Posts Tagged College Heights Herald
Summer at the Advocate
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on August 6, 2010
Emily Patton
Western Kentucky University
Union County Advocate
Whoever first muttered those dreaded words, “Newspapers are dying,” apparently has never been to Union County, Ky. before.
After interning at the Union County Advocate in Morganfield, Ky. for over a month now, it still takes me by surprise when people come up to me with ear to ear smiles and send thank you cards wanting to discuss a story in last week’s paper.
People here actually read the newspaper front to back, because those same people are the newspaper. Let me introduce you to small-town community journalism, or in other words, my newest summer love.
The office’s doorbell is constantly buzzing with a new subscription order or a sold advertisement.
Even though I live just forty minutes away, the concept of a weekly thriving was brand new to me. Scratch that, everything about this county was brand new to me.
It has been an experience that’s been both educational and priceless as a journalism student at Western Kentucky University.
While attending WKU, I have written about various sports for the College Heights Herald and covered high school football for the Kentucky New Era. All excellent forms of experience —- But unlike the experience I’ve received at the Advocate.
In the past five weeks, I’ve been sent to the local high school’s graduation, city council meetings, car shows, Red Hat Society meetings, city parks, child plays, the marathon which people call the Union County Fair, 4-H dog shows, churches, and countless neighbors’ homes.
I had never talked to city officials, local pastors or a mother who lost her 8 year-old-son a year before in a tragic accident. I had never even stepped close to the Little Sturgis Rally or saw a newspaper collection from the 1940s. I had never sat down with those types of people and tried to understand and relate their stories to the world.
For a girl who once thought when you hit your twenties, well, you’re pretty much done growing up, this summer at the Advocate has above all helped me grow up in more ways than one.
When I leave this newsroom to venture back to my old, I’ll take with me the long conversations in living rooms with Union County residents, the meaningful handshakes, a new love for the Feed Mill Restaurant and a subscription to the Advocate in hand.
Months from now, I’ll need to revisit that amazing feel of small-town community journalism that I found in my new favorite weekly newspaper, the Advocate.
Check me out on the KPA’s new website.
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Love to Learn. Learn to love.
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts, The Sports World on April 16, 2010
Oh, oh no.
Doesn’t it feel like that time in the semester where a train is heading straight for you?
The 2010 Lady Toppers softball team. Photo by Emily Patton
Just imagine that terrible, awful, no good train that screams its whistle right through the valley of Western Kentucky University racing towards you head on at full speed.
Here I am desperately trying to find a way off the track as work at the math office comes to a close, the Herald and a softball season comes to an end and finals week approaches.
When this semester finally concludes, I feel like I am going to have a couple more grey hairs. Not only from the stress, but from the feeling that I have grown up yet even more.
As always, the credit for me maturing and growing… yep, you guessed it… goes to…. the College Heights Herald (applause).
I guess you could say I stepped up in my beat when I was awarded softball after covering cross-country during the fall… although I’m sure that’s debatable. Its a sport most wouldn’t jump to have a byline next to. Its a sport I had never really paid much attention to.
Nonetheless, its a sport and I’m a sportswriter.
Unlike cross-country, I have never had any experience with softball. Not in high school, not in grade school, not even in the friends I spent time with had any connection whatsoever to the sport. I never went to softball games. I once played a few innings in a church league game, but honestly, that was the extent of my ties to anything remotely related to seven inning game. In the course of one spring semester, it was expected of me to make it my life.
Senior Kelsey McCauley of the Lady Toppers prepares to bat against conference opponent, Troy, on April 2. Photo by Emily Patton
I can’t tell you how well I have done or if I have met or exceeded any expectations. I just don’t know. What I can tell you is simple. I like softball. I like softball players. I have gained respect for the sport. I know the roster in and out of the Lady Tops.
Most importantly, I have learned more than you could ever imagine.
I am watching softball for the first time in my life, gaining experience, and learning every day.
And as a student in college on the eve of entering this dreaded “real world” that haunts my future every day and prior to my first summer internship — that’s really all I can ask for.
See how I am doing keeping up with the latest Lady Toppers softball news and see the latest from the Herald’s sport staff.
My Balancing Act
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts on September 9, 2009
It’s time for you to prove,
Within your ruby shoes,
You deserve a smile with no regret,
Look at you kicking off your shoes,
Dancing for the world to see,
Now open up and see, And go be free and fly away…
I probably do not know what I am getting myself into honestly. This whole college experience journalism thing? Yeah, who was I kidding?
I thought for a few minutes there I had this whole college thing down. Freshmen year was knocked out of the park and my summer living on my own in Bowling Green was a complete success. I had figured out where the bathrooms are in all the buildings on campus, found the quickest way to master the hill from my residence hall to TCCW, and even seemed to say, “Meal Plan” with such confidence I appeared to be saying it for years.
But I guess it serves me right for thinking I had it all figured out. And how intelligent am I for thinking 15 hours of classes and working part-time at the university was just not enough?
Now here I am working to perfect that amazing balancing act I have going with class/work, (all on my head of course), putting my fancy journalism major to good use as I freelance for the Kentucky New Era and work as the newest College Heights Herald’s sports general assignment reporter.
With my fancy voice recorder in hand, pen working furiously, questions buzzing in my head, I have never done anything more exciting than the work of a journalist. From the few stories I have been involved with thus far in my brief career, I can say I have learned more from those experiences than from hours and hours in a classroom. Suddenly this whole journalism thing I have been studying for the past year has become a beautiful and real thing to me. Beautiful. Yes. Real. YES. But I refuse to sugarcoat this for you, because honestly I feel like as I am seeking truth and answers to my many questions about the industry, you are probably on the same scavenger hunt.
I’ll give it to you straight: Its not easy. Deadlines are a constant. If you think you have some time, well you are wrong. If you think an interview will go smoothly when you are crunched for time, well you are wrong. You always need more information. You always could have done more research. Each day, I feel like I have no idea what I am doing. I feel like I have everything to learn and no one is just going to pass out the answers to the test. But maybe that’s the process. Maybe its better to start out brand new, so that you can dig deeper and seek a little harder. Maybe everyone has to start at the bottom to make reaching the peak so breathtaking.
While what I do know is little, what I have learned in the past few weeks speaks volumes. This experience I am gaining right now is vital after the next few years of college pass. I am so thankful to be surrounded by amazing people, who will go to many vast places in this huge world and will inspire me to do the same. My high stress level is worth every minute.
I do not have everything figured out. Fifty years from now, I probably still will not have it all figured out. But I have never have I anticipated the small discoveries along the way more.
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