Education Survey Group

We finished gathering the results from our student surveys, which were conducted on campus over the past few weeks. What I found to be most revealing was the amount of students who are under the impression that the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol. There were also a significant amount of students who failed to recognize that the majority of earth scientists agree that we are experiencing a mass extinction. I believe this is a result of misplaced faith in our political leaders. Understandably, some of the students may not have any idea about the details surrounding the Kyoto treaty, especially since our country didn't participate in its signing, but I also believe that many students are under the false impression that our government is doing everything it can to take care of the climate change issue. Another interesting detail from the survey results was the amount of students who feel that the media has exaggerated the threat climate change poses, when in reality, the media cares more about the death of celebrities than the melting polar ice caps. I think that a solution to climate change is not just educating students about the science surrounding it, but making sure that they are aware of the role their country and its leaders play in the fight against it and what effective actions they are taking. Public outrage may be the key to getting our representatives to listen, but if the masses continue to have the wool pulled over their eyes, our future will remain uncertain.
--Michael Verdi

Columbine Still Haunts...

I came across an article on the Newsweek website about two pastors who are still haunted by the shooting's of Columbine 10 years later. It's always heart breaking, challening and interesting to read and re-live the tragedy which took place in 1999. This article was about two pastors who both presided over funerals of Columbine victims, as well as the murderer's.

Reverend Don Marxhausen performed the funeral of Dylan Klebold, who was one of the two shooters in the Columbine massacre. Despite the communities lack of support for his decision to preside over the funeral, Marxhausen performed the funeral any way and says that he regrets the decision ever since.

George Kirsten, who was on his way to Israel the day of the Columbine shooting, came right back to Colorado to be there for the community and perform funerals as well. It tells how he was a former Navy pilot and how this event and massacre at the school triggered a lot of his memories from war.

The article took a different perspective than we typically hear when looking back at this tragic day in history. We usually hear about that day at Columbine and the two students which took the lives of 12 students and one teacher. I really enjoyed this article, although it was hard to read because of the emotions involved, due to the standpoint it took and the two stories that it told. It helps those whom were not directly affected by the shooting to understand the pain and haunting that the event still has on people.

Lightweight Equipment for Troops on Hold

Soldiers in the army are forced to carry so much equipment that it can take a toll on their backs and knees. As a result, the army has agreed to send troops some equipment that is more lightweight. Lightweight bullet proof plates that protect a soldier's chest and back were supposed to be sent out to troops already but there has been a delay. "A team of Army experts went to eastern Afghanistan in early March expecting to begin trial runs of the gear for regular Army soldiers, including a company assigned to the remote Korangal Valley, a harsh and primitive area of eastern Afghanistan where the insurgency has proved especially resilient, and where soldiers regularly set off on multiple-day patrols that require them to hike up and down steep hills and valleys. But the assessment team was ordered back to the United States late last month when its experiment was put off. The delays in the assessment were reported first by Army Times." The analysis of the new equipment will begin again in a month.

There is an article on NYTimes.com tonight putting a more positive spin on the career outlook for college graduates this year. The article mainly concerns business grads, but I believe that for those of us who are interested in journalism, the situation is somewhat relevant.

Steven Greenhouse writes, "The implosion of Wall Street — the vaporization of Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers, the general humbling of investment banks — has not only shaken a generation’s ambitions, but also unleashed them." Top business grads from the most prestigious schools in America are not getting their dream job offers, but Greenhouse notes that some aren't taking it that hard. For them, the denial has become a form of liberation, allowing them to consider new options. A few are even a little relieved.

I admire Greenhouse's creativity in this story. He could have just written a passable "Grads aren't finding Jobs" story and been done. Instead, he found a bit of optimism in a situation which is becoming downright depressing. All of the facts are still reported, but not in the typical, mechanical fashion.

One photo to tell a story...

The last day of class we had a guest speaker from the Naples news press and he showed us some videos pertaining to some of the things we had worked on in class with the audio slideshow. And so instead of paying so much focus to the article, I looked at the one photo they used to go with the story. Our guest speaker talked about how it can take several months to get pictures for a story and and long it can take to write a good story. The article was about a woman who used to be a drug addict, but while being pregnant with her third child, she decided to change her ways and try to kick her habit with an outpatient progam. The picture was only from above the bust and up and she was dressed very professional. In the picture it seems she is in mid-sentence as if telling her story and she does not look like she was a crack addict. I thought it was really interesting how that one picture captured the idea of the whole story. But, it also made me think of how hard this decision can be if you can only use one picture. Whether it took the editor or writer a long time to choose which photo or not, it was nice to kind of see past what is in front of me and realize how much work can go into these stories.

Joe Madden Retires

As John Madden retires this morning, I found a very interesting article on him on the Sports Illustrated website, which is networked by CNN. The first point I'd like to make about the article that drew my attention was the anecdote used in the first six or seven paragraphs. At first, I was left wondering where the story was going to connect with the body, which was Madden retiring, but when the anecdote finished and the writer connected it with his retirement, I sat back thinking what a great attention grabber that was. The one thing about this long anecdote, however, that left me a bit confused was whether or not it was too long? The heart of the story was not reached until well into the article, yet the story continued to hold my attention. I found this to be very interesting.

Another differentn point I noticed about this article entitled Madden's legend in NFL unmatched was that because it was online it was much more opinionated that articles which we read in the newspaper. The writer, Peter King, expressed his feelings towards Madden's retirement quite freely and at one point seemed to PR for NBC despite the fact that when he does this, he makes note of it right after in the article. This challenged my mind to think alot as well.

Lastly, Peter King is an NFL writer for NBC, so why was his article posted on the Sports Illustrated website which is run by CNN?

Don't mistake my criticism and questions for negativity; I greatly enjoyed this article and it helped me to truly visualize and internalize the difference between online writing and newspaper writing. We discussed this difference in class and our book also covered a whole chapter on it, but seeing it had much more of an impact than reading about it from someone else.

I encourage everyone to take a look at this article and note the anecdote and how it led into the story as well as the difference between this and an article in a print newspaper.

Is FGCU's class of 2009 in trouble?

In a recent article posted on the New York Times website, researchers analyzed the job market and what sort of prospects new graduates will face when they enter the work force this year. Is FGCU's class of 2009 in trouble? Researchers say no. Even though the unemployment rate peaked at a 25-year high and employers figure on hiring 22 percent less graduates than last year, research has proven that all hope is not lost for the graduating class of 2009.

The solution? Accept the fact that jobs are limited and your dream job may not fall into your hands just yet. Life-long careers do not have to be the first job you earn, so graduates may end up in a lesser-paid and less-luxurious job than they originally shot for. However, this also doesn't mean do not shoot for your dreams. Just because the country sunk a little, doesn't mean your self-esteem has to follow in its footsteps.