学生的角度

获奖播客项目的片段

妮科尔·塔克

Declaring a math major when entering college just made sense. Despite receiving a multitude of surprised and bewildered reactions, 我知道我可以以此为业. 虽然对我的专业选择很满意, 我想念项目带来的兴奋和挑战，也怀念空白的一页等着写满新故事的情景. 我之前选修了传播学辅修，但从来没有觉得自己是一个真正的作家，或者有资格从事真正的新闻工作. I sat in my communication courses feeling like a fraud, 好像在任何时候，我周围真正的传播学学生都会发现我的数学根源，知道我是个骗子. I didn't know how to conduct an interview or write a podcast script, 我也不知道爱德华·R. 默罗是. 我一点也不知道, 大二的时候, I would be a part of a team that would win one of those prestigious National 爱德华R. 莫罗奖，我将看到我在新闻工作上的尝试结出果实并出版.

第一部分:信任过程

Dr. Tamara Young has always seen something in me that I've struggled to see myself. It was her that pushed me to declare a communication minor in the first place, 再一次, it was her that got me wrapped up into this project 大二的时候. 我接受了她的建议，报名参加了改变Lab的一个名为“调查性新闻”的课程。, despite not even completely knowing what investigative journalism was. I signed up for the class and let it drift from my mind as summer plans became my priority.

当我在八月初收到一封来自Dr. Young wanting to meet via Zoom and start on the project prior to the start of the semester. I really began to wonder what I had gotten myself into, but quickly brushed away my anxious thoughts and sent in my availability. 会议结束时，班上的七名学生每人都要在中西部的一个州研究COVID - 19. 研究是我能做的事, especially research revolving around my home state of Indiana. 我对自己的研究能力很有信心，当我迅速完成背景研究并把它寄给Dr. 在截止日期前年轻得很好. 新闻 and numbers involving COVID were rapidly changing though, 我发现自己必须在截止日期之前更新和补充我的研究，然后在截止日期之后还要更新和补充几十次. 下一项任务是寻找消息来源，并对涉及COVID在我们各州大规模传播的故事进行采访. I didn't exactly know where to start when it came to finding sources, but I quickly discovered that Facebook would be an excellent tool. 即使在今天, 浏览Facebook, I come across posts from Facebook groups I joined solely for this project. 项目开始时涉及对这些潜在来源进行初步访谈. Due to lack of confidence in my skills and the desire to complete the assignment stress free, 我选择发送简短的电子邮件或直接发送信息来回答面试问题，而不是打电话. 经过研究和基本访谈, 我们都一头扎进了这个项目的核心, which we now knew was titled COVID Between the Coasts.

第二部分:项目的核心

My email archives capture the true behind the scenes of my work on COVID Between the Coasts. 我第一次问Dr. 如果我能继续研究新冠肺炎对学生运动员招募的影响，并得到一个快速的回复，让我深入研究和面试. 也是通过一封电子邮件，我联系了我的第一个消息来源，这将成为《威廉希尔中文网》播客系列的第8集.

礼貌WNIN.ORG

浏览Instagram, 我注意到我以前高中的几个学生运动员已经承诺在大学里继续他们的运动生涯. Immediately, I wondered how COVID affected their recruitment and commitment process. A light bulb flipped on in my head, quickly generating ideas to use for a story. Dr. Young gave me the go ahead to pursue the topic just as quickly as I formed the idea. 随着我的研究证明了我关于改变学生运动员招募的理论是正确的，事情开始变得有条不紊. 当我收到WNIN这个词时，我的兴奋之情与日俱增, an NPR affiliate and the main collaborative partner of the project, loved my story angle and wanted me to turn my research into a podcast. Suddenly I was no longer a student working on research and story angle ideas, 我有做记者工作的压力, which came with strict deadlines and high standards of quality. My to-do list became filled with tracking down sources, 录音采访, 编写脚本, 录制播客. Luckily, my classmates didn't let me take this all on by myself. 一周后, 我的每个同学都发邮件给我威廉希尔中文网，寻找符合我故事概念的资源. 我们的学生团队来自不同的专业和背景，我们每个人都有不同的优点和缺点. It was the strength of our team of students, the support and guidance of Dr. Young along the way, and the collaboration with WNIN that truly made this project successful.

My past emails show more than just the progress of the project. 他们还展示了一路上遇到的障碍和整个学期投入的长时间. 第一个证据是一封时间戳为凌晨2:43分的电子邮件，附带的文件名为“一个非常非常粗糙的脚本”。. I really value sleep, so you know if I was up that late, this project meant a lot to me. I wanted everything about this project to turn out perfect, even though half the time I didn't know what perfect even looked like for these tasks. My need for perfection led me to ending up inside Dr. 杨的办公室每周至少会有一次，有时甚至是每天都要对已完成的工作征求意见，并提出数十个问题. 这学期继续进行，完成了四次录音采访和超过三页的脚本材料.

作品三:出版，获奖 & 绝对不是冒名顶替者

It was just a class that was added onto my planner at the beginning of the semester, 但它不仅仅是一个普通的班级. It never felt like a class, and I never felt like a student. I felt like a real journalist part of a team with a meaningful job assignment. I was always gaining journalism skills and general professional skills. 我经常被赶出自己的舒适区. 如果你听了最后一期播客, you will hear the voices of the sources I was in contact with for the story. These audio clips were recorded during phone interviews I conducted with each of the sources. 在播客中, 你只能听到消息来源的答案, 然而，最初这些录音包括我的尴尬介绍，当另一条线路的声音接听电话, the series of questions I spouted off in a tumble of words, 电话结束后，我如释重负. I've never liked to pick up a phone and make important phone calls. Phone calls have always been a source of anxiety for me, 然而，最终播客的所有采访都必须通过电话进行和录制. 我成长为一名研究员和记者, 但更重要的是，我获得并加强了未来无论我从事什么职业所必需的技能.

信贷RTDNA.ORG

知道我的作品已经出版，被全国各地的人观看和倾听，我感到非常自豪, 我毫不犹豫地向我的朋友和家人展示了我在WNIN网站上的播客链接. As the semester ended and the excitement surrounding the project died down, COVID Between the Coasts was no longer at the front of my mind. My focus shifted to the classes and projects of next semester in a blink of an eye. 仲夏, 当我被告知该项目赢得了国家爱德华R奖时，《威廉希尔中文网站》重新出现在我的雷达上. 默罗奖. I naturally added it onto my résumé and continued on with my summer. 几周后，在我的体育分析暑期研究项目的一次复核会议上，我开始明白这个奖项的重要性. 卡耐基梅隆大学统计与数据科学系的项目联合主任和负责人, scrolled through my page of experience and achievements, but suddenly stopped as she read the COVID Between the Coasts section. 她似乎既惊讶又印象深刻，她问她为什么不知道我参与了爱德华R. 默罗获奖项目. On the other end, I was just as surprised to hear of her apparent knowledge on 爱德华R. Murrow awards; I didn't expect someone in the statistics field to know anything about the journalism award recently placed on my résumé. After my discussion with the co-director of my summer research program, I realized the significance of the award and looked more into the prestige of the award. It is still amazing to me that this small collaborative project based out of Evansville, 印第安纳州在全国范围内得到承认.

At the end of the day, I'm a mathematics student, but I'm also a communication minor. I no longer sit in my communication classes feeling like an imposter. How could I when my journalism work is still just a click away on the WNIN website? 我现在不仅知道爱德华·R. 莫罗是，但我也有一个国家爱德华R. 莫罗奖在我的履历上. 我真的可以说，报名参加这个随机的调查性新闻变化实验室课程对我的影响是最好的，这是我来到英国威廉希尔中文网站以来做出的最好的决定之一.

学术项目 沟通