Alumni Contact

I recently talked to an alum at my school by the name of Jason Gonzales. He is a photographer at WPXI in Pittsburgh. I gained a lot of information about my resume tape which I will be completing soon and about how to get a job. I was told to look professional, act professional, and then I will be a professional. It all makes sense to me. Also it is good to be flexible and be able to move away. He said in this business I may not be able to find a job close to where my hometown is. I guess I will not find that out until i start applying for jobs, or start applying to grad schools, which I also see as an option.

Research Halfway Mark

There is a lot of research that I have to do to complete my senior project which is a resume' tape that i can send to potential employers. I have read a lot of magazines and also have talked to professional photographer Jason Gonzales who works for WPXI in Pittsburgh. I will be doing a presentation on him in two weeks and I feel that I am well prepared for it. I feel that I am on the right track with half of my research done now.

End of the line?

It's now almost halfway through October and it's exciting to think that in seven months I'll no longer be at school, I'll have taken my last final, but more importantly, I'll be getting a career, not a job. At the moment I am doing everything I can to make myself more marketable to different places. I have finished my senior comprehensive exam and I am beginning to work on my capstone project, which I need to complete to graduate. This is all exciting but scary at the same time. No longer will I be in the bubble called Westminster College. I'll be an "adult" and on my own. I put adult in quotes because I'd like to think I'm still a kid, somewhat. I feel time running out and I'm not sure how i feel about it.

Resume' tape!!

Well going on with what i talked about last week, which is my senior capstone project, is what goes into a good resume' tape. He said that it really depends on what position you are applying for. If you are looking to be on camera, then there better be a lot of video of you in front of the camera covering things that the station is looking for whether it be spot news, or features. Also if you are applying for a camera job, which is what id like, then you have to show that you have an adept ability at working a camera and show what unique shots you can do to make more compelling video.

What are they looking for???

The general manager of a local television station WYTV in Youngstown came to visit one of my classes today and gave some important tips on what a general manager like himself is looking for in a broadcast student. He mentioned to be on time, professional, and neat. But these things are pretty much a standard for an interview. He also said ,and this is what stood out in my mind when he was speaking, ask questions and don’t be worried about the pay, because you will get paid. If you ask immediately what the pay is in the interview then he knows exactly what you want from the job, which is money. I’ll be going over next week on what he wants in a resume’ tape as well.

Yesterday I learned a lot about looking for a job and how to work with others within my field. My class participated in a team building exercise yesterday which really opened my eyes. One task within this exercise was to get all the members of the class through a "spider web" which was made of rope and bungee cords. The hard part was that the holes to get past the web were only allowed to be used once. The exercise took strategy and critical thinking skills. It was a metaphor for a lot of things when I get out of school. It taught me to never give up, even if I don’t find a job. I also learned that everybody has their own niche and if you need help with something that isn’t your specialty that there is always someone there to help you. Overall I think I feel less anxious about leaving school, but not completely.

This week is the first that i will start to detail about my senior capstone project. It will entail all aspects of trying to create a resume' tape for an entry level broadcaster. Since i am going to be graduating this May I am also going to talk about how i am going to get an internship as well. This is the first step of many in which i am going to take on the road to becoming a better and more well rounded broadcaster.

Is that really who they are?

We've recently been talking about identity online and how people can pretend to be someone else on the internet. I don't really see a huge problem with this but when people pose as someone to get private information out of people that they wouldnt know otherwise brings up an issue of ethics. I don't think it's very ethical when a boy friend or girlfriend poses as someone else to get information that they shouldn't know. But I guess this also brings an issue of trust into the picture. I think that if theres suspicion and someone is lying about a certain situation then I think there is a plausible cause to see if the person is lying or not. The "To Catch A Predator" series i think displayed a good example of posing to be someone online. Catching criminals in the act is something that they deserve especially if it's something as serious as having sex with a minor.

Power Outage

A recent power outage has made me realize how relient on technology people are. Just think of everything you use everyday and think if it needs electricity. The digital alarm clock, hair dryer, lights in your room, your car, and computers. Just think of how different your life would be if you didn't have all these luxuries. More than half of the world deals with it yet when things break or go down on us, the world stops. This power outage rendered everything useless pretty much and all of the people I know were saying they couldnt do anything because the power wasnt on. It was just so suprising to think of all the people not doing anything because the power was off. I wonder what the future will be like and will we be even more relient on technology and everything will be shut down when the power goes out or will we learn how to continue our day even though we have no technology.

Changes In Entertainment

As I was laying around and watching old episodes of Are You Afraid Of The Dark that used to be on Nickelodeon when i was a kid, I thought of how entertainment for kids has changed so much since when i was a kid. I remember watching shows all of the old Nickelodeon shows when i was a kid and they were all trivia game like Legends Of The Hidden Temple or just scary shows, but nothing was really violent. There were some scary things but the most scary thing would be a clown or a mad scientist. Now kids are watching shows with so much violence in them. All of the new anime shows have violence in them and kids are constantly bombarded by this. It just amazes me that in ten years, there has been such a change in what kids are entertained by. It's just sad to see all the shows I loved when i was a kid go out like that, but I guess thats why I'll always call the shows I loved watching "classics."

In my experience, whenever people "badmouth" technology, it seems that video games are a big part of their arguement. It's not like it doesnt bother me when I see something on the news about a school shooting or a student acting out and killing some of his classmates. But what bothers me about that is how the parents want to blame the way that their kid acted on music, video games, or something along the lines of that. What the issue really is, is whether or not the parents were good parents. I like to believe that my parents brought me up well. I didn't shoot up my school. But I also listen to heavy metal and play video games. What was different in my situation? If I was looked at by someone who doesn't know me, I would look like someone who would shoot up a school, but i never have, and never will. Why? I think that it's the parents responsibility for how their children act. If children are brought up correctly then there shouln't be any problems. Yet this still happens and parents blame heavy metal and video games, when the problem is bad parenting. Parents need to wake up and realize that it's not music or video games that are making kids crazy, it's bad parenting.

Parents and Technology

This has been something I have been thinking about for a while now, even though I personally won't have to make a decision about it until I reach this stage in my life. This issue I've been thinking about is how the relationships between parents and children will change with all this introduction of new technology. I know that I spend time with my family by watching TV and Movies or playing videogames. But what i really think about is, if I decide to have kids, how will the technology at that time affect how they will grow up? I think that kids that do not watch cable or satellite television will have more active imaginations. Also I think that it could lead to them not having as many friends because they don't know everything about Spongebob Squarepants or any other kids shows. Also if cable is resricted, should video games be restricted too? I hear all these things about videogames making children more violent. Although I don't personally believe this, I think it plays at least a small factor in making kids more violent. I can be considered an avid gamer. I don't think that just because I have been playing a violent game, that I will be more violent. It just doesn't sink in with me, maybe because I'm just not violent to begin with. I've been playing video games since I was seven and I don't think it has made me more aggressive.

How much information are people putting on the internet about their lives?

This seems like an very interesting question and i thought of it the other day when i was actually going to start this entry. It just makes me wonder what information people do put on the net for people to read. More importantly, how many people actually read what you write? I guess if you are blogging for a while, people may read your blog often, and get to know you, partially at least. But i think thats only if you out a lot of information about yourself and all the things you think about, because essentially you have as much space as you want when you type on here. I'm sure though that even if i dont put many personal things in here, some people that read this will actually get to know a part of me.