David Munro hasn’t let a serious heart condition stop him from doing the things he loves.
Large fraternity throws fundraiser to further bond with Lincoln community.
NewsNetNebraska wins honors from the Associated Press and Northwest Broadcast News Association.
NewsNetNebraska’s Nicole Konen talks with the Killigans about their music and their latest album.
Prairieland Dairy plans to grow its business by diversifying.
The UNL textiles, clothing and design department is collaborating with other university departments to make this year’s runway the show the most extravagant one yet.
With multiple minor-league teams and sporting events, Omaha is a great place to be a sports fan.
The Lincoln Track Club will hold its 35th annual Lincoln Marathon on May 6th.
UNL Sophomore Adam Mongar prepares to run his first full-marathon on May 6th.
Story and photo by Paige Dimakos, NewsNetNebraska
Baseball is known as America’s pastime, a pastime that Andrew Robeson reveled in and knew very well.
That was until three car accidents and two surgeries forced him to end a baseball career before it had a chance to take off.
The injury to his shoulder kept him from throwing. But worse was the injury caused to his heart.
“ Learning to live your life not playing the game you love, it’s not hard — it’s nearly impossible,” he said.
It was only natural that Robeson would aspire to be in the Big Leagues after growing up in Miami and following his favorite team — the Miami Marlins. It was his love of sports that brought him across the country to Nebraska where he finds the Midwestern folks share his passion and then some.
“I’ve never met more passionate fans until I came to Nebraska,” he said. “It’s like a cult.”
Robeson will now channel his passion into a career. He plans to attend law school in the fall of 2012 in either Miami or New York City. He plans to use his desire to get into the “Big Leagues” of law.
Story and photo by Carly Shinn, NewsNetNebraska
Bethany Trueblood enjoys writing and taking pictures, but is unsure how she will use her skills in the future.
Trueblood is a senior news and editorial major from Omaha, Neb. She is involved on campus, working as a resident assistant in Schramm residence hall and as a copy editor at the Daily Nebraskan.
In May, she will join CoJMC associate professor Bruce Thorson and fellow students on a photojournalism trip from Nebraska to Texas. The group will follow migrant farm workers and cover the issues they encounter in their daily lives.
“Journalism is becoming more and more visual,” Trueblood said. “I want to develop my visual skills because it will be useful for a future career.”
Trueblood said she also hopes to travel on another journalism related trip to New Delhi, India in July. She said she has never been outside of the US and is looking forward to the opportunity.
“I’m excited to get hands-on experience in another country and to see the differences between media here and media there.”
Photo and story by Erin Grant, NewsNetNebraska
Occupational therapy was not in Will Latta’s orginal plan. It wasn’t until his experience covering the aftermath of the genocide in Kigali, Rwanda, that he felt as if his photojournalism career was more exploitive than eye-opening.
“I finally realized what it was like, at this point, to be hated,” Latta said. “I knew after my experience in Rwanda, I was better suited for a career where I could help others.”
Latta, a senior news-editorial major, thought that photojournalism was going to be his career of choice. He soon discovered what he thought would be groundbreaking work was more about business.
“I began to feel like photojournalism was more about my own benefits rather than benefiting others,” Latta said. “It became more about resume building and forwarding my career.”
After working in British Columbia at the Easter Seals Association, an organization focused on helping people with mental and physical disabilities, he knew occupational therapy was his direction. However, Latta noted that the skills he learned in journalism he will take with him everywhere.
“Journalism makes you a people person,” Latta said. “You learn how to read, know, and interact with others. It teaches you how to quickly fix mistakes. I know I will be able to use these skills in the future, especially when helping people.”
Story and Photo by Blair Euteneuer, NewsNetNebraska
Corey Day’s passion for sports has always taken him far, even at a young age.
When he was 13 he was selected through the People to People Student Ambassador Program to travel with peers from across the country to go to Australia to play soccer. He had played since he was five years old and would continue to play up until college.
“It was the coolest experience of my life,” Day said.
Day took his passion for sports to college and pursued a major in broadcasting with dreams of becoming a sports broadcaster. He worked for HuskerVision and even landed a job working through ESPN for the X Games in Los Angeles two years ago. The experience gave him the opportunity to work on the set of several events, including BMX and skateboarding big air.
“I did mostly grunt work, like pulling cables, but it was cool to see how a big-time operation works,” he said. “It was an amazing experience.”
Aside from sports, Day is interested in working with youth. He currently spends his time outside of school working at Mickle Middle School’s after-school program. He said it works well with his schedule and gives him a chance to make some money doing something he loves.
“Getting to hang out with the kids keeps things into perspective and keeps me young,” he said. “It’s fun to be able to shoot hoops with them or play with clay.”
Story and photo by Megan Brincks, NewsNetNebraska
In addition to attending school full-time, Mariah Hutchinson spends about six hours each day training for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Hutchinson, 22, started participating in swim competitions at age 9 in her hometown, Topeka, Kan. She knew she wanted to compete at the collegiate level, and now she is training to qualify for the Olympics.
However, Hutchinson keeps her long-term goals in sight, and she decided to study broadcast journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I love sports, and I knew I wanted to continue my knowledge and love of sports after my own career is over,” Hutchinson said. She chose UNL after visiting several colleges on recruiting trips. She said she loves Lincoln because it reminds her of Topeka.
“It didn’t differ a lot from my hometown,” Hutchinson said. “The people are similar—very real.”
After graduation in May 2012, she wants to work for any major sports network, but “if I could go to Oregon, that’s where I would live.”
Story and photo by Kim Eiten, NewsNetNebraska
Writing has been an important part of Danielle Kaster’s life since her grade school days.
“When I was little I used to make my own newspaper,” she said. “My favorite story was a gorilla got loose from the zoo; it made the top story every time.”
As a high school student, Kaster kept busy with activities including basketball, track and student council, but also developed her early interest in journalism.
“In high school, the easiest elective was newspaper, so I took it but then I ended up really liking it,” she said.
Now the 21-year-old broadcasting student has expanded her studies to include majors in news-editorial journalism and political science.
“I originally hated political science,” she said. “I took my first class in college and it just (clicked).”
When Kaster isn’t preparing for the LSAT or interning for Kissel E&S, a lobbying firm, she enjoys working out and spending time with family and friends.
After she graduates in August 2011, Kaster plans to use her dual majors to enter law school. Her goal is becoming a lawyer for a media publication.
By Doug Burger | NewsNetNebraska
If you asked Nick French the question, “What do you do?” he could answer with plenty of options.
The 24-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln senior divides his time between a handful of different jobs and hobbies.
The Columbus, Neb., native and news-editorial major said he has always been interested in music. French plays multiple instruments, including the guitar, keyboard, bass guitar and drums. He said he’s played in about seven different bands, most recently CarrotCarrot.
“I always wanted to play the drums,” French said. “From a kid’s perspective they’re kind of like a toy.”
He wasn’t too interested in the idea of studying music in college because he enjoys making music a lot more than studying it.
When French isn’t making music, he’s working jobs that stem from his major.
French works one night a week as an illustrator at the Daily Nebraskan, an independent student newspaper. He also does freelance work for the Lincoln Journal Star contributing to its Arts and Entertainment Going Out section.
French has also spent time as a disc jockey and music director at KRNU, the university’s college radio station. On top of all that, he even works Oso Burrito in downtown Lincoln.
“It’s not so bad,” French said about his multiple activites. “It keeps me busy and I like that.”
Story and photo by Andrew McClure, NewsNetNebraska
Sports are a passion for many people. But for Derek Brandt, being passionate about sports got him his job.
“I used to work at a magazine called Big Red Report,” said Brandt, referring to a Lincoln magazine devoted to Husker sports. “I made some contacts there who recommended me for a job in the athletic department.”
Although he is also employed as a member of the wait staff at the Nebraska Club, a member-only restaurant in Lincoln, what he considers to be his “real” job takes place in the bowels of Memorial Stadium.
“I’m the sports information director for the swimming and bowling teams,” Brandt said. His duties include setting up interviews with the media and coordinating those interviews. He also creates media and recruiting guides, which are used by the university to grab the attention of high school prospects.
Although he has been a member of the department for six months, he is already looking for the opportunity to advance.
“My goal is to get promoted or get promoted to another school with a higher profile sport,” Brandt said. He added that his dream job would be as media director for football, because with high-profile sports come greater opportunities.
“If you are doing football, you are the media relations director, or like here at Nebraska, you are the assistant athletic director,” Brandt said.
Regardless of what sport he works in, Brandt, a native of Columbus, Neb., just wants to find a job that suits him, at a school where he feels comfortable with what he is doing.
“I would love to work for a school like Florida, Cal or Kansas; any school with high-profile sports.”
Story and Photo by Bethany Trueblood, NewsNetNebraska
Carly Shinn left her home in Lenexa, Kan. to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for something different. Now the junior news-editorial and international studies major is seeking to go somewhere even more unlike what she knows: New Dehli, India.
Shinn, who has never traveled abroad, hopes to be selected to go to India this summer with faculty and students from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. The two-week trip in July will focus on reporting stories about social issues and poverty in India. The experience, she said, would help further her career goals.
“I’ve always been focused on humanitarianism and social issues,” said Shinn, who hopes to work with a humanitarianism organization or the government to affect social change. She is also considering joining the Peace Corps after she graduates.
Particular issues she cares about include the Invisible Children project to free child soldiers in Africa and the global water crisis.
Story and photo by Kara VanLandingham
Sports enthusiast Ryan S. Penney can be found calling games from Memorial Stadium, or producing and co-hosting shows such Illegal Procedure or Sports Dude for 90.3 KRNU.
He also has an extensive T-shirt collection, roots for the Minnesota Vikings and participated in wiffle ball tournaments over the last couple years.
“We were terrible,” he said. “We had a blast and wore Hawaiian shirts. We didn’t win anything.”
Penney, a senior Broadcast major from Maple Grove, Minn. has a passion for sports journalism. He has engineered for major Husker sports games and would love to have a professional job where he can use his experience.
“I’ve done play-by-plays for football, basketball and baseball. I was also the producer for UNL’s Sports Dude show for 3 years.”
In addition to school Penney also works at UNL’s Children’s Center, “I don’t mind kids, it’s cute when they run up and hug you.”
To follow what Penney is currently broadcasting, you can follow his Twitter: Illegal Procedur to hear podcasts on recent sports happenings.
UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications © 2010