While it came a bit sooner than expected, the end of the semester is now less than a week away. Being a member of the KAMP news team was a major highlight of my KAMP experience and this is our last post for the semester. If you have the time, check out a few articles or content written by our team. Here’s a quick guide with the News Team’s favorite articles and experiences:
Rhiannon Shea Cox: “I got to meet a lot of new (and cool) people as a KAMP News member. It also helped me become a lot more comfortable with writing.”
Shea’s favorite article of the semester to work on was for National News in October 7th’s Weekly Wind Down. What’s so important about October and news that month? It was Fat Bear Week! October’s most important celebration featuring a 24/7 livestream of the bears that lurk in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. Scroll down to the national news section to read all about Fat Bear Week and to find out which bear was crowned the Fat Bear Week winner. If you love national parks, fun Youtube livestreams, and (most importantly) Fat Bears, read this article. And, if you’re super interested, watch reruns/highlights of the contestants for Fat Bear week in the following livestream.
A picture of Shea at the End of The Semester KAMP News Office Party holding the “Variety Queen” paper plate award for writing a variety of news articles spanning campus, local, national, international, and historical.
Sophie Carlisle Applin: “I like being part of the KAMP News Team because it has challenged me to write outside of my comfort zone. I don't typically write news. I usually write fiction but it has been a fun challenge. It also helps me with time management and gives me a way to consistently write articles.”
Sophie’s favorite article of the semester to work on was also in October 7th’s Weekly Wind Down for the International News section. It was a fun week for news all around! When the article was written, it had been a little under a month since the hit Netflix series Squid Game was released. The show had such staying power. It was around this week of October, though, that many people were having debates about Netflix’s distribution of the show, especially for English listeners. Pull open a tab with October 7th’s Weekly Wind Down and scroll down to the international news section to learn more about Squid Game and why there were issues with its English distribution. If you’re interested in language, media, and the delicate nature of subtitling shows, read this article.
A picture of Sophie at the End of the Semester KAMP News Meeting holding the “International Superstar” Paper Plate award for writing the most “International” news articles
Peyton Riegel (News Director): “I really liked getting to meet new people in the News Team. Without the news meetings, it would have been a lot harder to get to meet everyone. It’s also been fun to be more involved in KAMP and have more of a leadership role. It is so much fun to pour all this love into a program, but it was scary at first because there wasn’t much of a news program in the past.”
Peyton organized and uploaded content for the news meetings and made it such a fun meeting environment. Every Thursday at 4:00 PM, we would get together in KAMP studio, make edits on each other’s stories, and get to have fun conversations about each other’s news stories. Peyton was the glue for the News Team and always had things to talk about during the news meetings. Feel free to read Peyton’s most recent interview with Ireesh Lal, about the album Journey Through the Chakras. It’s a lively conversation and feel free to listen to the album as you read - it’s great!
A picture of the KAMP News Team
David Aguilera: “It’s fun. It’s been good. I like that I can keep up with the news because of other people’s articles and my own, especially because I dídn’t read the news as often beforehand.”
David’s favorite article of the semester to work on was National News in November 4th’s Weekly Wind Down. This was actually David’s first article of the semester, too, as our resident “Newsie Newbie.” If you were on Twitter the first week of November, you may have run into jokes (and a bit of dismay) about the topic of David’s article: the University of California, Santa Barbara’s windowless megadorm. It’s as terrible as it sounds and the university’s lead architect even stepped down from his position in protest of this terrible living arrangement for students. Curious to see more of the drama and sheer weirdness surrounding this dorm? Check out the article hyperlinked above and scroll down to “The Past Week Nationally.” If you’re interested in architecture, weird billionaires, and colleges/their treatment of students, definitely read this article.
A picture of David at the End of the Semester KAMP News Meeting holding the “New Guy (Who We Love)” Paper Plate award for joining the News Team mid-semester and keeping it exciting.
Alex Sanchez: “Being a KAMP News Member has been really great. Peyton and all the other news members have made it a really welcoming environment and it’s been so much fun. It’s been very smooth sailing, too, for a News Group in its first year.”
Alex’s favorite article to write this past semester was also the most recent. Check out Alex’s article in December 2nd’s Weekly Wind Down in the Campus News section and learn more about the University of Arizona Young Dems. There were some leadership changes within the Young Dems club and an announcement for a Mario Kart tournament in Alex’s article, so go visit the KAMP website and open up the freshly posted “Weekly Wind Down” to learn more. If you’re still curious about the Young Dems, also check out September 30th’s Weekly Wind Down, Alex’s Youtube interview with the Young Dems President, or go to one of their meetings or events. If you’re a political science major, or anyone who’s interested in politics in general, check out any of these links.
Also, check out Alex’s Youtube Channel, featuring fun trivia, special guests, and some local journalism. If you’re a horror/Halloween fan (like me), Alex’s Halloween Trivia Video with Kamp member Trey Cardi is so much fun to watch.
A picture of Alex at the End of the Semester KAMP News Meeting holding the “Tucson Champ” Paper Plate award for writing the most “Local” news articles
Fabiana Delgadillo: “I really think KAMP News is so much fun because I get to share my quirky historical facts with everyone. It was also a really enjoyable time.”
Fabiana’s favorite article to write this semester regarded a historical figure, who was a bit of a mystery. This article was also an adventure into writing more news articles independent of the “Weekly Wind Down.” Who was the article about? Juan Pujol Garcia, a Spanish spy and double-agent loyal to England and against Germany during WW2. Reading the article is a whirlwind, as you begin to hear about how many different people García pretended to be, and all the fake reports he created to trick the Germans. It’s full of fun historical facts. If you’re interested in history, a bit of storytelling, and hate fascism, read this article.
A picture of Fabiana at the End of the Semester KAMP News Meeting holding the “Trail Blazer” Paper Plate award for branching out into independent news content
Ash Avila: “Everyone is the sweetest. Also, it’s so much fun to put work into producing content and then have people read it and react to it during the News Meetings. During a hectic semester, this was always an activity I looked forward to.”
My favorite article to write is between this article and October 7th’s Weekly Wind Down (which was popular with two other KAMP News Members as well!). I spent way too much time making the flowchart quiz featured in October 7th’s article, and spent lots of time coming up with quiz questions for movies I had never really seen. It was my first time getting super involved in a personal project for KAMP, though, and it made me feel much more confident about doing other similar stories in the future. If you ever read teen magazines as a kid, if you love The Loft Cinema, or if you’re a big horror movie fan, check out the article and accompanying flow chart.
A picture of Ash at the End of the Semester KAMP News Meeting holding the “Supporting Staff” Paper Plate award for lending a helpful hand and being supportive towards other KAMP News members.
Kira McClure: Kira couldn’t make it to the End of Semester News Party, but I wanted to highlight their article Know Your Enemy: Patriot Front about a distressing group that had a presence on campus in October. Are you interested in investigative journalism? After news member Kira noticed a disturbing prevalence of fascist stickers around the University of Arizona campus, they wrote up this news piece. It’s a quick introductory piece featuring a brief outline of who Patriot Front is and ways to combat fascism and bigotry on campus. Check it out!
That wraps up the quick review of this semester’s news team stories, but keep an eye out for journalism from us next semester as well! The hour for news meetings may change, but come in and join anytime. It’s a fun experience and hopefully this wrap-up convinces you to give news writing a shot.