Oct. 8, 2014
By Ashley McCallum
Seven UW-Whitewater alumni returned to their alma mater to share knowledge they gained in their line of work to 44 current students at the first annual Journalism and Electronic Media Student Seminar that took place on Oct. 4.
Students had the opportunity to attend a variety of sessions taught by UW-W alumni and faculty that covered real-life-applicable skills from video editing to what it takes to get an internship.
“[I benefited the most from] the Chroma Key workshop largely because that was one of the things I really had zero experience with,” Electronic Media major Brian Schanen said. “Being able to start from zero and at least get a little bit of foundation is a good thing.”
Eleven different break-out sessions were offered and students could attend five programs total.
“Anything I can do to help people who want to be in our field is really important to me,” UW-W alumni and on-air talent for 104.5 WSLD-FM Radio Andy Tretow said. “You hear a lot about the doom and gloom of the business, and I really think it needs a better rap than it has.”
UWW-TV Director Jim Mead and UWW-TV Program Director Eric Stelter developed the seminar with the goal to create an educational opportunity that complemented what students learn in the classroom. Their idea was to let students who are serious about having a career in media learn from professionals who are already working in the business. With help in funding from UW-W Residence Life, the idea became a reality.
“There is only so much you can learn in a classroom sometimes, even when you spend the whole semester,” Mead said. “This seminar gave the opportunity for students to come on their own time where we could have uninterrupted time to basically give knowledge.”
Networking and creating connections with fellow students, professors and colleagues made the seminar unique from a traditional classroom setting. Networking was emphasized by alumni presenters Tretow, Amanda Skrzypchak of WSJV-TV-Fox 28 and Lane Kimble of WDJT-TV-CBS 58. These alumni advised students not to burn bridges with anybody they meet in their educational experience and said coming back to speak at the seminar was a way of thanking the people at UW-W that helped them along the way.
“Jim [Mead] really had a huge impact on my time here at Whitewater and really pushed me to want to do what I do and to just be a better journalist,” Skrzypchak said. “When Jim gave me the opportunity I was like ‘I’m only four hours away, that’s not that far. You helped me with so much that I’m going to come back’.”
Some students gained knowledge that will not only benefit themselves, but younger students as well. Multiple UWW-TV student staff members took part in the seminar and are better equipped to help students in beginning level journalism and electronic media classes.
The seminar was free of charge for the student participants and included a continental breakfast and lunch. Mead says he hopes this will become a recurring event for current and future students to get a leg up in the competitive media market.
“I think that there’s a lot of great schools out there with broadcast journalism and electronic media,” Mead said. “I think that what Whitewater has it, we do our best to really provide the opportunity for a student to leave this university and go work almost anywhere.”
