CONNECT: Inside The Westcott Theater

To say that I am busy or active on the Syracuse University campus is an understatement. I am constantly running around, trying to keep up with all the things I do, whether it's my internship with the fashion web site, www.lvcmag.com, my role as Finance Director for the musical theater group, First Year Players, blogging for our campus fashion magazine, Zipped Magazine, or blogging for an entertainment news show, The Red Carpet Report, at our school's radio station, Z89.

But one of my favorite activities is CONNECT. CONNECT is a student-produced TV news magazine show with a similar format to 20/20 or 60 Minutes. It is a half-hour show which airs on local Syracuse stations. Unfortunately I only had time to put together one complete piece this semester and can't devote any time to it next semester. But I am pleased with and proud of the piece that I did. I focused on The Westcott Theater, a local concert venue in Syracuse, NY, which had recently closed down and been renovated.

Below is a clip from our INSIDE CONNECT segment produced solely for the web. I am interviewed by fellow classmates here about my piece and what it was like to see the whole project through.

To see my piece and the episode in which it aired, click here.
If you want to check out my written blog post about my piece, click here.
And for more information about CONNECT Syracuse and how to get involved, check out our web site.

News Flash: sometimes New Jersey is pretty trashy

I get a lot of flack for being from New Jersey, but I am the first to yell at people for ripping on my state. I know the stigma attached to it. Yes, it is the "armpit" of America. The people who live here generally have terrible accents, are loud and obnoxious, and obsessed with their hair, tans, and makeup. Sometimes I make fun of it too, but I'm proud to be a Jersey Girl either way. In a few weeks, an MTV Reality Series will air, called Jersey Shore. It will feature the Jersey guidos who live down the shore. I must admit I fully plan on watching this trashy show. Though I have a lot of Jersey pride, I am not Italian and don't live down the shore. So I think it's only fair to exclude myself from this pool of Jersey people, sit back, and laugh with the other 49 states.

College senioritis v. High school senioritis

By the time I was a second semester senior at East Brunswick High School in New Jersey, I knew where I was going to college (Syracuse University, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), what I was going to major in (Broadcast Journalism), and what my summer plans were (counselor at Camp Louise in Cascade, MD). My life for the next four years was already taken care of. I would find a part-time job, my parents would pay the bills and sign all the loans in my name, but of course I wouldn't have to worry about that for four years.

Well, those four years have come and gone. I am now roughly two months away from being a second semester senior at Syracuse University, and all of those questions about my summer after school and the next four years remain unanswered. The job hunt is truly horrifying for me. As someone in communications, I really can't apply for a job until about a month before graduation, but I have started to snoop around job sites. Right now, the future is looking pretty bleak.

That's not to say I haven't done anything in my college career. I've had four internships and hope to add a fifth to that list next semester. I've studied abroad, become fluent in a language, learned how to shoot and edit video on various programs, and have gotten heavily involved in many student organizations. The fact of the matter is it is scary out there, and I'm constantly confused about how I should spend my days: going to the Career Center to network and search for jobs, doing the insane amount of work I have between 18 credits of class, 12+ hours/wk for my part-time job and an internship, or enjoying and soaking up my final months as a college student.

I am not one to complain (except to my family, close friends, and boyfriend). I am the happy-go-lucky little girl (Yes, little. I am only 4'11".) who makes people laugh at my deep, gutteral laugh and awkwardly feisty comments (It's the Jersey in me.), but sometimes it is hard to be so happy all the time. So this is what I've concluded: high school senioritis stems from a laziness because of the realization that you know where you're going already, so why continue to work to get there? College senioritis stems from an exhaustion because of the realization that you know where you want to go, but aren't sure how to get there, and are so busy and burnt out from the past four years, you don't even know how you're going to make it that far.