Ecstatic to start his summer internship with WDBJ-7, the local CBS affiliate TV station in his hometown of Roanoke, Va., David Kaplan chatted with professor Barbara Fought about the story ideas he planned to cultivate during his 10-week stint. The associate professor of broadcast and digital journalism mentioned Orange Report, a student-driven blog site, and suggested he post about his summer experience.

‘It seemed like a cool way to show off what you were doing over the summer,’ said Kaplan, a senior broadcast and digital journalism major.

At the end of his internship, Kaplan posted ‘My Summer as a Reporter,’ summing up his 20 videos that WDBJ-7 aired. Curious about the other posts on the site, he browsed through its archives.

There was Aaron Frank, a sophomore television, film and radio major who worked as an emergency medical technician for six weeks in Tel Aviv, weaving through the city in an ambulance. Amy Snider, a junior history and political science major, created handmade instruments with kindergarten and first-graders in a Say Yes to Education Summer Camp program. Another student, senior graphic design and Spanish major Rachel Tjornehoj, traveled to Georgetown University and learned about different faiths at the four-day Interfaith Youth Core Leadership Institute.

‘I was just blown away by how many fascinating things people were doing,’ Kaplan said. ‘It was cool to see what other students were up to and how they were applying what they were learning at school to the real world.’

The idea of Orange Report is based on CNN’s iReport, a citizen journalism initiative in which people report on their communities, said Jill Ouikahilo, communications director for the Division of Student Affairs. The mission of Orange Report reflects Scholarship in Action, one of Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s initiatives: taking what you learned in college and using that knowledge to better your community.

The project is a cross-campus collaboration that links Student Affairs, Career Services, the Office of Residence Life and the Office of Student Activities, Ouikahilo said. By using SU social media channels, Facebook and Twitter, they invited all students to participate.

‘And oftentimes, we are telling their stories, so we wanted them to tell their own stories,’ Ouikahilo said.

On June 29, the first post went up on the site, welcoming students to hop on. The site also set up a contest in which the winners with the most views would attend a lecture in the University Lecture Series of their choice, take personal photos and have a formal dinner with the guest lecturer.

The next day, the first student post went up on the site. At the end of the contest, 17 students participated as Orange Reporters and 30 reports were submitted. The site received nearly 7,000 page views and more than 650 votes.

On Aug. 29, four winners were announced. Kaplan’s post nabbed a win in the Most Viewed Video category. Along with Kaplan, there were three other winners.

Best Reports Video winner, Josh Frackleton, a senior television, radio and film major who posted ‘Life is Awesome,’ has yet to pick a lecture to attend. While winning the contest has its perks, Frackleton said he values the new perspective he gained about his craft. The student filmmaker, whose niche is comedy, said the project that meant the most to him is a campaign video for an elementary school that induced its faculty to tears. The project shifted his mindset as a filmmaker.

‘I’m probably going to do a lot more documentaries and public service work because it’s more rewarding to do something for others rather than just for yourself,’ he said.

For junior industrial and interaction design major Nina Morrissey, whose blog ‘The Haiti Mission: Connecting the Future’ won Best Reports Blog, the site acted as an effective way to knock down any misconceptions about Haiti. Morrissey spent one week this summer traveling to Haiti with a group of SU faculty and students to connect Wi-Fi at a local university.

‘A lot of people said, ‘Are you crazy? I hear it’s really dangerous.’ There was kind of a lot of stigma behind it,’ she said. ‘But when I went, there was never a point when I was afraid.’

At the end of her trip, she compiled posts from the group’s personal blog to place on Orange Report’s site to recount her time in Haiti and disclose the insight she gained there.

Sophomore advertising major Katherine Smith spent two months in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as an intern at advertising company Draftfcb. Smith, whose ‘Scholarship in Asia’ won Most Viewed Blog, said she found the Syracuse oriented stories intriguing.

One particular post that stuck out in her mind was by junior broadcast journalism major Durrie Bouscaren, who recounted her time spent reporting on the South Side of Syracuse, working at a local news station, covering crime and revealing the harsh side of the city. ‘It wasn’t just an academic experience, it was a life experience,’ she said. ‘It really moved me.’

Now that summer has ended, the blog has halted. Though nothing is planned out, Ouikahilo said she hopes to expand the summer project to the fall.

‘Students are doing things all year round, so we’d love for them to report and tell us what they’re learning and how they’re utilizing their knowledge,’ she said. ‘We’re definitely open to student ideas and really want to know if the student interest is there to keep it going.’

kkim40@syr.edu

Published on August 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm