Ryan Hennigan
The CSPA convention was just like Physics. Yes, the classes were boring and they didn’t say anything that hasn’t already been said, yet they provided the equations for success.
After an enduring, over five hour long bus trip, the group of students arrived on campus to attend the first session of classes at Columbia University. The class, titled “The Sports Section”, hosted by James Bransfield, provided insightful views such as how sports are entertainment and therefore, should have interesting, “featurey”, ledes and stories. Furthermore, Bransfield suggested that every sport should be covered in every issue; an idea that the Pembroke Sentinel implements in its “Sports Shorts” section.
Rather than attending any other sessions that first day, a group of Sentinel reporters attended a critique of the newspaper. Although the expert loved many of the Sentinel’s techniques, she made plenty of suggestions. She noticed the faults in the paper’s capitalized headlines, consistent four column page design, and the lack of a folio line on pictures. She also suggested the addition of a “question-and-answer” type of sports story to add interest.
The nightly festivals began after the classes. The group as a whole took a shopping trip by subway to Canal Street, followed by a diner in Little Italy, and a Mary Poppins Broadway show in Times Square. This awesome experience showed the excitement of everything New York culture has to offer.
After breakfast at the famous Tom’s Restaurant where Seinfield episodes were filmed, the daily classes resumed. To call the session titled “Covering Sports for the Newspaper” with Jennifer Dial adequate would be an overstatement. Although she highlighted the need for good ledes and as much detail as possible in sports stories, this was no different from the lectures every student reporter has received many times in class.
When the endless boredom of this class has ended, it was again time for some nightly fun. The group again travelled to Canal Street from some cheap (and probably illegal) shopping followed by diner at John’s Pizzeria. However, the excitement was only beginning. A Staten Island Ferry ride to catch a picturesque view of the enormous statue of liberty and the beautiful city at night was absolutely thrilling. Afterwards, there was a brief late night visit of Times Square before calling it a night.
The solemn final day began again with a delicious experience at Tom’s Restaurant for breakfast and then off to a “From Boring to Interesting” session with Erin Einhorn. Although she was a very personable and intellectual person, her lesson was a lot about her own experience as a reporter and less about journalistic philosophy. The final session that all journalism students attended was “Rising to the Top: CSPA Crown Overview for Newspapers” with Bruce Watterson. The purpose of this was to see all the best high school newspapers around the country. The most important thing learned from this was the importance of color newspapers and diversity in design to be a top newspaper. The end of this class marked the end of the trip as the group was piled on the bus for home afterwards.
Unsurprisingly, the trip was both entertaining and enlightening. Much was gained in knowledge that can be applied to the Pembroke Sentinel. An immediate change can be made in varying up the number of columns of each page or half-page. This brings diversity in the design of the paper and is usually entertaining. Also, the paper needs to get rid of the capitalized headlines and switch to lower case letters as is accustomed. Furthermore, a “question-and-answers” type of sports story would be a good addition. These are quick, interesting, and to-the-point.
The CSPA convention was just like Physics. Yes, the classes were boring and they didn’t say anything that hasn’t already been said, yet they provided the equations for success.
After an enduring, over five hour long bus trip, the group of students arrived on campus to attend the first session of classes at Columbia University. The class, titled “The Sports Section”, hosted by James Bransfield, provided insightful views such as how sports are entertainment and therefore, should have interesting, “featurey”, ledes and stories. Furthermore, Bransfield suggested that every sport should be covered in every issue; an idea that the Pembroke Sentinel implements in its “Sports Shorts” section.
Rather than attending any other sessions that first day, a group of Sentinel reporters attended a critique of the newspaper. Although the expert loved many of the Sentinel’s techniques, she made plenty of suggestions. She noticed the faults in the paper’s capitalized headlines, consistent four column page design, and the lack of a folio line on pictures. She also suggested the addition of a “question-and-answer” type of sports story to add interest.
The nightly festivals began after the classes. The group as a whole took a shopping trip by subway to Canal Street, followed by a diner in Little Italy, and a Mary Poppins Broadway show in Times Square. This awesome experience showed the excitement of everything New York culture has to offer.
After breakfast at the famous Tom’s Restaurant where Seinfield episodes were filmed, the daily classes resumed. To call the session titled “Covering Sports for the Newspaper” with Jennifer Dial adequate would be an overstatement. Although she highlighted the need for good ledes and as much detail as possible in sports stories, this was no different from the lectures every student reporter has received many times in class.
When the endless boredom of this class has ended, it was again time for some nightly fun. The group again travelled to Canal Street from some cheap (and probably illegal) shopping followed by diner at John’s Pizzeria. However, the excitement was only beginning. A Staten Island Ferry ride to catch a picturesque view of the enormous statue of liberty and the beautiful city at night was absolutely thrilling. Afterwards, there was a brief late night visit of Times Square before calling it a night.
The solemn final day began again with a delicious experience at Tom’s Restaurant for breakfast and then off to a “From Boring to Interesting” session with Erin Einhorn. Although she was a very personable and intellectual person, her lesson was a lot about her own experience as a reporter and less about journalistic philosophy. The final session that all journalism students attended was “Rising to the Top: CSPA Crown Overview for Newspapers” with Bruce Watterson. The purpose of this was to see all the best high school newspapers around the country. The most important thing learned from this was the importance of color newspapers and diversity in design to be a top newspaper. The end of this class marked the end of the trip as the group was piled on the bus for home afterwards.
Unsurprisingly, the trip was both entertaining and enlightening. Much was gained in knowledge that can be applied to the Pembroke Sentinel. An immediate change can be made in varying up the number of columns of each page or half-page. This brings diversity in the design of the paper and is usually entertaining. Also, the paper needs to get rid of the capitalized headlines and switch to lower case letters as is accustomed. Furthermore, a “question-and-answers” type of sports story would be a good addition. These are quick, interesting, and to-the-point.
1 comment:
Perhaps if you went to more than 2 classes, you would be able to talk Grundle more about classes and less about Canal Street.
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