This past month, I was assigned a
project for advanced reporting class. The project was to conduct research and
interviews on International organizations or people from other countries within
the Kansas City metro area. Originally, I was going to try and do it on the
Buddhist Rime Center because I always wanted to learn more about this religion
and culture. However, after talking to previous Park students who have used
this topic they recommended I try something else.
My
other options were to do it on some of the organizations like People to People,
the International Trade Council and the International Visitors Council or try to
find some people from other countries in Kansas City or do something Park
related. What did I end up doing? Well, I ended up taking a slightly different
approach and choosing a different topic for each format. The different formats
were a slideshow, a podcast, written feature and a video feature.
The
first format was the slideshow. For the slideshow I did it on an Italian family,
the Marker family, which a friend of mine knew. I interviewed them and learned
about the differences between the culture of Italy (Northern Italy in
particular) and America. I learned interesting things about Italian culture such
as their strong commitment to family and of course, their passion for food.
The
second format was the podcast. For the podcast, I wasn’t sure whether to
feature an individual or a group. However, I saw a flyer for a cultural event
at Park University on Saudi Arabia. So I decided to take advantage of that for
both my project and to learn about the culture. I learned about how the Saudi Arabian culture believes a lot
in religion and pilgrimage. I also got to see how they conduct ceremonies,
weddings and other rituals.
The
third format was the written feature. The written feature I did it on the
International Visitors Council of Kansas City. I wrote about what the
organization does and it serves the community for international visitors.
The
fourth format was the video feature. Originally, I was going to do it on the International
Trade Council but I wasn’t able to do it because the executive was on maternity
leave. So instead I decided to stick with the International Visitors Council
and attended one of organization’s events at Californo’s in Westport. The event
was focused on some of the International visitors sharing their experiences in
America and Kansas City. I thought the most interesting thing was hearing
about each of the international visitors’ experiences and how it has changed
their outlooks.
Finally,
the last part of the project was to promote my blog on social media sites. I
promoted my blog on Facebook and Twitter by posting the links to my projects.
Overall,
I thought this project was pretty difficult at first because I had a hard time
figuring out what to do. But once I figured out decided to do something
different for each project it didn’t turn out to be too difficult. Also, by
focusing on different topics for each, I learned more than had I stuck with
just one topic.
