Mass Media

An Economic Dance: The latest chapter in the Classic City's struggle between national and local business

Video published on April 9, 2017 for the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication

A spring 2017 graduate journalism project that investigated how the recent, growing amount of commercialization was affecting downtown Athens. This video focused on the reasons national retailers and businesses, after years of ignoring Athens, finally decided to open up shops in the Classic City. In addition to shooting all interview and B-roll footage, I also recorded all sound, created all the graphics, and edited the entire video. 

The Marlin Chronicle: "Off The Record" Podcast

Created in spring 2015 for The Marlin Chronicle

A spring 2015 podcast series that took a casual, commentary approach to the news happening at Virginia Wesleyan College. Each podcast featured myself as the host and editor(s) that had experience, or expertise, in the field or news being discussed. Despite no initial advertising or promotion, the podcast was well received in the community and grew in popularity quickly. This lead to the creation of another podcast series, "One-on-One," where we interviewed influential and important people on the campus on various topics. I was responsible for recording all sound, editing the podcast, and uploading to SoundCloud. Both podcasts are still being produced to this day.

The Marlin Chronicle: "Are You Ready?" Campaign

Campaign from February 26 - March 20, 2015 for The Marlin Chronicle

At the end of February 2016, the men's and women's VWC basketball teams had qualified for their conference tournaments. In the past, The Marlin Chronicle had only covered these tournaments in the print edition. However, with the recent growth of our Twitter account, I saw the upcoming tournaments as an opportunity for our account to become the main hub where students, fans, and media would go to for updates on scores, players, and game information. Additionally, our sports desk had recently revived the Chronicle sports Twitter account. Yet, due to the account being dormant for some time, no one had followed them in years. As a result, the objectives of the campaign were simple: create as much engagement as possible on our main account while also directing as much traffic as possible to the Chronicle sports Twitter account. 

The strategy for both Twitter accounts was to draw audiences in with custom graphics and edited photos. The main Chronicle Twitter account would post graphics with sayings such as, "Let's Do This!" or, "One More Game!" These graphics would then be tagged with the Chronicle sports Twitter account (or mentioned in the Tweet) so audiences could follow the live play-by-play. Additionally, the sports account, at the end of the game, would feature the "Have A Day" graphic, which highlighted the best player statistically from the game.

To date, the, "Are You Ready?" campaign has been the most successful social media campaign The Marlin Chronicle has ever conducted. We were extremely lucky in that both the men's and women's team happened to have historic runs at the same time. The women's team won their first ever conference title and qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament for just the second time in program history. The men's team beat the number one ranked team in the nation and made it all the way to the Final Four. On Twitter this resulted in over 200 retweets, 194 likes, and hundreds of new followers for both Twitter accounts. 

In addition to writing each Tweet for the campaign, I also created each graphic, which also featured photos that I had taken while on assignment for the paper. 

The Marlin Chronicle: Awareness Campaign

Campaign from February 5-10, 2015 for The Marlin Chronicle

At the beginning of 2015, it was apparent that The Marlin Chronicle, the student-run newspaper at Virginia Wesleyan College, was in dire need of a stronger social media presence, specifically on Twitter. Despite increased activity, higher engagement, and the utilization of photos and video, the Chronicle Twitter account had yet to grow. Additionally, an analysis of the Twitter account revealed that the majority of the Chronicle's followers comprised of alumni or inactive accounts. 

To help grow the account, I initiated an awareness campaign with the objective of getting current, active VWC students following our Twitter feed. To reach that goal, I decided to have a giveaway of college branded gear during the annual club fair. Campaigned by myself and the editorial staff over the course of five days, the awareness campaign worked. In addition to getting over 46 retweets and 23 likes, the giveaway also resulted in over 50 new followers. While these numbers might seem small, for a college of just over 1,000 students, the campaign not only reinvigorated our Twitter feed with new followers and better engagement, it jumpstarted social media campaigns we would conduct for the rest of the year. 

Winter Shelter, On Campus: College Students Encounter Homelessness at Home

Video published on October 16, 2014 for Virginia Wesleyan College

A 2014 documentary directed by VWC Associate Professor of Communication Stu Minnis and Community Service Director Diane Hotaling, "Winter Shelter, On Campus: College Students Encounter Homelessness at Home" captures the unique relationship between college students and the homeless, showcasing a long-standing college-community partnership with positive outcomes. I served as a camera operator for the film, capturing B-roll, interviews, and sound bits for the documentary.