AprilDudash Keeping it on the record.

Cold Weather Tough on Florida's Manatees

Posted February 22, 2010 at 19:07 in clips

Part of the ABC News On Campus bureau (Vic, Vanessa and myself) traveled down to Crystal River last week to document manatees getting released into the wild.

A Town Hall with Pizazz

Posted February 14, 2010 at 10:10 in blog

Seven panelists. Dozens of students. Delicious subs. Questions, musings and advice on the future of journalism.

All of these things came together to create a town hall forum at the end of January. The theme of the forum was Integrating New Tools with Traditional Journalism, and students got the chance to ask questions about their future careers.

The UF Society of Professional Journalists, The Fine Print and Campus Progress co-hosted the event. Lydia (co-editor of The Fine Print), Travis (Fine Print’s web guru) and I (president of UF SPJ) met up a bunch of times before the event to discuss what we wanted it to be. What did we want to create?

Univ. of Florida Awaits Tim Tebow Ad

Posted January 31, 2010 at 17:05 in clips

I had an article posted to the ABC News Web site last week regarding Tim Tebow’s controversial Super Bowl advertisement. It was linked on The Drudge Report, the story generated more than 1,200 comments and it was the most e-mailed story on the ABC News site for a few days. Pretty exciting stuff!

'Tis the season

Posted November 30, 2009 at 10:10 in blog

The TV station recorded my voice for a commercial today while I was at work! That was strange. And I talked about health foods as gifts for the holidays.

So if all goes well, these pipes will be on cable. It still feels like a random, weird achievement.

Speaking of the holidays, there’s only one more semester left until I graduate, and that fact is rapidly sinking in. Friends and fellow journalism majors are starting to plan their “real world” fates. The intense search for internships has gripped the entire journalism college. It’s starting to feel like an episode of Survivor.

Blogging from the Back Line

Posted October 4, 2009 at 17:05 in blog

Making things up on the spot. Being center stage. Playing with invisible props. Sound crazy?

It can be. Most of the time.

New FEMA leader grew up, trained in Alachua County

Posted October 4, 2009 at 16:04 in clips

Mr. Ron Dupont, editor of The North Florida Herald, gave me this great national story opportunity at the beginning of the summer. It was a struggle trying to get an interview with the new FEMA administrator, but it was worth the wait in the end! This story was originally published in The Herald on Aug. 20.

He walked the streets of Alachua in his youth. He walked the hallways of Santa Fe High School.

Now, he walks the halls with President Obama in Washington D.C., working to protect the United States from disaster.

SPJ-tastic!

Posted August 11, 2009 at 07:07 in blog

I just received some brilliant news, hot off the presses, that I would like to share with the Internet world…

The UF Society of Professional Journalists has been named the National SPJ Campus Chapter of the Year! Yippee!

Nearing the end of summer: A journalistic update

Posted August 8, 2009 at 13:01 in blog

My senior year officially starts Aug. 24. It’s an exciting yet terrifying thought, that in a year I’ll be thrown out into the real world. I think my job search will start once school starts.

So I have stayed in Gainesville this summer, and a lot has transpired. Here’s a bit of what’s been going on lately…

A Voice in the Streets

Posted July 9, 2009 at 03:03 in clips

This was my feature writing final project for the spring semester. I had a blast calling people all over the country who ran these street newspapers. They were very inspiring, and I hope to start up a similar project someday.

Three men with three difficult pasts stand in the streets. One man didn’t have enough money to pay rent, and he couldn’t afford to find a place to sleep at night. The other struggled to find housing while he received money for his disability, but it wasn’t enough to get by. The third man has been homeless for nearly five years. He had gotten in a terrible accident on his Harley, tore up his shoulder and destroyed his ability to find decent work.

Climbing Bleachers

Posted July 8, 2009 at 07:07 in blog

About a week ago, I spent a good hour in the near-empty UF stadium climbing the bleachers and attempting to get a few shots with my Nikon D5000.