Final Days of being a UF Journalism Student

As the last years of my college career as a student-journalist wind down, I’m amazed to think back when I first began my journalism classes and reporting shifts and see how far not only I’ve come as a journalist and a student, but how far the journalism program has come. The University of Florida prides itself on being on of the top journalism programs in the country. The newly added Center for Media, Innovation and Research represents the standard of excellence our journalists strive for and exude. True, being a broadcast journalist entails a lot of work inside and outside the classroom or newsroom, but if it’s your passion, there is no better environment to hone your skills and display the products of your hard work than the College of Journalism and Communications facilities, such as the INC, Innovative News Center. Another great aspect of being a journalism student at the University of Florida is the weight it holds with outside media companies looking for interns and employees. This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to work for Fox Business Network in New York City all summer! I got to work alongside top industry professionals and primetime television personalities such as Neil Cavuto. I left that summer with limitless, enlightening knowledge about the Television News industry and even got some pretty great recommendation letters as well. The thing about journalism, is you have to love what you do, or else the tireless days of work, feeding the frenzy of the 24 hour news cycle will drag you down. UF College of Journalisma and Communications is a great place to grow as a reporter/journalist, because it exposes you to the reality of the demands of journalism and prepares you for a career in the industry. Journalism classes, it’s been real, it’s been fun, just not real fun!

Innovative News Center

Blogrollllllllinnn

So for this week’s assignment we had to create a blogroll and link to our classmates. Easy enough, especially with teh short wordpress tutorial afforded. I called my blogroll- which is essentially a link menu category- “My Classmates are my Blogroll!” Hope it’s a an ok title, and I hope I did the whole blogroll thing right. Either way, I saw a category under my links that said blogroll and was linking to other people’s blog so I changed the name and just copied and pasted all of the links to my classmates under the description of blogroll.

 

A for effort to to say the least ehh?!

 

Happy Wednesday- HHHHHUMMMMMPPP DAYYYY!

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point

Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, is a book that’s theme that today we all know too well in our modern technologically based culture. In essence, Gladwell’s book can be summed up around this premise: Small things can have big effects. In other words, big things come in small packages. I like to think of it in a metaphorical way, how a seed grows into a tree, which in turn produces branches and furthermore leaves and continues to spread upward and outward.

Gladwell goes on to talk about this “tipping point” as one in which basically one’s hard work is finally bearing fruit. (to allude to another tree metaphor). It is precisely when this seemingly small idea has been developed and formulated and worked on by the creator, and then it is picked up on and dispersed- like the seeds of a fruit- throughout the world, where it is recognized as and made something much bigger and greater than initially rendered.

Another great point to the book that all of us are familiar with is the idea of things “going viral”. In a quote in the book by Gladwell, he says, “The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life, is to think of them as epidemic”.  

In a way, reading this book reminded me of the Eureka Phenomenon, in which one often has his or her most brilliant moments of thinking or figures out a solution to a long-standing problem that at the time seems unsolvable, until that person finally stops trying, takes a break from the issue in front of them, and distracts their mind by doing something else, such as taking a nap, going to a movie, taking a dog for a walk. And then, that aha” moment that we all have experienced in the wake of a conundrum is when we the idea, solution, ingenious occasion, comes when we are not even trying! This can be directly related to the tipping point in that one often does not foresee the impact his or her idea or action or years of hard-work on a product, problem, etc. will have at its early small stages, but then, it hits that “tipping point” and causes its own epidemic and “goes viral”. I guess that is just the ironic nature of our world. When we least expect something that is when something great happens; when we want something soooo bad that is just beyond our reach, but finally give up, take a hiatus, or simply stop trying, it when we achieve whatever it is we want; even in the world of dating- which I think, ironically enough this idea itself has reached its tipping point- but the old saying “When you stop looking for love, that’s when love will find you” can similarly be applied. It’s all about starting small, letting your work flourish and grow, and before you know it, whether you meant to or not- it hits that tipping point, and its affect is viral, for better or for worse. So everyone, to be even more cliché and use another old adage that has long since reached its tipping point, “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you will land among the stars.”

Senior Annoucements

My twin sister and I took some pictures a few weeks ago by the Lake Alice Chapel for our Senior Announcments. It was all our Mom’s idea, but any excuse to dress up and take pretty pictures with your best friend to use and have later down the road as more memories, is always a good thing. 🙂 I wonder if my fellow telecommunication students have taken senior annoucement photos for that big day coming up?… Elle Newbold or Keighly Chambers. I know Adam Pages hasn’t done any senior announcements…his parents have to wait and see if he actually graduates first! (haha just kidding Adam) Either way here is our cute photo together. She’s my best friend and better half, and we are both graduating from the University of Florida with a dual degree in Political Science and Telecommunications for me and Political Science and Criminology for her. Go Gators!

Graduation Day!

It’s insane to think that graduation for seniors in The College of Journalism and Communications is nearly here. It seems only yesterday that I was a freshman, taking random electives and still trying to find out what it was I wanted to study. As I have gone through the courses of the Department of Telecommunications, I have learned a great deal about broadcast media in all of its platforms, and also gotten the unique privilege to share my work (link) as well as see some fantastic examples of the work of my peers. Along with this conducive learning and growing environment in the broadcast media and News industry, I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing girls. Elizabeth Beisel, for example, is a fellow athlete on the swim and dive team at UF, while I ran track for the Gators for many years. In another instance, I made a good friend in Rochelle Alleyne through out Investigative Reporting class. Not only is Rochelle a wonderful, kind girl who I am so blessed to call friend, but she has extensive knowledge and experience in multiple areas of broadcast media and has been able to help me in many ways in class assignments, or technological conundrums. And I know for a fact, that I would not have survived my TV2 shifts nor my own individual television packages without my girl Kayla Gaskins, who was my partner in crime most days I have spent in the newsrooms. It’s crazy to think that it is all shortly coming to an end, the good the bad and the ugly…college is ending and life as we all know it and knew it, is about to change. It’s been real, it’s been fun, just now real fun, UF Telecommunication Department.

A bit about Stephanie

Stephanie Strasser is a fourth year former student-athlete at the University of Florida, running track and field as well as cross country for the Gators for over 3 years. She will receive her dual baccalaureate degree in Political Science and Telecommunications in May of 2014. Throughout her college career, Stephanie gained experience in politics through interning with Florida State Representative, Janet Adkins in 2011. She also more recently interned with Fox Business Network in New York City, where she gained experience in broadcast media, journalism and public relations working with the industry’s top professionals and meeting other top business executives, lawyers, and political figures as well as celebrities. Stephanie has recently accepted a job offer from the Atlanta-based IT staffing firm, Insight Global, where she will start out as a recruiter at the company’s newest Jacksonville office, with hopes of moving up in the company as an account manager. Stephanie plans to pursue her Master’s Degree in the near future, but is ready to gain business experience as a young corporate professional first to help tailor her program selection and give her experience and make her more a more well-rounded, competitive applicant. Stephanie Strasser is from Fernandina Beach, Florida and just so loves the beach, staying active by running, and loves anything outdoors related. I just recently updated my resume and added some recent video/radio work from my Investigative Reporting class.  Enjoy and check out my contact form to connect with me on social media and or email me!

Resume to date

Stephanie Kay Strasser
• sstrasser10@hotmail.com • sstrasser10@ufl.edu • stephstrass287@gmail.com

Education

Bachelor of Arts Political Science/ Bachelor of Science Telecommunications May 2014
University of Florida; Gainesville, Florida
GPA: 3.67/4.0

EXPERIENCE Jobs: Paid and Unpaid April 2010-Present
Gainesville, Fl
• Intern Fox Business Network at Fox News Headquarters New York City
• WUFT-FM Reporter; WUFT-TV News Reporter
• Legislative Researcher for State Representative Janet Adkins of District 12
Fox Business Network Intern June- August 2013
New York, New York
• Wrote/produced/ conducted research for Liz Claman’s 4pm network show “After the Bell”.
• Guest greeter for Fox Business Network. Promoted the brand at events such as NYC Triathalon
• Shadowed and assisted network anchor Cheryl Casone.

WUFT TV News Student; Reporter August – December 2012, 2013
Gainesville, Florida
• Pitched story ideas, shot B-Roll, conducted in-field interviews, filmed stand-ups, wrote news
stories and performed video editing for local campus affiliate.
• Specialty Health and Medicine Anchor for First at Five on Tuesdays
• Wrote and edited VOBVO stories and 2 package stories during the fall of 2012
• Filmed/reported 1 VO/B/VO story per week alternating photographer and reporter positions
Fall of 2012
• Filmed/reported 1 PKG per week alternating photographer and reporter positions Fall 2013
WUFT-FM Public Radio News Student; Reporter May – August 2012
Gainesville, Florida
• Conducted in-person and phone interviews, edited sound bites, recorded wraps, anchored live talk show All Things Considered; recorded daily newscasts, wrote and edited stories, Q&A’s for Front Page edition.

ACTIVITIES/ACHIEVEMENTS, 2010- Present

University of Florida Track and Field/Cross Country member August 2010 – Present

• Competed as a scholarship runner on varsity 2010,2011,2012 cross country and track
• Named the 2010 All-SEC Freshmen Team; Scored at indoor and outdoor track SEC’s 2011
• Earned All-Region Honors 2011 Cross Country and made NCAA Prelims in Track Spring 2012
• Garnered SEC Honor Roll accolades and USATFCA All-Academic Team 3 times: Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, while meeting a certain qualification standard in my sport

LEADERSHIP/VOLUNTEER
University of Florida Track and Field and Cross Country August 2010 – Present
• Team leader on the team having competed for the Gators 3 ½ years on varsity.
Goodwill Gators Program; Volunteer
• Participated in the athletic department’s volunteer program by spending time with children at
UF Health Hospital.

References

1. Judy Traveis, UF Academic Advisor, Email: judytgators@uaa.ufl.edu

2. Queenette Karikari, Fox Business Network, Email: Queenette.Karikari@foxbusiness.com

3. Professor Steven Noll PhD, Senior Lecturer-Department of History Email: Nolls@ufl.edu

Spring is (almost) Here!

Most colleges and universities have their spring breaks a few weeks into March or even later, but not The University of Florida. Our spring break is the first week of March, and if you’re a senior like me, and literally have one day of class a week- then your spring break could start, well, now!

I am obsessed with the beach and am from the small beach town of Fernandina Beach, Florida. It’s one of my favorite places to be for the sun, sand, waves, and the entire relaxing experience. I looked up some top 2014 Spring Break destinations and of course, one was right here in sunny Florida. Panama City Beach is a classic spring break getaway haven and it’s a fun spot for just about any occasion, let alone spring break. So hit the beach, soak up that Vitamin D and bask in nature’s paradise

Recently Inspired by Springtime and Beautiful Weddings Abounding.

So, I don’t know if it’s just the nature of my age, or if everyone I know literally is getting married. Either way, I am happy for all of these people and hope that one day I have a dream wedding and great marriage of my own. On this topic, I know that not many ladies (or gentlemen) out there are thinking about marriage quite yet, but a girl can dream… right? I have a few years till the alter at least, but I am a sucker for weddings, dresses, engagement rings, wedding decor and of course obsessing over all of these things on Pinterest and dreaming about that special day that I look forward too. Also and most importantly , my Christian faith makes marriage to me more than a contract between two people, but a covenant under God and making a life-long, loving commitment to someone. I love southern themed weddings and classy, elegant, traditional dresses with lace. But here are some other wedding dresses that are quite popular now, inspired by the television hit series: Downtown Abbey 

 

Sochi 2014: A hot topic for SEO

Sochi 2014: A hot topic for SEO

For this week’s lesson, we learned about SEO’s or Search Engine Optimization and how to optimize our search’s using key words that are trending throughout people’s searches. I chose to use the key word “SOCHI” as in Sochi, Russia- the site for this 2014 Winter Olympics. I figured it was a prominent key word in the public’s searches due to the Winter Olympics this year being held in a bit of a controversial place historically and as of late with the possibility of terrorism occurring