Clips
Long-term storytelling:
Grace’s new life at the Milton Hershey School (12/02/07)
I had four months to follow this 4-year-old as she started at a unique school away from her mother.
How to build a roller coaster (05/18/08)
I traced the creation of Hersheypark’s Fahrenheit attraction from a twinkle in someone’s eye to the first riders.
Dissecting big, breaking news:
Droves of reporters put Amish in spotlight they usually shun (10/03/06)
I was one of our four reporters sent to the scene of the Amish shooting, and was basically let loose to find an interesting angle. I simply realized here that any average person would be horrified if plopped in the middle of the media cluster.
Using the Internet as a reporting tool:
Virginia Tech shootings: Local students shaken, but fine (04/17/07)
Using Facebook and AIM, I was able to get eight photos and interviews with VT students from our area in the hours after the shootings.
Education enterprise:
Why so few minority teachers in the midstate? (02/05/08)
School policies on sexual minorities vary (02/12/07)
Derry elementaries get 2-grade system (09/23/06)
The report cards was based on a current happening, but the other two were just personal curiosities.
Following a big local story on my beat:
Layoff talk fills air with uncertainty (02/16/07)
Fear of layoffs weighs upon Hershey workers, community (02/23/07)
What would Milton do? (03/16/07)
Residents and workers filled with uncertainty (03/26/07)
Amid angers and tear, difficult choices near (03/27/07)
Some workers see buyouts as good news (04/04/07)
When The Hershey Co. announced as many as 3,000 layoffs, at first not letting people know which factories the cuts would come from, it had an enormous economic and psychological impact on the area. These stories were usually in tandem with pieces focusing more on the business aspect of the layoffs.
Looking for different storytelling techniques:
Let’s make a deal (09/09/07)
I was assigned a story about how hard it was to find tickets to the Penn State-Notre Dame game. I was already looking for tickets myself. So I thought: Wouldn’t it be a lot more interesting as a first-person?
Taking a light approach:
Bill urges colleges to use text-messaging alert system (04/19/07)
We heard you loud and clear: You want your papers (04/11/07)
I pride myself in making routine stories more interesting.
A more somber tone:
Shanksville: Hundreds come to memorialize ‘people like us’ (09/11/06)
I admit: Looking back, I wish I could take back the first three grafs. In my defense, this was printed on the five-year anniversary of 9/11, so to be a little overdramatic was somewhat justified. I’m OK with everything after the lede.
Live-blogging:
‘06 election night from Rick Santorum’s headquarters
I was able to mix blogging style know-how with an eye for interesting tidbits. You’ve got to read about the band that was playing that night. I’d also like to think I had the first-in-the-nation commentary on the now famous picture of Sarah Maria Santorum.
PHOTOS:
I’m not saying I’m a great photographer, but certainly adequate-to-above-average in a pinch.
Check out some of my better work — mostly from a single photojournalism class and my own fun — at my Flickr page.
FROM THE COLLEGE DAYS:
It’s fun to look at where you’ve come from.
Many memorials, one day: As part of Penn State’s In-depth Reporting class, I flew to Mississippi and drove to upstate New York to tell the story of three towns who each believe they created Memorial Day, and how important that claim is to each town.
Stunned hawk released after battling falcon: Not among my best or most memorable stories, but easily the most significant one in my development as a journalist. I was the day cops reporter during my internship at The Patriot-News, and I was responsible for the A1 story the next day on flooding breaking out across the region. I couldn’t believe it when they distracted me with a story assignment about two birds fighting?? I quickly reported it, and wrote it with an “I don’t care what they do to this thing” approach, just wanting to get back to the flooding work. Turns out it was a wonderful approach, and this was the point I realized I could really lighten up in my writing. When I applied for internships the following year, I was encouraged to move this clip to the front of my portfolio by the Des Moines Register’s Ken Fuson, who was visiting Penn State.
At 3 a.m., it’s all business at PSU pals’ table: Another important story when it comes to my development. When I was told to write about the emerging poker trend on campus, I almost did the same-old 18-incher that comes naturally to every student journalist. Then I decided to narrow the focus on a single table.
Chewed up and spit out: I had recently met Poynter’s Chip Scanlan at a National Writer’s Workshop. My favorite nugget of advice he offered was to always find one little detail that you find fun, fascinating or illuminating. Can you guess which line in this story that is?
Penn State students’ efforts to entice recruits break rules: I got this one exclusively, despite an ultra-competitive Penn State football-following media.
