Andrew Willis: worker, leader, friend

Andrew Willis is a 19-year-old student at Eastern Michigan University. He is currently a freshman who is majoring in marketing.

Not only is Andrew taking 15 credits this semester, but he is also balancing this schedule with spending time with his family, other activities outside of school, and his job.

“I have a lot of things going on in my life right now. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, like now when we are nearing finals, but I’m having fun and that is all that matters,” Andrew said.

Andrew does seem to be having fun. As of right now he is playing soccer and hockey. For his soccer team he currently is second in goals with four in just three games. You can check his stats at the Nighthawk website. His hockey team is practicing as they prepare for their season to start in the summer.

Mike Roos, the hockey team’s starting goaltender said, “Andrew is a great team leader. He pushes each and every one of us to try harder and be better.”

Another sport that will start in the summer is basketball. Andrew will be playing on a league for the first time and he said he looks forward to the challenge.

“I love sports. They help keep me in shape, and they are a great stress relief from school,” he said.

Despite being a full-time student, Andrew lives at home with his family that includes his mom, dad, and three sisters, Rachel, 17, Rebecca, 16, and Sarah, 14. Andrew has said he is very protective of his sisters even though they don’t appreciate sometimes. Andrew is closest to his father though. They both enjoy watching hockey on Sunday afternoons. He has also been there for Andrew whenever he has needed help.

“I don’t think I could be where I am without my family, especially my dad. We have a lot of fun together, and we enjoy spending time together,” he said.

The closeness of his family can be seen anytime you talk to Andrew because he talks about his family in such a high regard. Also, Sarah asked Andrew to be her confirmation sponsor. It is just a showing of how much they all look up to him as a brother.

“I chose Andrew as my confirmation sponsor because he is a good-hearted person who makes good decisions,” said Sarah Willis.

On top of all this he has going on; Andrew has a job that takes up his time. Right now he is getting his lifeguarding license so he can become more of an asset to his place of work.

“My boss told me I could help out the company more by becoming a lifeguard so I’m willing to do that. The extra dollar an hour helped with my decision,” he said.

Andrew has a bunch of other things he enjoys as well. His favorite movies are always comedies, but one in particular is “The Hangover.” Some of his favorite activities include spending time with his friends, and going out to eat after any of the games he is playing in.

“I have a lot of time left to decide what I want to do. Right now I am happy with my life, and I am just enjoying myself,” he said.

Gas going up once more

One piece of news that I have always been interested ever since getting a car is the gas prices. The rate at which they fluctuate depending on the season or time of year always annoys me. I found a recent article on gas prices that had caught my attention because gas prices are not usually rising again until the end of April. The link is here: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/11/gas-prices-increase-nearly-4-cents/?hpt=T2.

I thought this would be important to anyone who has a car therefore I figured it would be some good news. Also, it says in "The Reconstruction of American Journalism" that, "news reporting also provides vital information for participation in society and in daily life." I feel this is vital information for everyday life.

Like I said, this article caught my attention because I never like to see gas prices go up, especially when I have to drive 45 minutes to Eastern four days a week. The rise is not the usual one that comes every first week of summer, but instead it is due to a rise in crude oil prices. This is a big deal because it means the prices would still go up the first week of summer. I also picked this article because it reminded of last weeks reading where Jay Rosen stated that there may be a case of demand without supply. This article did not have that problem. It told me why there was a rise in the prices right away, and I knew how it would affect me. I believe that while this was a small story, it shows some changes in reporting that I think should be in more reporting including the "why should I care?" factor.

The Giant Pool of Money

I think that this could potentially be the start of something new in the news world. I mean this comment by Nina Robbins explains why it should be: "Thank you very much for the program that aired today on 'The Giant Pool of Money'. It was, by far, the clearest explanation of the U.S. housing crisis -- the subsequent international financial crisis --that I have ever heard. It enabled me to finally integrate into a comprehensible whole all the previously incomprehensible pieces of information I had heard over the past months." I mean there are people that want to listen to news and find out what is going on with the mortgage crisis or the health care bill, but people are not out there explaining it, at least in terms normal people can understand. I try to listen to the news and find out what is going on, but sometime the way things are explained just goes right over my head. I think having people that will take the news and put it in layman's terms will definitely be helpful in the future. I hope to see more airings like this going on in the near future.

Demand without supply?

Jay Rosen stats that there may be a case of demand without supply. This caught my attention mainly because I did not know what he meant by this. After reading his post on the matter I can't help but agree with him. So much of the news is what happened, but not enough of it is the why it happened. I love that he brought up the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac situation. When I first heard about this, I only knew that there was a federal takeover of Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation). That was the headline of the story on the news. They proceeded to follow that up with time lines on when they thought things would get done to help rebuild these companies. I am sitting there watching this, and the main thing I am wondering is why was there a federal takeover? I still really have no idea what the whole situation was about so after reading Rosen's comments about it I decided to find some information to better understand this. I went to Wikipedia and found the same problem I had when I first heard it, the first four paragraphs or so described what happened, but not why this happened. It was not until much later that I read the information I wanted to know. I think this is a continuing problem with news. There is a reason that everyone wants to know, but no one ever is able to or unwilling to tell. I think an effective change to news would including the why right after the headline. Suck them into the story with a headline, but tell them the reason right away, that way the viewers, or listeners, or readers will know the reason behind the action.

Rynearson Stadium

Rynearson Stadium

Slideshow presentation

I chose Rynearson stadium as my overlooked place for a couple of reasons. The first one is I believe it is one of the nicest college stadiums I have seen. I have been to games at the Big House (Michigan), Michigan State, Central Michigan, and a couple others and I think Eastern has the nicest stadium out of all of them. The other reason I chose this place was because, although it is not technically on campus, I am sure there are a lot of people that have not seen or been inside this stadium, mainly because Eastern doesn’t have the greatest football team. From this assignment I learned how to use pictures to tell a story. This is the first time I took a group of pictures to make a story. Usually I start with the story. I also learned how to put a PowerPoint presentation on my blogger account.

Our future in writing

"The Reconstruction of American Journalism" said it perfectly, "What is bound to be a chaotic reconstruction of American journalism is full of both perils and opportunities for news reporting, especially in local communities." I think the peril for me (and for anyone who is going into this profession) is finding a job. Whenever I tell people that I am going into journalism they immediately respond by saying you are going into a dying profession. I do not think the profession of journalism is dying, but instead it is the process of journalism that is dying. I talked with Greg O'Dell, the executive director of the EMU Department of Public Safety, and he said that when he worked in Ann Arbor he would get daily calls from news reporters for information on stories, but now the stories are posted instantly and have problems with accuracy. That right there supports my argument that accuracy has taken a back seat to speed. I think another peril with finding a job is that people can now post anything they want online. The real trouble is trying to get your work noticed. What makes it better than someone else?

The other point made was that the Internet has provided more opportunities for people. This is true. Anyone can make their own blog and post their own opinions about anything. A couple of opportunities can arise from this. If your blog gets big enough maybe you will noticed by a big name and you can get a job. If you just like to stay in the freelancing business then you can charge people to read your blog. I know a couple people that have chosen that route instead. Either way, money can be made from blogs.

I believe that journalism is being reconstructed, but this does have to be a bad thing. If you truly want a career in journalism, I believe that one way or another, this can be achieved.

Reconstruction of American journalism

Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson ask a lot of questions throughout their report "The Reconstruction of American Journalism" and one question that particularly grabbed my attention was "Will this contraction continue until newspapers and their news reporting no longer exist?" This question caught my attention because I too have wondered about the future of newspapers. Growing up I always wanted to be a sports columnist for a newspaper, and that is why I am in journalism, but ever since I have heard talk that journalism is dying I worried that I would be unable to fulfill my dream. Now I read and this question pops up. The first line I read made me breathe a sigh of relief, but after continuing on this report says that small town newspapers are not at risk. As for the larger ones they need to find a way to expand by moving their stories to an online paper as well. I feel that to be a sports columnist for a bigger paper it will now have to be online. With less and less people reading papers the business has had to reconstruct new ways to keep them afloat. It seems I will have to do the same.