Week 14

Class 1 - 

Tuesday was our final meeting at the Vindicator. We discussed resumes. We looked at one person in the class's resume to discuss how to make it better.

Todd, Mark and Alyssa tore it apart with us and reconstructed it in a format that is appropriate for a media resume.

Alyssa then encouraged us to make an online portfolio and gave us a couple of ideas and examples.

Pressfolios.com is one website that has a solid template for journalists to set up an online portfolio. Other options are to set up a personal website and pay for the domain name, use a blogging website or just stick with your paper resume. The shortfall of having only a paper resume, however, is that when you send potential employers your resume and your information changes, they will not have the updated information.

Using online portfolio options keeps your resume up-to-date, your latest clips accessible and you can track how many people and who views your site.

After we finished our discussion, we were given until Thursday to update our paper resumes to discuss in class at Smith Hall.

We were also given instructions to make any additional edits needed on our projects and turn them in to our advisors before the end of the semester.

Class 2 - 

We discussed with Alyssa each individual resume and were given suggestions on how to improve what we had put together so far.

This was the last class of the semester. No class for week 15. Alyssa asked how she could improve the set-up of presentations to accommodate a larger group of students.

Alyssa also offered to write a recommendation letter for any student who completed senior project this semester.

Week 12

There was no class during week 12, because Tuesday was the day for our final presentations.

The event was scheduled from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and ended up going until about 8:15 p.m. We presented in a specific order listed on a program. Each attendee received a book of all senior project stories.

The presentations consisted of each of us answering questions designated the previous week by Alyssa and then we were given feedback on our stories from the panel of professionals and professors. 

I was scheduled to go last and essentially received all positive feedback.

Halfway through the event we took a brief break for the catered dinner provided by campus catering. 

The rest of the week we had the chance to work on any additional edits suggested at the presentations.

Week 13

No class this week. We were given the week to work on our finals edits and instructed to pick up the comments from attendees at the presentation at The News Outlet.

Week 11

Class 1 - 

I met with Mark to do final edits on my mainbar. The rest of the class met with Alyssa to go over what the following Tuesday's presentations would be like.

Class 2 -

We all convened at Smith Hall to discuss the order and format of the following Tuesday's presentations.  Alyssa gave advice about what to include in our presentations and how to handle difficult questions during the Q&A segment.

By this point, we all knew that we would make it out of senior project with a passing grade. Some students had a little more work to do on their projects and others were publication ready.

The final package, including mainbar, sidebar and multimedia was due by noon.

Week 10

Class 1 – 

We met at the Vindy and discussed the progress of our multimedia elements. Then we were free to discuss with our mentors whatever issues we were having and what our next steps should be. 

We were also given a list of the students who would be publication ready by the April 9 presentation and those who would probably need to continue working on their projects after the presentation.

Class 2 – 

We met early, starting at 1:30, and shared our rough multimedia sidebars. We discussed what each person could do to improve the product and what they had done well. 

I put together a radio story about what lawyers look for when selecting a jury. I was given notes about what to improve about the script and delivery. We were given one week to make edits based on the each others' feedback.

Week 9

Class 1 – 

We all met at the Vindicator and discussed multimedia options for our second sidebar. After solidifying the focus of each students' multimedia story, everyone was advised to seek further assistance from Christine Davidson and Andrew Bush to produce the multimedia stories.

The print sidebar was due the day before. We discussed and decided on a due date for the rough multimedia sidebar: the following Thursday. 

Then we were free to discuss our full projects with our mentor.

Class 2 – 

We had no formal meeting. We were free to meet with our mentor sometime during the week. 

I met with Mark the following Monday and we did a line-by-line edit of my mainbar.



***The previous week we were on Spring Break, but Alyssa gave a due date for the next draft of our mainbars. It was the Tuesday of Spring Break. Be aware that due dates will not always be on convenient days. I had mine done the week prior to Spring Break and it alleviates a lot of stress to do edits early. Also, communication is key. By this point in the semester, anyone who was going to drop out already had. But, we received a rather frightening e-mail from Alyssa, warning that anyone who missed the Spring Break deadline for mainbar edits might not be invited to final presentations. Fortunately, it worked out that everybody was invited, but there will be moments during senior project where it seems like the world is ending. Remain calm. Everything will be ok. Your professor wants you to pass with flying colors, so discuss issues and work with your professor and mentor.***

Week 8

Class 1 – 

Only people who were struggling with side bar ideas had to meet for class on Tuesday.

Class 2 – 

We had no formal class.


***Often in senior project, at least when Alyssa was teaching, we had a great deal of freedom to schedule interviews during class time or she would not call students to class unless they needed to work on something specific. Most weeks we only met once, on Tuesdays.***