Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 VOL . LIV, ISSUE 13
INSIDE
Recognition in midst of revolution: ‘12 graduates of the communication department received a national award for their multimedia reporting on the ongoing upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa.
DEALING WITH FINALS, PAGE 6
BY LIA FERRANTE Perspectives Editor BY MARYKATE MCCANN Multimedia Editor
IN SANDY’S WAKE, PAGE 8
ONLINE www.theloquitur.com YouthVoicesRise.com
Check out the Pinnacle Awardwinning website that documented the movement’s beginnings and has since inspired an eBook. READ MORE ONLINE...
Scan the above QR code with your smartphone to view the website.
The Arab Spring. How many people in our world today actually know what this movement is all about? Young people in the Middle East and North Africa wanted their voices heard and spoke up against dictators controlling their countries. They advocated for a better life for themselves; they wanted t o
have new opportunities, better education and more freedom. Youth from across the Middle East joined with others in their countries and pushed for revolutionary reforms of their governments. This international movement, which began in December 2010, became known as the Arab Spring. In November, students of the 2012 class of the communication department, who reported on these ongoing revolutions, received the 2012 Pinnacle Award for Best Multimedia Feature Presentation from the College Media Association for their website, YouthVoicesRise.com. They were up against many colleges from around the nation, including runners-up Baylor University and Kent State University. “One of the most amazing things I learned was to let go of my preconceived notions,” Elizabeth Krupka ‘12 said in an email. “There are a lot of things that are happening underground in the Middle East that people don’t know about, because the media doesn’t want to tell those stories.” As the project’s manager, Krupka learned many things. She was able to listen to what people wanted to do creatively and meet them halfway with a lot of their ideas. When she was assigning projects to each person in the group, she made sure that she considered everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. Under Cathy Yungmann, associate professor of communication, these students produced a national award-winning website that informed the world around them, conducting in-depth interviews with Egyptian students at the American University in Cairo, as well as top professionals in international media. These students also turned to the college’s partner, Catholic Relief Services, which introduced them
to Professor Pandeli Glavanis at the university. They soon realized that their capstone project would be something very memorable that related back directly to the Justice Matters curriculum. “By far the most rewarding part of the project was to see a group of Cabrini seniors become professional journalists and storytellers over the course of eight months,” Yungmann said. “They grew in confidence and competence.” Through their reporting experiences, this team of 12 students interacted with Egyptians about the upheaval in the Middle East as it was happening. The students were able to communicate on a regular basis through Skype, phone and email. Through this process they created lasting relationships with the Egyptian students. “There were many people who were unaware of or were not fully educated on what was exactly happening,” Elizabeth Scopelliti ‘12, said in an email. “I think this website [can continue] to help those with questions about what has [or] is occurring overseas in these Middle Eastern countries, and help them to understand the message that our team was trying to convey.” “I learned that even though it is a different culture, the people of my generation have very similar interests,” Danielle Alio, valedictorian of the class of 2012, said in an email. “I learned that the youth in the Middle East want a future for themselves and their families and they are willing to do whatever they can to secure that successful and prosperous.” The numerous pieces the multimedia team produced touched on topics as diverse as regional job insecurity, women’s rights, political corruption, the new voting process and censorship changes. “It is nice to know that this recognition will expand our audience and educate more people,” Alyssa Mentzer, class of 2012 alumna, said in an email. [Our] ultimate goal was not to win an award, but to spread awareness and document the social and political changes occurring in our world.”