Senior Update

15 weeks...4 months of High School Football...WOW! After 14 consecutive weeks of winning, the Wilmington Greyhounds finally fell to Jeanette. Covering them week in and week out with the Greyhound Roundup made me kind of connect with them, but above all it definitely made me a fan. It also made me a better broadcaster, and watching the faces of the 251 class when I showed them the highlight film I'm in the process of making made me feel as if they learned something too. I've been told that if you can shoot football you can shoot anything, and I hope they feel the same way, I hope that they now feel comfortable knowing that they are experienced shooters now.
That being said, the Senior project is nearly complete, all I have left to do is the "Yearlong Highlight." I've done the Roundup now week in and week out and I feel as if it's changed my views on many things. The first thing being that I can't wait to produce, being on-air is fun, but producers are forced to be creative week in and week out, and that is what I like being. I like seeing my efforts shown, and I like being able to highlight other people and not having to worry about myself, or how I look. Who knows??? I'm always up for anchor/reporting, but I know that right now I'm heavily leaning toward producing.

As far as the job search goes, I've talked to Denny Wolfe a lot, and he's going to see if he can find me the inside scoop into getting an ESPN Production Assistant job right out of college. If not, I'll either apply for a on-air position somewhere, or possibly network more and figure something else out, but right now I feel confident about the PA job up in Bristol. Hopefully from there I can work my way up the ladder and possibly be a top producer some day for a sports show. The nice thing is that I still have a complete year to get things straightened out between now and January 2008. Thats all for now, as always, I'm DJ Yokley.

Capstone Presentations...

The Capstone presentations for Steve Brink, Chris Zinkham, and Kirstan Gides went well. Steve led us through his journey year by year at Westminster, showing us that the adventure we call broadcasting is worth every minute. Chris' presentation was interesting because he had so many nice things to say about the program and was very positive and straight forward. Kirstan showed us that with a BC degree the opportunities are endless and that you can do whatever you want as long as you can network. Together these three put on a nice show that was well done.
I really like the way our capstone presentations are put together. Having everyone together with families is something special. In no way is it a competition, so it's nice to see everyone's parents and family and friends come to see the presentations. It gives parents an idea of what their child brought to the table. It makes us realize how much of a team we were along the way. For instance, my parents will enjoy what Mike will have to say because he's my producer, and hopefully Mike's parents will be interested in what I have to say because I was his "puppet." I think our audience usually gets a kick out of what we have to say individually, and there is a central point that our audience gets to focus on instead of having divided attention.
For mine, I intend on putting together a video montage of my work, everything from Greyhound Roundups, to Titantown Sports, to Packages I've done. I'm also planning on showing a 3 minute music edited highlight tape of the Greyhounds, because they've been a very crucial part of my senior year(after all they did go 14-1.) I'll explain how the broadcasting program here at Westminster made me grow as an individual, and the liberal arts at Westminster made me develop my thoughts more proficiently. I also plan on inviting people that have meant alot during the process of my story so far...keep a lookout for those invites in the mail!