Coming to a close

I feel as though I repeat myself, but there have only been a few things on my mind in the past 2 months. 

With our last CNJ class (and my last undergrad class) behind me, I have a lot to reflect on. Four years of college, four classes with Chris Delboni and four Millennium Development Goal stories.

This last story was tough. I was nervous for a few days that our video wouldn’t work out, but fortunately, our sources opened up their gracious arms and let us in for a second visit. Great people at the Temple Beth Shmuel Montessori school. 

Our video showed how the students (ages 2-6) family, friends and the congregation celebrated the 61st Independence of Israel. 89-year-old Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz and the students sing happy birthday to Israel and its truly precious.

The print story, just like the video, had some bumps and bruises along the way. I was over confident that our story would only take a few drafts, but in fact it took about 6, and is still in the works. In the end, it is a much better story than where it started, and really tells the story of a great idea made a reality.

Summer’s almost here, but there’s still more stories to be written and JOBS to be offered.

This is the end…(the doors)

With three stories down and the fourth and final one in the works, it’s hard to look back and say I haven’t learned anything. Actually, I’ve learned a tremendous amount.

My reporting skills have skyrocketed and my innate curiosity level has jumped as well; all things that lead to being a successful journalist. 

Also, I can use Final Cut Pro. Well, maybe I’m not an expert, but I certainly feel comfortable enough to edit and produce videos for the web. I give all the credit in the world to our professor and my mentor Chris Delboni with a helping hand from Millennium Beat’s web editor Dena Giannini. 

Tonight, Olivia and I are going back to the Temple Beth Shmuel Montessori school to film our new media component for our final story. The pressure is building to get the story done because our current draft of our print story is far from par. Once we get this footage tonight of children singing and dancing in front of family and friends for Israeli Independence day, it’ll all be in the hands of Final Cut to get this story done. 

Besides for two finals, this is it. College is over. Wow.

“Houston, we have liftoff…”

Our classes Millennium Beat website has finally [soft] launched.  We’re trying to get as many comments as we can and make a few tweaks here and there before we make the site findable through Google and other search engines.

The entire class, especially Dena Giannini our web editor, has pulled together throughout the semester and it has all culminated to this! It feels good to have worked hard and now have that hard work displayed so beautifully for anyone (literally) to view. 

But it would be a lie to say there weren’t some bumps along the way, and I am certainly not expecting it to be smooth sailing until then. It just never is in journalism. 

Maybe that’s what this business is really about, maybe that’s what any business is really about: being able to hurdle the challenges along the way, and if you fall, well, get your ass back up.

I might be getting philosophical because I am graduating in about a month and the world that lies ahead seems dark and dismal, but I think I have gotten my point across and I think I will probably end up surviving.