The University of Blog

Technology fails. I have not seen this as much as I have this week. I will see it a lot more in the coming weeks as I get deeper into my sequence. Apple Script errors are no fun, especially while under a deadline. My convergence website is coming along nicely. We learned Avid editing and how to embed that on our websites. I cannot wait until we put packages together.This week I worked to get my homework and projects done before I leave for Washington D.C. tomorrow for a Society of Professional Journalists convention.

Now that I’ve had time to think about the fact that I am leaving tomorrow, I am very excited. Unfortunately, our flight leaves very early so I will up to leave at 3:30 a.m. After our flight, we will take the metro to the Hyatt Regency and begin the four-day conference. Some highlights that I’m very excited for include Woodward and Bernstein’s presentation as well as professional development. Since I spent an hour at office Depot copying resumes yesterday, the hope is that I can come away with good contacts and a possible lead on an internship this summer. Good luck!

I visited the Career Center for the first time. This was very helpful because I am going to the Society of Professional Journalists Convention in Washington, D.C. next weekend and I would like to have a quality resume to turn into prospective employers. I am not necessarily looking for a job, but I would love to have an internship for next summer. Preparation as well as networking is key for securing an internship and gaining valuable experience so prevalent in the realm of journalism.

The Career Center offered such suggestions like to not use abbreviations and use dates for what I’ve done. One suggestion was to use inDesign to design the resume. This allows for more creativity because employers only spend about 30 seconds looking at a resume. A journalism resume allows a bit more creativity than a regular business resume, and at the Career Center, they have examples of both. Once I update my resume, I will stick it on here to provide some ideas.

Goodness, what a busy day!

It began with my News Writing lab course. We started with a classmate interview and our story is due on Thursday. It will be a lot of hands-on work, but that is the best way to learn. That is the definition of the “Missouri Method.” Then, I had my Fundamentals of TV, Radio and Photojournalism class. I will begin researching three story ideas that I will spend a majority of the class exploring. Then I had my Introduction to Film Analysis class and we discussed Mise en scene (everything that goes on in the film) in The Graduate.

Also, I filled out my paperwork for my new job at Sycamore, a contemporary American restaurant. I will begin as a busser and go from there. I will be there every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. This means that I will need to record Grey’s Anatomy and be an avid multitasker (which I am anyway).

I went to the National Network of Presbyterian College Women (NNPCW) conference (Speak Truth to Power) in Washington, D.C. at American University. We were able to go to the office of the National Presbytery and learn about such issues like the Farm Bill, reproductive rights, immigration, and healthcare. We were then able to discuss these issues and how we felt about them during a “Speak Your Mind” forum.

Every night we had different plenary speakers. One of the most interesting women that spoke to us was Mara Vanderslice at Common Good Strategies, which is a political consulting firm for Democratic candidates. She served the Kerry campaign as the Director for Religious Outreach. It really got me thinking about the connection between religion and politics. And there can be one by using faith as a “moral compass” to drive political thought. Also, by using the power of the vote as well as writing letters to representatives and congressmen, this can really make a difference.
We also learned what we could bring back to our campuses to have successful programs in which people come and care about the issues. The biggest way to accomplish this and get participants is to build relationships. We learned that this is the key to not doing all of the work ourselves.

Touring the city, we visited the National Organization of Women (NOW), which is a feminist organization working toward women’s rights. They were organized originally to help pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The other groups visited the Center for Community Change, to give members of communities tools to change their communities for the better, and the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House. The biggest thing that I took away from this conference was to just be involved and informed. Knowing the issues and writing letters is one of the best things you can do because Washington cares what their constituents think.

I worked several jobs this summer (three to be exact). My first was the movie theater that I’ve been working at since I was a sophomore in high school. There is something about being at the same place for so long that adds some continuity to my life. My best friend works there too, so it worked out. If you are looking for a great job and free movies (now that the price is going up), the movie theater is a great place. And there are three in Columbia!

I also worked as a hostess at 23rd Street Brewery, a local restaurant. The goal was to become a server, but I didn’t have enough time to train. And then I worked in childcare at my church (another job from high school). I would really like to get a job when I get back to Columbia. I know it will take a lot of work, but a little extra money would be nice. I didn’t hold down a job last year, which gave me a ton of free time and time to focus on school. We’lll see if I can get a job since it is quite competitive in a college town. The hope is yes. If I were in Columbia earlier, I would have applied early (but alas, I did not have enough time.) Today I will walk downtown and pick up a ton of applications.

One of the advantages of living in a community such as the Journalism and Communication Community is that it provides great opportunities to network and meet people. A group of about 20 students went to three journalism professors’ houses for different courses of the meal. It was great to be able to meet these important people in such a low-key setting. Plus, who can pass up free food?

We had salad at Katherine Reed’s house, who teaches a reporting class as well as is the adviser for Adelante!, the student-run bilingual publication. Reed mentioned that students can either chose Adelante! for their beat or can volunteer there. She spoke in our Cross Cultural class about this cross-cultural success story.

Next, we headed to the Associate Dean of Journalism Brian Brooks’s house for the entrée. We spoke about how to navigate the journalism system and the Walter William Scholars program. With a 33 ACT, journalism students receive faculty mentors and a scholarship

For our dessert, we ate at the director of mymissourian.com Clyde Bentley’s house. Mymissourian.com is a blog site for Columbia. He spoke about citizen journalism and the convergence program. I leaned a great deal about the direction journalism is going.

The Career Center offers many references to the student looking for a job or working on improving their resume, cover letter or interviewing skills. A representative visited Mark Twain about how to visit the perfect resume. This is the perfect time since people are looking for internships and summer jobs.

• A resume has to stand out. Therefore, using templates online should be used as guides because otherwise, it is unoriginal. A resume should be one page unless you can fill it out to be two complete pages. References should be on a separate page.
• Use bullet points with strong action words and adverbs in the form of “ly.” Leave out information such as hobbies, photos, personal interests or age. Spell out everything and use formal language.
• Keep your resume professional. Avoid fancy fonts and colors. It should stand out, but not in an obnoxious way.

The Career Center offers free advice and workshops. However you can walk in anytime to get your resume reviewed. They also hold interviewing presentations and other useful tools.