Roosevelt journalism student reflects…….

Check out the reflection from one of our students at Roosevelt High!

Student Reflection- Mass Media 1/ Prime Movers Media

When I first came into Mass Media class, I didn’t know what to expect. The first thing that came to my mind was “as long as the teachers isn’t a crazy wack job, then I can pass this class.” I started off in Ms. Quick’s first period class and we had a talk about me sitting in the back of the class. Then the second week I was put in Mass Media 1 fourth period. In this class we worked with interns and professional journalists from the Prime Movers Media program at GWU. There I met the people who have changed my learning experience to where I like coming to class.

After a while I learned some very cool things. I have never been so excited about a class since elementary school. We, as a class, went over what our “inner G” was and how we use it. We have learned how to use technical materials such as a video camera, tripod, and computer software. I learned what a Rule of Thirds was and I also learned the different shots compositions to be taken during video recording. I typed, controlled and read a prompt and I even did a morning announcement.

The amount of people in our class surprised me and it turns out that I do work better with fewer people in the classroom. The class was not stressful in any way and I felt at ease as if though I was doing something I liked. The structure of the class was very appropriate and me and my classmates were so nice and fun to be around. With very few people in the class I was able to rise to the top and show that I can do my best.

I didn’t like when we had those pop quizzes in the beginning of the year. First off, I have a very bad memory. Second, I don’t work well under pressure. Also, when I actually tried, I only ended out with a “D” or “C” pop quiz grade. I didn’t like to walk all the way around the school to get to my fourth period class either. Oh, and I had a problem with the students in the beginning as well. But later on I got over it and just became friends.

Some things I will take into another class would be shot composition and screening. I would love to go into another Mass Media or journalism class when I got to college because it would probably be a fun experience. The concepts that I have learned in this class about speech and delivery and teen health will go a long way with me in life. Since I am a teen I can use the skills I have learned to protect myself from harm and to make sure I don’t harm others.

This quarter we took a trip to the campus of The George Washington University through Prime Movers. The campus grounds were somewhat hard to differentiate from the rest of the cityscape which makes it kind of special I think and cool at the same time. The school learning environment looked just like what I thought that a college would look like. It looked serious and very technical, not to mention ridiculously clean and the students looked very content with themselves. The reason we were there was to take a tour of the school and see the production studio and crew available through our partners, Prime Movers Media.

Finally the thing that I feel is going to be the most important memory in my life is the teamwork that is needed to run this profession. The reason that I say this is because most of the experiences that I’ve gone through have almost always needed help in some way. I came to this class with minimum camera experience, no speaking expertise, and zero interest in public speaking. Now that I have gone through this course, I feel a lot more knowledgeable about not only myself, but also about speaking professionally in front of the camera or audience.

Three PMM students have their work broadcast nationally on NPR

On Sunday December 27th, 2009, three Ballou Senior High School students who participated in the Prime Movers Media program had their work featured on National Public Radio. The commentaries, which aired on the Weekend Edition Sunday show, shed light on issues of importance to the students in Dr. J.D. DiMattio’s media class. These topics, including homelessness, the criminal justice system and creative writing were heard by nearly 4 million listeners on hundreds of stations across the country. Following the broadcast, the commentaries, entitled “Sounds from Inside the Teenage Mind” were posted on NPR’s website. (See link below)

For a period of two weeks, the Prime Movers Media program sent professional journalist Charla Bear of NPR into Ballou to help the students work on a project that focused on the creation of radio commentaries. With the help of Ms. Bear and seasoned teacher Dr. J.D. DiMattio, the students learned the basics of radio broadcasting. They listened to several examples of radio stories, learned how to write for the ear, constructed commentary scripts and voiced their work. Many of the students had little to no radio experience prior to their work with Ms. Bear.

After two weeks of hard work, the students were not only able to gain a new understanding and appreciation for what it takes to produce material for radio, many were able to give a voice to their thoughts, opinions, hopes and fears. Often times, teen voices are ignored, but not for these Ballou students. Their voices will now be heard loud and clear.

Click on the link below to hear “Sounds From Inside the Teenage Mind” by Ballou HS Students!

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=10&prgDate=12-27-2009

Roosevelt journalism students produce glossy magazine!

One of Prime Movers Media’s target high school media program has recently published a 28 page magazine/program regarding the DCIAA football championship. Dr. Maurice Butler’s journalism class at Roosevelt High School put together the slick, image-filled magazine that focused on all the major football programs that are part of DCIAA. His class will now move on to publishing several editions of their school newspaper and a larger magazine, “Around the DCIAA” that covers many more DCIAA athletics.

Prime Movers Media helped Dr.Butler’s program acquire a grant from the American Society of News Editors that helped them to buy cameras, acquire some training, and pay for some of the printing costs.

Regarding the magazine, Dr. Butler reports: The city athletic director and the championship committee were so pleased with the product that they are still talking about it. They told us that it was the best guide that they have ever had. We were informed that people have been calling the athletic office everyday trying to get copies of the guide. We have been contacted by other organizations to produce guides for them.”

DCIAA Championship Football Press Guide

Student Photographers: Lynorra Campbell, Brenton Coble, Bria Johnson, Bryan Simms, Melissa Wright

Student Writers: Brenton Coble, David Coates, Charles Njiande, David Weston

Student Layout and Design Artist: Diara Rowland

Contributing Photographers (Adults): Clifford “Toby” Gibbs (Dunbar), Michael Starghill, Jr. (Coolidge), P. Irene Jones (Eastern)

Thoughts from the Journalism Education Association convention

Several Prime Movers Media students received scholarships to attend the 2009 Journalism Education Association convention compliments of a the Prime Movers Media program and a grant provided by the Newspaper Association of America Foundation! George Washington University student intern Andrea Vittorio also attended the conference and interviewed a few Prime Movers Media students after the convention to get their reactions! Check out the students responses below!

1) What did you think of the convention?

M. Ross: “It was very informative. I learned a lot at the convention.”

B. Hernandez: “Well, the convention was wow! Speechless. I had a great time, you know, it was a good life experience! I wish I could do it again.”

A. Miller: “It was nice. It had a lot of different stuff. I liked it.”

2) What sessions did you attend?

M. Ross: “The CNN…I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he was talking about the importance of journalism and how he felt it was good that many kids were attending the convention.”

B. Hernandez: “Photography, politics”

A. Miller: “A First Amendment one where they were debating different sides of the story. It was also a dance presentation.”

3) Which session was your favorite?

M. Ross: “It would probably have to be…the one where we experimented with like the rights of students. We did a exercise where we debated whether or not this kid had the right to wear a Coca Cola shirt where a commercial was being shot for the school where everyone was supposed to wear Pepsi shirts. And the kid, you know, disobeyed rules and wore a Coke shirt and the debate was about that.”

B. Hernandez: “Photography… because he just broke it down. He had some good shots and pretty much told us that whenever we take a picture, you have to take it from every angle.”

A. Miller: “The dancing!”

4) What was your favorite part of the whole convention?

M. Ross: “Probably the assembly. We got to see you know a performance by this dance group and it was a open panel—we got to ask questions.”

B. Hernandez: “My favorite part of the whole convention is just that I got to meet a lot of new people and I learned new things.”

A. Miller: “My favorite part?….. The whole thing!”

5) Do you think you learned anything?

M. Ross: “Yea I think I learned how to associate what I wanna do with my writing. A lot of people was tellin me that the best way is to, you know, I can combine both of what I want to do—psychology and writing an both—which makes for a better story overall.”

B. Hernandez: “I leaned about online newspapers and I learned about different students problems while they produce their newspapers at school.”

A. Miller: “Yes. I learned that if you really want to get a story out, you gotta be committed and you gotta work hard. And even if it gets poor reviews, you still gotta get back up from it and try it again.

Journalism students hard @ work!!

Through their eyes: A former intern’s perspective

When I first registered for Prime Movers I was not sure what to expect. I had never worked with high school students before and was more than a little nervous starting off. As a student myself I did not know how the students would react towards me. Once I got into the classroom setting and got to know everyone around me, my nervousness disappeared. Everyone was so welcoming and I felt as though they really wanted my help and were really happy I was there. In the end, this turned out to be one of the best experiences of my college career. I interned at the Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School. I had the opportunity to watch these students grow academically over the semester.

My primary responsibilities were to help the students with their media assignments. We worked on everything from personal statements on camera to producing full commercials. My own favorite project was the commercials the students produced in the middle of the semester. From coming up with a product to sell to editing the final commercial together, it was so rewarding to see the students faces when they watched the final product. But more then just helping them with their work, I enjoyed talking to them and answering their questions about college. I really felt like I got to connect with them on a level I had never connected to students before.While I had assumed I would teach them something, I didn’t realize that by getting to know these students, I would learn something about myself. I learned what a great feeling it was to witness someone as they succeed in what they set their minds to do. I also realized how much I loved being in a classroom as a teacher and a student. I had the opportunity to watch these students grow academically throughout the semester and got the opportunity to help them with their work. It was such a rewarding experience for me to watch the students feel proud of their work.I had such a great experience with Prime Movers and wish I could do it another semester, but now it’s on to graduation. I loved the school I worked at and am thankful for the impact each of the people there made on me. Prime Movers really is a great program and I am lucky to attend a school that offers opportunities like this one. The fact that GW offers such a program shows what a special institution it truly is. I am really grateful to everyone in this room who has made this program possible and for giving me the chance to create life long memories.

Blowout on the Hardwood

Below is a great story written by aspiring sports writer Lawrence Dozier. Lawrence is an Anacostia High School student who started playing basketball at Hine Junior High when he was 15. The Hine coach, Ms. Fishman, noticed that Lawrence was 6’2″ and thought he had potential. She was right. He was first string center at Hine, second string center at Ballou, and is now second string center at Anacostia. Lawrence, who is now 6’8″, has traveled with his teams to Florida, Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina. After he finishes his basketball career, he aspires to be a sportswriter.

Blowout on the Hardwood

by Lawrence Dozier of Anacostia High School

The team starting five were William, Mike, Jay, Josh, and me. Josh scored the first five points. When the other team dunked on Mike, that’s when everything changed. They thought they were going to do it again, but I blocked it at the other end of the court. William picked the ball up and passed it to me and I slam dunked with two hands.

By the second quarter the other team was tired and we just kept scoring back to back. The person who was checking me fouled out. The other team had to put a short guy on me and they did not score any more the second quarter. At half time the score was 50 to 30.

After half time we ran the score board up even higher. They did not know we could play like that. Jay dunked on two people at one time. We stole the ball back and Mike threw the alley-hoop from the free-throw line. I saw the ball go up and ran up to dunk on the tallest person they had on their team. He fell to the ground. By the end of the third quarter the score was our 100 to their 60 points.

Then they started to come back and I got my first foul of the game. The other team made both free throws. Josh shot a three pointer and missed it, but then William got the ball, shot a three pointer and made it. In this quarter everybody played their hardest to win the ball game. At the two minute mark everyone on our team got a one handed dunk, first William, then Mike, then Jay, then Josh, then me. At the end of the game the score was 135 to 95. We won the game by 40 points.

Students Hard at Work!

Last semester, the students at Roosevelt High School were introduced to professional photojournalist Victor Blandburg. A veteran in the business, Blandburg was able to work with the Roosevelt students on several aspects of broadcast journalism including shooting, lighting, voice intonation and camera angles.

Check out some of the photos of the students hard at work !

Through Their Eyes: A Former Intern’s Experience at the 2009 Presidential Swearing In Ceremony

Some may consider it fate, others might say it was serendipity; but whatever way you slice it Brendan Palmer had a “golden ticket” to one of the most historic events in town- the swearing in of President Barack Obama!
For Brendan, his “golden ticket” didn’t come in the form of a constituent ticket handed down from a Congressional Representative; rather, his ticket came in the form of a CNN employee “all access” pass!
Brendan had the rare opportunity to work on the press platform during this historic event and after working nearly 12 hours to help usher in our nations newest President, Brendan still found the time to write about his experience during this momentous occasion!

Check it out below!

Politics aside, Tuesday January 20th was an historic day to say the least. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, I think everyone can agree that with President Obama in the White House we as a nation have come quite a long way. About a week before the inauguration, I found out my assignment for inauguration day, which was to help out on the press platform on Capitol Hill- essentially next to the main platform during the swearing-in ceremony. The Saturday before the inauguration, I went out to the National Mall with a camera crew to talk to random people and shoot some B-roll of workers setting up for Tuesday.
With all the road closures and heightened security in D.C., I considered myself pretty lucky to live within walking distance to the Capitol. I left my house at about 3:00am, bundled up in several layers from head-to-toe to confront the freezing-cold temperatures that lay ahead. After I arrived, I got in line with the rest of the national and international media and waited to go through the security checkpoint, which took about an hour to get through as we had to wait for the Secret Service to complete their security sweep of the grounds. Because of this, we missed our 5:00am hit time as we scrambled to connect and setup cables, microphones, cameras, earpiecs and computers. They started the coverage from a CNN studio in New York, and once we were ready to go at about 5:10am, they came to us live.
Throughout the day I “met” a lot of interesting people (I say “met” because I never really formally introduced myself, just sort of helped them get seated and mic-ed up): Mark Warner, Congressman Joe Lewis, Former Secretary Colin Powell, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, Harry Belafante and a lot of CNN on-air talent.

Then finally, after having been out there since the very early hours of the morning, the ceremony started around 10:30am. The view I had of the National Mall and the ENORMOUS crowd was absolutely astounding. The Mall started filling up with people before the sun even came up around 6:00am, and by the time the thing actually started there were easily over 1.5 million people as far as my eye could see, all the way from the Capitol to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
Soon enough, the band was playing music and the announcer began introducing dignitaries, politicians, and other VIPs over the PA system as they began to stroll into their seats on the main platform. I brought my digital SLR with a 300mm zoom lens. I had the auto-focus on and was just constantly clicking away as I saw people like Hillary and Bill Clinton, John McCain, George Bush (I and II), Dick Cheney, Sasha and Malia and Michelle Obama and the likes enter my viewfinder.

Suddenly after President Bush was announced, the sound of thousands of people in the front section chanting the ye-olde sports jock jam chant “Na na, Na na na na, Hey hey hey, GOOD-BYE!!!” began to grow louder and louder. After Vice-President Joe Biden was announced and everyone cheered, there was a long pause and the anticipation amongst the crowd was palpable as the sound of thousands- no, MILLIONS of people chanted in unison, “OH-BAM-AAHH! OH-BAM-AAH!”.

The strangest part was, I was seeing this with my own eyes. Not on a TV, not on a jumbo-tron, but live- right in front of me. These people who I’ve seen on TV countless times were right in front of me. And then the notion that practically our entire government was sitting on one stage sort of freaked me out, but I was reassured when I looked up to the Capitol dome and saw several Secret Service snipers with huge guns and binoculars scoping out the crowd.
The ceremony went off without a hitch (with the exception of Justice Roberts, who flubbed the oath – ~D’oh!~) My shift didn’t end until about 6:30pm – 15 hours on no sleep in the freezing cold witnessing the most historic event in my lifetime!