 255 - Kelsey Krimmer

     Prior to taking Communication 255: Intro to News Writing, I really didn't have the slightest clue as to how newsrooms worked. I think that it was about after the second story (speech story) that I realized writing a news story was actually pretty tedious...mainly for the AP style writing that we had to have the stories in. 

      I really liked the class discussion on Public Relations because PR is something that I might be interested in going into after college. I liked the press conference that we acted out about the issues of parking here at Parkside.

     What stuck out most to me from class was Professor Elie's recounts of experiences she had when working at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - the story about the crack house is still in my head. I can't imagine being in her position, alone and completely vulnerable, all for a good story. I also would have been super p.o.'d at my boss for sending me to a place like that as well. 

     I definitely have a new appreciation along with more respect for journalists. Their jobs aren't always easy. 



-Kelsey Krimmer