Article 2 Pitches

I will plan on pitching a story on the preparations of homecoming. Quotes will be taken from Student Life and Mission.

I plan on pitching a story "illumiating seton hill" that discusses what students want to show their parents on campus, what they don't want to show their parents (what we're proud of and what we're not...-cough-parking-cough-) and what impression the parents have from the activities and their students' tours.

I will be pitching an article on an off campus field trip Sunday, September 27th, 2009 for the New Nation Course. It is during homecomeing weekend. What oppinions do students have on the trip considering it is during homecoming events and family weekend?

I was planning on pitching a men's soccer game recap. The men are playing Concord immediately following the women's game. I would talk about the goals, who made them, and describe them. I would also interview the people on the sidelines about the game while it is in progress. I hope to get interviews from both sides about the performance of both teams.

I was also thinking about writing my back-up pitch about the changes in the education certification. I could interview education professors and students who have been affected by the changes (of course keeping my own thoughts and opinions to myself). This has a little wider range of interest than the men's soccer game (no offence to them but people just don't like soccer here that much in America).

I plan on pitching a story that discusses the student-athlete involvement at the snack bar during football games. A percentage of money is given to the teams that work the snack bar during the games. I will talk to the athletes that work in the snack bar, the coaches, and Darren of course. I will see how much the teams typically make in one game, what the money is used for, and if the snack bar makes more money when the athletes are working or when normal concession stand workers are working. I will also see what types of food they sell and if there are any special qualifications the athletes need to make in order to be able to work there.

I plan on pitching a story about the Fontana Fest, an annual event at the South Side's Riverfront Park which features entertainment from numerous groups around the Pittsburgh area. It is sponsored by State Senator Wayne D. Fontana. I will be performing there as part of a presentation from City Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival, and I will be interviewing spectators about the event.

I want to pitch a story on the children from the Child Development Center's involvement with Homecoming weekend. I am a work-study there so I know that the children were asked to participate in the homecoming parade this weekend.

My pitch is for a story that focuses on commuter student's feelings towards homecoming weekend. I'm a commuter student, and personally, homecoming is about as interesting to me as running to the grocery store. Just from overhearing conversations in the commuter lounge, most other commuters don't care about it or even know what's going on. Perhaps I can take an angle on how it could be made more interesting for commuter students who live in a world off campus (and who have more interesting events to attend like the G-20 Summit protests and The Mount Pleasant Glass and Ethnic Festival).

I want to pitch a story on the 2nd Annual Griffin Regatta, a contest seeing who can build a usable boat using only cardboard and duck tape and then reach the other side of the pool first without falling in the water--it's located in the Sullivan Pool. I will essentially report what happens during this event and also look into where the idea for this initially came from.

My story pitch is concentrated around the non-traditional students at SHU and the alternative events they are involved with. Most ADP students are disconnected with weekend activities such as Homecoming--one reason being they attend classes on Saturdays. I spoke with David Brant, program advisor for Graduate and Adult Studies, and he described some fundraisers and other activities these students take part in. As an ADP student, I often feel distant from certain aspects of the SHU community and think information about different ways to remain involved for off-campus students would be news worthy.

I plan to pitch a story about how the campus fair on Sunday wraps up the homecoming weekend. I plan to report whether this final major event closes the weekend with an exciting bang, or whether it simply fizzles into Sunday evening and the start of classes once more.

I will be covering the "Lantern Tours & Legends of Seton Hill" tour of Seton Hill that will be given on the 25th.

I'd like to write a piece on the homecoming parade. Being that it's our first annual parade, I'd like to interview admin to ask how they organized the event--parades are never easy work.

I have a few ideas for an article, but I'm not sure which one would work best (if any of them at all). I was thinking of writing about how Homecoming weekend first got started and how it evolved into what it has become. Another idea I had was interviewing students who live out of state and how Homecoming is a good opportunity (or not) for their parents to visit the campus. A possible third idea is interviewing members of the teams who will be away for the majority of homecoming weekend, such as volleyball, golf, tennis, and equesttrian, to see how they feel about missing the Homecoming events.

The Jason Bishop Illusionist show requires students and guests to sign up for tickets, which implies that it should be really good and there's limited seating, but it's Wed and so far only 15 people have signed up. A review of the show and get reactions of students who did sign up and reasons why those others did not (were they off campus, ADP students, out with family, seen it last year/same program/not worth it?)

I do have other ideas though with a collage of the wall of memories and/or car decorating and interview the people that posted it for information on why this picture or idea came up.

I would like to take a look at the Farmer's Market and Festival that will be taking place on Saturday the 26th. This event has so many craft booths, cookoffs and games. I want to interview Paul Sarver, who is with the Westmoreland Farmer's Market, and students involved with setting up the event from student activities and alumni relations; along with those involved in the cookoffs, caricatures, and dunk tank.