Helping Hands

A helping hand can go a long way. That's the message I want to convey to my audience. Each summer since 2004, the Lawrence County Community Action Partnership recruits local volunteers to help those in need by completing various household jobs and repairs. This faith based community volunteer project is called His Hands Ministry and it truly reflects the meaning of lending a helping hand. Whether it's building a ramp for a handicapped child or trimming bushes for an elderly widow, these volunteers find satisfaction in fulfilling the needs of others.

From July 21st to the 25th these volunteers dedicated their time to helping out members of their community. I decided the best way to convey my message would be to create a 10 to 20 minute documentary which will showcase the volunteers' efforts and the positive effect they have on the community. I filmed 2 to 3 hours of footage, took about 200 pictures, and got 15 interviews from homeowners and volunteers. My documentary will focus on three or four houses in which the volunteers worked at. Using both still photos and video, I will tell the story and mission of His Hands Ministry and illustrate to the audience the benefits of lending a helping hand.

The title of the documentary will simply be "Helping Hands." After racking my brain and trying to come up with something more elaborate I decided this title is something my audience will be able to remember and it fits the documentary perfectly. Along with the documentary I plan to create a 30-second trailer using video and still photos to preview the film.

My capstone presentation will take place Tuesday, November 18th at 7 PM in Mueller Theater. For my presentation I will give a brief speech on why I chose to do this as my senior project, play the documentary, and then take any questions from the audience. The main objective of this documentary is to persuade my target audience to volunteer for His Hands Ministry. My target audience includes all male and females in the Lawrence County area of age 12 and older. Other goals for this documentary include:

• Increasing the number of volunteers for His Hands Ministry



• Have the documentary shown in Lawrence County



• Enter the documentary into a student film competition
  

Since starting capstone class back in January, I feel as though I have a clear idea on exactly what my capstone project will be. I look forward to creating the documentary and I hope my message will appeal to my audience.

An American Idol

In these past two weeks I wrote about people who have really inspired me and helped me out throughout my college experience. Although these are people whom I know on a personal level there are many people who I have never met, but have inspired me in some way. One broadcast professional who I really admire is Ryan Seacrest. Many people may know him as the "pretty" guy with really nice hair and teeth or the host of American Idol, but there's much more to him than that. I was even surprised about some of the information I found out about him.

According to http://www.blogger.com/www.wikipedia.com Seacrest was born in Atlanta, Georgia on December 24, 1976. Seacrest quickly got interested in the Radio business after reading the morning announcements over the PA system at his high school. At the age of just 16 he began interning at one of Atlanta's top radio stations, WSTR/Star 94. TV.com says that at first Seacrest didn't get the internship, but after creating an impressive demo tape for the station's program director he got the 7 to midnight shift.

Seacrest kept his job at the radio station all through high school all through his college career at the University of Georgia. Also, during his freshman year he began hosting a sports show on the weekends. Upon graduating from college he moved to Los Angeles to further his career in radio. In L.A. he worked for a local radio station and began to develop his career in entertainment by hosting shows such as Gladiators 2000 and Animal Games.

Seacrest got his big break when he accepted the job of co-hosting the new reality show American Idol. Once the ratings for the show went through the roof, Seacrest was in the national spotlight. Seacrest stuck with his true passion of radio by launching his own radio show in 2003 called "On Air With Ryan Seacrest." His career has skyrocketed ever since American Idol and he continues to host television shows, radio shows, and star in commercials.

According to his official website, http://www.ryanseacrest.com/, he has raised funds for one of his philanthropic partners, Operation Smile, which gives free reconstructive surgery to underprivileged children with facial deformities. Other achievements of Seacrest, reported by TV.com, are eight emmy nominations, member of Forbes's magazine Celebrity 100, and host of the 2007 Emmys.

I could probably go on and on about his different achievements and awards, but what I really find the most interesting about Ryan Seacrest is that he started off just like any other person. He found a love for radio at a young age and did whatever it took to make it his profession. I really admire the fact that he had to work hard for what he wanted in life and it wasn't just handed to him. I also love the fact that he is multi-talented in broadcasting. He can DJ a radio show, host a TV show, and produce a TV show. After doing research on Seacrest I have found a new respect for him and I hope one day I can be successful at what I want to do.

A Challenging Journey

Throughout my college experience I have been challenged and tested in many ways. Looking back I remember my high school teachers always lecturing us about how hard college was going to be and that we won't always be able to take the easy route. After being in college for 3 years I completely agree with my high school teachers. Although it's been a tough journey to get to my senior year I realize that it was all worth it. Along the way I have had many professors that have challenged me, but one professor really sticks out in my mind.

Mr. Corso has not only been one of my professors but he is also my advisor. Coming in as a freshman I was a little overwhelmed and not quite sure of what classes I should take, but Mr. Corso was very friendly and helpful when it came to making my schedule. My first class with him was speech and I'm not an extremely outgoing person so when it comes to public speaking, I get nervous. I remember sitting in class the day of my first speech waiting for my turn. My palms were sweaty, I was constantly looking over my note cards, and my heart was racing. Knowing that a lot of us were nervous, Mr. Corso gave us some inspirational advice and told us that the audience can't sense how nervous we really are. From then on I was able to get through the class and I actually did improve my public speaking skills.

Another class that was challenging for me was mass communications my junior year. I was looking forward to this class because it was part of my major, but I found it to be pretty challenging. Mr. Corso had us do 25-minute presentations on a topic that related to mass communication. My partner and I got to present on the history of books, which I wasn't too thrilled about because I wanted something more fun like magazines or movies. I knew it would be a challenge to make a 25-minute presentation on books interesting, but Mr. Corso told us to use whatever tools we wanted to present the information such as the Internet, PowerPoint, videos, etc. In the end I actually enjoyed putting the presentation together because it let me be creative and use my broadcasting skills, and we got a lot of great feedback from students in the class which I was really happy about.

Our final project for this class was also a challenge. In groups of 5, we had to create a 5 minute documentary on someone who has made a difference. Before this assignment I had never made a documentary and I was a little nervous about how it would turn out. My whole group was helpful in the process, but I knew I was crucial in this project because I was the only BC major in my group, therefore I sort of took on a leadership role. Not only did this project teach me a lot about working with others and creating a documentary, but also being a leader. In the end, our documentary turned out great and we even won an honorable mention in the nationwide contest our documentary was submitted to!

Overall, Mr. Corso has really challenged me throughout my college years, not only by advising me in what classes to take, but also by the classes he taught. Not only do I learn a lot when I am pushed to do something, but I also grow as a person. Since taking speech class I'm more outgoing and better at public speaking, and since mass communications, I've learned how to work well with others and take on a leadership role. These attributes have all helped me to get where I am today. I'm currently an EP for Titan Radio News, I'm captain of the Westminster dance team, and I'm Co-President of Dance Theatre. If I wasn't challenged in the past to do these different tasks, I don't think I would have these leadership roles today, and I can thank Mr. Corso for that.

Learning From A Professional

My internship at WKBN this past summer has really helped me grow in more ways than one. Before starting my internship I was hoping it would be a way of figuring out what I want to do once I graduate. Throughout my internship I got the chance to go out with different reporters, shadow a producer, as well as hang out in promotions for a day. However, looking back there is one person who greatly helped me along the way and was willing to take time to teach me.

Dan is a fairly new reporter at the station, but he is really is good at what he does. He goes out by himself everyday, gets the story, does interviews, writes the story, and edits it all together. I find this to be an extremely stressful task and I give all VJs credit for doing what they do. As an intern I got the opportunity to tag along with the reporters and go to really neat places, however, for most of the stories I was with Dan. I'm really grateful that he took time out of his busy schedule to stop and teach me things while he was working on a story.

Even though I was just an intern, I felt like I actually contributed to the story each time in some way. Before finishing up an interview Dan always asked whether or not I had any questions to ask. He gave me a lot of great advice when shooting a package, as far as how long to hold a shot, what to shoot, different angles, etc. Once we got back to the station I would write my own version of the story and then Dan would look over it and give me suggestions and tips. Dan is a really great writer so getting advice from him was really helpful.

One day when we went to film Governor Ed Rendell in Sharon Dan was really pressed for time. He had to have two stories done that day so while he went to work on the other story, he asked me to sit in the edit bay while it was capturing and write down sound bites that I thought would be good to use. I picked out maybe 5 or 6 different bites that I thought were the best and once he was finished he came over and chose one from which I picked. Out of all the reporters, Dan definitely was the most helpful and gave me the most opportunities to contribute to the stories.

Even though I was only there for one summer I learned so much. Not only did Dan trust me to do things, but he was also very honest and told me a lot about the business, not just the positives but also the negatives. On my last day before I even got the chance to ask, Dan gave me his card and told me if I ever needed any advice or wanted him to look at something to just give him a call.

Going into my internship I had a lot of expectations, but the overall experience has really surpassed those expectations. I got the opportunity to go out on stories, get feedback on my writing, and receive professional advice. I'm truly thankful for all the time Dan took out of his day to stop and help me to make sure I was learning. Coming out of my internship I feel that I have greatly improved my writing skills, gained a new respect for VJs, have a better understanding of the business, and made some great connections.

Discovering Something New

It's my senior year here at Westminster College and I can hardly believe it. Looking back at all the classes I've taken and all the hard work I've done the past three years makes me feel as though I have accomplished so much. However, one class that has left a lasting impression on me is Public Relations 101.

It was my sophomore year and I was trying to decide on a minor to go along with my major in Broadcast Communications. I considered many different options, but then I found out about Public Relations. After learning more about it I decided to go ahead and take PR 101 to help me decide whether or not this is something I could really enjoy. The first week of class was a little intimidating because most of the students were already PR majors or minors and seemed to know a lot about the business.

One of our assignments was to stay updated on current events and news and then be quizzed every week. This was a challenging task. I found it almost impossible to read all the news that was going on in the world each week. I would watch the news and do a lot of research online, but the quizzes were extremely hard. This showed me how much news there really is in the world and how it's important to keep updated on what's going on around you, especially in Broadcasting and Public Relations.

Our final project for this class was also an eye opening experience. We had to work in a group and actually come up with a product and present it to the class, as though it was a formal business pitch. I found this to be extremely challenging. We had to create a media kit, press releases, business cards, brochures, etc. Although it was very time consuming I found along the way that I really enjoyed doing everything we did. It allowed me to use my creativity and my broadcasting skills at the same time.

Overall this class was not only an eye opener, but also a great learning experience. I found out a lot about myself. I have always been a little shy and apprehensive about giving speeches and presentations, but by the end of the semester I had done so many speeches in this class I felt as though I turned out to be a pretty good speaker. I also discovered that PR and broadcasting go together quite well. PR professionals deal with the media a lot and reporters deal with PR a lot. Finally I discovered that this could be a possible occupation for myself. I found myself actually enjoying going to class and learning more about the business as well as working on the different projects. My goal in life is to have a job that I really love and I realized someday it might be a job in Public Relations.

I'm so glad that I took this class because it did end up being my minor, and perhaps another major. I feel that it will really give me an extra boost when I go out into the real world and try to pursue a job in broadcasting. Not only have I improved on my speaking skills but also my creativity and thinking outside the box. I look forward to the other PR classes I will be taking next semester and hopefully they will have just as great an impact on me as PR 101.