COMMEDIA
INSIDE:
Newsletter of the Goshen College Department of Communication
Associate Professor Seth Conley Moves to Nashville pg. 4 Dona Park Wins 2015 C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest pg. 7 Comm Department Receives Awards pg. 8
COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES NEW FILM PRODUCTION MAJOR Above: Jared Zook films a scene for “Shh,” a short film produced during May term 2015 by four Communication students. The new film major will provide a focused major for students like Zook, who instead majored in Communication with a film emphasis.
Photo and cover photo courtesy of Jared Zook
COMMBRIEFS
FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS Seth Conley
FiveCore Media Nominated for Regional Emmy Award FiveCore Media, Goshen College’s video production company, was nominated for a regional Emmy award for its 2013 “A Festival of Carols” video, which aired in December 2014 on PBS stations in Indiana. This is the first Emmy nomination for FiveCore Media and the second Emmy nomination for Goshen College since 2008. An awards ceremony took place on June 27, 2015, in Indianapolis. Kyle Hufford, General Manager of FiveCore Media, said, “We were very excited and honored to find out we had been nominated for our first regional Emmy. It is rewarding to have our students and staff recognized for their hard work and dedication to a large project like Festival of Carols. Going forward this is something our students can put on their resumes and raises the exposure of FiveCore in our region. This is a professional award nomination in a category with seasoned professionals, so it says a lot about the quality of our students’ and production company’s work to be recognized in this way. Most college students will not get the opportunity to play such a crucial role in an Emmy nominated production.” Marcia Yost, Executive Director of the Goshen College Music Center, was delighted to hear the news of this nomination. “Thank you to all for the fine and tireless work to get it right! It is a beautiful production! This is an incredible example of ‘the village’ at work!”
In May, 2014, Seth traveled to Greece and Rome with Campus Pastor Bob Yoder to shoot and create video materials on how the Apostle Paul worked at ‘faith mentoring.’ Over the summer, Seth worked with GC Senior Chau Bui on a Maple Scholars project on the same topic. In August, Seth assumed the role as Interim Director for the GC Write on Sports camp while Professor Duane Stoltzfus led SST. Over Christmas, Seth spent time with his family taking a much-anticipated vacation to Disney World. Seth continues to work as a part time anchor at WNDU in South Bend. This summer he and his family will be moving to Nashville where he has accepted a position as Associate Professor at Trevecca Nazarene University. Read more about Seth on page 5.
Jason Samuel
The 2014 Festival of Carols film crew poses for a photo. Photo courtesy of FiveCore Media
Co-curricular Leaders for 2015-2016 Named The Communication Department has appointed Grace Weaver as editor for The Record in fall semester 2015. In the spring semester Luis Lerchundi Perez and Seth Wesman, both journalism majors, will co-edit the publication. Leaders for GCTV (The Correspondent) are Karina Flores, Correspondent News Director, and Dalton Shetler, GCTV Operations Manager. Victor Garcia has been appointed station manager for WGCS, 91.1 The Globe.
Jason continues to fulfill his dual roles as assistant professor and general manager of 91.1 The Globe. Jason serves as a board member for WRWTFM (Syracuse), which is a cooperative between Wawasee, Fairfield and West Noble High Schools. He will be leading a summer sports broadcasting camp at Wawasee High School with students from the radio broadcasting program. In September Jason traveled to Nashville to present research from his summer sabbatical. His seminar was entitled, “The Americana Music Fan - What You Need to Know.” Along with his presentation, he was a featured panelist and spent time as a talent coach in one-on-one critiques and skill building sessions. In March Jason and Kyle Hufford took 15 radio staffers to New York for the annual Intercollegiate Broadcasting Systems conference and awards banquet. 91.1 The Globe was named a national finalist for the fifth consecutive year.
Senior, Benson Hostetter; sophomore, David Leaman-Miller; senior, Jared Zook; and junior, Elizabeth Derstine film a scene for their short film, “Shh,” during May term 2015.
COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES NEW FILM PRODUCTION MAJOR This coming fall, Goshen College will offer a new film production major for students. In the past, a major in communication or a major in theater with a concentration in film were the best and only options for those interested in studying film. Incoming first years will be able to choose the film production major, now one of a total of five possible majors in communication: broadcast, communication, film production, journalism, and public relations. A film studies emphasis is still an option for theater majors, but communication will no longer offer the film studies emphasis. Current communication students have the option of either completing the film emphasis or switching to the new major. The new major allows students to “get credit for what they’ve already been taking and show[s] that the courses they’re taking actually are contributing to their actual major,” said Seth Conley, associate professor of communication. Although there aren’t new courses being offered, the film concentration has flourished in the past five years. The addition of FiveCore Media as part of the curriculum brought three new production classes, each offered once every three years. The idea for the major came to Conley and FiveCore Media General Manager, Kyle Hufford, with the realization that the film department was quickly gaining strength. Their initial intent was to create a film studies major, but they found that a stronger emphasis on film production would prove itself more useful. “We are very heavy on the creation of video in terms of
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production: shooting, editing and crafting of the story,” said Conley. “We think that makes us unique because not a lot of places, especially in Indiana, have a film production major.” One of the key differences of this major is the requirement of more film production courses. “What the film studies concentration had in it was a couple of key courses they could take and we would advise them to take those to be more trained in the field,” said Conley. “There weren’t a lot of film production courses that were specifically required.” The film production major will also require a theater class because the theater and communication departments “have worked well together in the past,” said Conley. “The connectivity between the departments really helps.” With this collaboration, film production students will gain a better understanding of the different skills required to be successful in the field. “We believe that students will have more variety, more options with the new major,” said Conley. The students interested in acting in films will be more likely to take on a theater major with an emphasis in film, while those that want to produce will study through the communication department. The film studies program in Los Angeles through the CCCU will still remain a vital part of the film production major. When asked how this major will benefit Goshen College as a whole, Conley said that it “gives us the opportunity for more students. It’s a selling point for us to be able to say we do have a film production major.”
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Beyond the Classroom Courtesy Photo
Photo Courtesy of Seth Conley
Associate Professor Conley Moves to Nashville Associate Professor of Communication Seth Conley, his wife, Rachel, and their four children will move to Nashville this summer. Conley has accepted a position as associate professor of communication at Trevecca Nazarene University. He will teach courses in film and video production, broadcast journalism, scriptwriting, camera acting and directing, audio production and in organizational and corporate video production. During his six years at Goshen College, Conley built a strong television and film program. Under his leadership Goshen College has won Television School of the Year in Indiana four times between 2010 and 2015. He also proposed and implemented FiveCore Media Production Company, an in-house video production company which serves both internal and external clients. This past year Conley proposed
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a film production major within the department of communication. The faculty unanimously approved this proposal; students will be admitted into the program in the fall of 2015. Professor Duane Stoltzfus remembers Conley’s contributions to the communication department. “Seth is a superb teacher and manager. Under his leadership, GC claimed the title Television School of the Year for the state of Indiana – four times. He was the visionary for FiveCore Media. Instead of slipping into rest mode on weekends, he served as a television anchor at WNDU. Apart from these accomplishments, Seth is just the best kind of colleague to work with. Earnest. Kind. Thoughtful. Dedicated. Smart. His devotion to being a follower of Christ, in what he says and how he lives, is as clear in the classroom as it is in private office chats.”
Conley notes that he will miss Goshen College very much. “I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with so many talented students and colleagues during my time here at GC. Their hard work and creativity have helped raise the video and film program to what it is now. Even though I came here to teach, I’ve learned so much from each of you over the past few years. For that I am ever grateful. The hardest part about leaving GC is that I truly feel as though I am leaving my family. The team of faculty here in the Communication Department is second to none, and I will miss them dearly. I pray that Christ will continue to bless this department. To my students–I want to encourage you to work hard, keep your eyes focused on the things that really matter in life, and be intentional about all the decisions you make. In other words, in all you do, make it count.”
Photo by Brian Yoder Schlabach
Rachel A. Smucker ‘15
Jake P. Smucker ‘15
GC has given me so much more than an education. GC has given me a community and a place that I can always come home to. I have had some of the most profound experiences of my life at GC: SST has ignited a curiosity in me to explore our world while giving me the confidence in myself to navigate another culture and language; Goshen Monologues has empowered me as a woman and as a leader to use my voice to tell truths and to speak out against injustices; and the community of Goshen has taught me the value of community through support, love, and fellowship. In and outside the classroom, I have learned to be a more passionate learner, peacemaker, global citizen, empowered woman, and Christfollower. I am so thankful for GC!
When I graduated from Goshen College it ended my four years at Goshen College, but it also ended my 17 years of student-hood. I have always enjoyed learning, but I never really identified that passion until the past year.
I would love to continue my education by getting a Masters in Peacebuilding / Restorative Justice / Conflict Resolution and get my Ph.D some day. I am excited to return to Goshen College as an admissions counselor starting this August. I know that no matter how far away I travel, I can always return here to my home.
As a student, I had the opportunity to work for three semesters at FiveCore Media. Approaching graduation, I applied for, and was offered, a full-time job at FiveCore for the next year. I am thrilled to transition to a producer role whose job is as much about helping others learn as it is about producing high-quality videos. It allows me to stay in an environment of learning—a business that focuses more on selfimprovement and learning by experience than on maximizing profit margins. So as I transition from “student” to “staff,” I lose the title that has stuck with me for all these years. But while I may not be able to identify with it on my tax forms, I still know…I’m still a student. A student of video production. A student of design. A student of business. And I don’t plan to ever stop learning.
ALUMNI PROFILE Isaac Fast ‘14 You hear a lot, going to college with world travelers, through SST travel or otherwise. “I ate this in Cambodia!” “We were in this desert in Morocco!” Inspired by adventure and photographing new environments, I booked a ticket to Nicaragua, without knowing anyone in the country. To my great fortune, Spanish professor Maria Sanchez-Schirch connected me with Oscar Ortiz, a Nicaraguan video producer and journalist who has worked to train Peace Corps volunteers in Nicaragua. He picked me up from the airport and asked me what my specialty was. “Photography,” I answered. “Great! I know a professor on the other side of the country; you’ll teach a fourday workshop on photography there next week.” During my senior seminar at Goshen College, my capstone project was titled “Photography for Social Change.” What topic more relevant to present? A week later, I was in a classroom with ten Nicaraguan students at URACCAN, a university in Bluefields. It was their first art class. The first day we discussed art elements - seeing the lines and shapes in a photo. The second day we talked about photographic elements like shutter speed and aperture. The last days, we talked about social and environmental issues that they faced. Trash and ethnicity discrimination were the hot topics. So we looked at the stories of famous photos and the impact they had on entire societies, and we discussed ways we were capable of making that same change happen through photography. It was an honor to share my passion, but even more, it was an honor to see students thinking critically about their society in a way they hadn’t before.
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FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS Kyle Hufford Assistant Professor of Communication and FiveCore Media General Manager Kyle Hufford is completing his fourth year at Goshen College. In addition to producing numerous awardwinning videos with FiveCore Media, in November Hufford was invited to work on a documentary about the effects of trauma with Pendleton, IN based production company The Story Shop. The crew traveled the east coast interviewing experts and victims of trauma. In April Hufford traveled to Las Vegas to attend the Broadcast Educators Association (BEA) and National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conventions. Hufford was invited to speak on a panel for the BEA convention to talk about his experience
with taking students on international trips for film production courses. This summer Hufford will travel to Kansas City to attend the biennial Mennonite Convention to present at two youth sessions and to help with recruiting efforts in the Goshen College booth. He will also continue producing projects at FiveCore Media throughout the summer.
of Communicating Across Cultures, a course which is an SST alternate course, as well as Senior Seminar. Pat traveled to Messiah College March 4-6 to direct and perform a reader’s theater rendition of her play Heavenly Voices. Her first grandchild was born on May 20. Pat traveled to California for part of May and June to celebrate this event.
Pat Lehman
Duane and his wife, Karen, left in August, 2014 to lead SST in Peru. It is the second time that they have led the Peru SST unit. They will conclude their 12-month stay and return to Goshen in August, 2015. During their 12-month stay, they led three groups of students: fall semester 2014, spring semester 2015, and summer 2015. Read more about Duane’s experience on page 12.
Pat is chairing the communication department this year while Duane Stoltzfus is leading SST in Peru. She continues to teach in the Goshen Core, particularly the class titled “Identity Culture and Community” for first year students and the course “Culture and Community” for transfer students. This spring semester she taught two sections
Duane Stoltzfus
Goshen Middle Schoolers Participate in Summer Sports Journalism Camp at GC Area middle schoolers participated in the third annual Write on Sports, a sports journalism summer camp put on by Goshen College and Goshen Community Schools. This year Associate Professor of Communication
this free camp earlier this spring by submitting a letter explaining why they want to participate. There was room for up to 30 students, and the camp ran from July 6 through 17. “Right now most of the students come from Goshen, but we hope to expand to the Elkhart area,” said Conley. The Write on Sports program originated in New Jersey and was started by a Goshen College alum Byron Yake in 2005. Stoltzfus was inspired to start the first ever Write on Sports sister camp in Goshen in 2013.
Photo by Brian Yoder Schlabach
Seth Conley stood in for Professor of Communication Duane Stoltzfus who is currently leading SST in Peru. Seventh and eighth graders applied for
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Those selected to attend the camp honed their writing skills, all while attending sporting events, holding their own press conferences, and even taking field trips to the WNDU news studio, Notre Dame and the recently renamed South Bend Cubs.
“We get a lot of community participation,” said Conley. “We get a lot of athletes or people from our community around us to come in and be a part of this. It’s been a really good opportunity for the students and for our department because it allows us to give back. There is a hole in our community, where we don’t know what these kids would be doing during the middle of the summer. Plus they get to experience being on a college campus.” At the end of the camp the students submit their best works to be published in “Write on Sports,” the camp’s own sports magazine, which students can show off to family and friends or even get a jump start on their journalism portfolio.
Sophomore, Dona Park wins 2015 C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest Photo Courtesy of GC Communications and Marketing
The annual C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest was held on February 17th. This year’s contestants were Sarah Hofkamp, sophomore; Anya Kreider, sophomore; Morgan Yordy, freshman; Peter Meyer Reimer, junior; and Dona Park sophomore. Contestants were coached and introduced by last year’s bi-national contest winner and senior, Abby Deaton. Professor of Communication Pat Lehman was the contest director and introduced the this year’s judges. The judges were June Alliman Yoder of the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary; Ruth Hollinger, a Goshen College grad and former director of drama at Bethany Christian School; and Michael Yeakey who teaches English at Bethany Christian School.
Korean Peninsula. After a crash course on the history of the Korean conflict, Park relayed the horrific tales from those who have escaped the oppressive state.
While sexual violence seemed to be a hot topic this year, it was Park’s speech on the survivors of human rights atrocities in North Korea which took top prize. Park is a history major, minoring in art and English, and her speech is titled “Through the Eyes of the People”.
“I want people to continue to seeking out these testimonies,” said Park. “You can just go out of the audience and say ‘Hey, I like your speech. I’m really moved by it.’ But it’s still happening. I ended my speech by saying, ‘You now know. You are now aware.’ But the scary thing about being aware, often people still don’t do anything about it. . . . We live in such a fast-paced world, and the next day something else might happen, and then nothing is being done about what happened the day before.”
Taking advantage of the recent release of the controversial movie “The Interview”, Park reminded the audience of the very real suffering caused by the North Korean regime on its own people. “It’s not something that should be talked about lightly,” said Park in an interview after the competition. Being of both North and South Korean descent, Park feels a special connection to this issue. She expressed her frustration at the collective ignorance of the situation in North Korea, despite American involvement in the original division of the
Said Park, “The term concentration camp rings a bell to many students’ ears. For me, the word Holocaust pops into my head. We might easily dismiss this term, making the assumption that it belongs only in our history textbooks. However, it still exists.” After her speech, Park explained that while she is honored to have won, for her the C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest is more about the content than the prizes.
Morgan Yordy, a freshman majoring in History and PJCS, was runner up and junior biology and interdisciplinary major, Peter Meyer Reimer came in third place. Park’s speech will be reviewed along with the speeches of other winners from across the U.S. and Canada. The 2015 bi-national winner will be announced in August.
David Kendall Joins Communication Faculty David Kendall will join the Communication Department as associate professor of communication for the 201516 school year. He will lead the television and Courtesy Photo film program at Goshen College, advising GC’s television news program, The Correspondent, and developing the new film production major. Kendall
comes to the department after teaching media arts at Goshen High School from 2004-2009 and from 20122015. From 2009-2011 he attended the Savannah School of Art and Design where he received an M.F.A. in television and film. At Goshen High School Kendall taught media arts and GTV Broadcasting. He began GTV, the high school’s television program. Kendall and his wife, Carrie Lee, own Kendall Studio at 211 ½ S. Main Street in Goshen. The studio houses Kendall Pictures, their film and media
company, as well as DavidKendallArt. com, their fine art business. Kendall and his wife have a three-year-old daughter named Poppy Dee. Kendall commented enthusiastically on coming to Goshen College. “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the Goshen College faculty and can’t wait to get started working on my classes. I look forward to helping the Comm Department continue their pattern of excellence and eagerly await the arrival of the GC students into my classes.”
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Television School of the Year
Music Video 1.) Benson Hostetter and David Leaman-Miller, Goshen College (Baby Frankenstein) Television News Package 1.) Abby Deaton, Goshen College (Hot Off the Grill) 3.) Dalton Shetler, Goshen College Television Newscast 2.) Chau Bui and David LeamanMiller, Goshen College (The Correspondent) Video In-Depth 3.) Abby Deaton, Goshen College (Goshen Monologues) Entertainment Video 1.) Abby Deaton, Goshen College (Panic) Videography 2.) Abby Deaton, Goshen College (Hot off the Grill) Cinematography 1.) David Leaman-Miller, Goshen College Television Anchor 3.) Dalton Shetler, Goshen College Video Magazine 2.) Chau Bui and David LeamanMiller, Goshen College (The Correspondent) Video Sound Design 1.) Tim Litwiller, Goshen College
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The GC Communication Department is proud to have been nominated for and awarded several prizes this year. The awards came from competitions in film, tv and radio, and were awarded to both individuals as well as the programs as a whole. “It’s really a weird problem to have because we really do have that issue where it’s hard to communicate to people how big of a deal it is,” said Seth Conley, associate professor of communication and faculty adviser of The Correspondent. “When you win a couple years in a row, people start thinking it must not be hard to win. So it is really tough to reiterate and try to convince people that this a big deal.” Conley goes on to emphasize that all of these awards are for student work. “We don’t win Television School of the Year without individual winners. The same goes for the Globe.” Goshen College winners of the 2015 College Broadcasting Competition Awards included Danielle Kerschhackl, Ashley Davenport, Andrew Snyder, Victor Garcia, Dalton Shetler, Brad Stoltzfus, Spencer Buttermore, and Samantha
Horsch for radio; and Benson Hostetter, David Leaman-Miller, Abby Deaton, Dalton Shetler, Chau Bui and Tim Litwiller for television.
Hundreds of Goshen College students, staff, and community members filled the Umble Center auditorium on Sunday, April 12 to watch the premiere showing of the Goshen Monologues “The Storytellers” documentary.
Goshen College was named Television School of the Year for the fourth time, even beating out Ball State University.
This full-length film was produced by Goshen College students Abby Deaton, a senior, and Elizabeth Derstine, a junior. The idea for “The Storytellers” emerged from a class project assignment, in which Deaton was supposed to make a short documentary for a film class. “After the first day of filming,” Deaton said, “I quickly realized that the project was going to be a lot longer than a seven-minute video.”
Goshen’s FiveCore Media also received recognition this year. Chau Bui and Jake Smucker came in second for the Broadcast Education Association’s instructional/educational video category at the annual Media Arts Festival in Las Vegas. Abby Deaton won a bronze Telly, and FiveCore Media as a whole was also given a bronze Telly for the “Good of Goshen” videos. “Good of Goshen” also brought in a bronze from the national ADDY Award for Digital Advertising Campaign from the American Advertising Federation. Samples of works from the winning students can be found at fivecoremedia.com, goshen.edu/gctv and globeradio.org.
Second Place, 2015 Indiana
Radio School of the Year Radio Sportscast 3.) Dalton Shetler, Goshen College Radio Imaging 3.) Danielle Kerschhackl, Ashley Davenport, Andrew Snyder, Victor Garcia, Goshen College Radio News Report 1.) Danielle Kerschhackl, Ashley Davenport, Goshen College Radio Talk Show 2.) Dalton Shetler, Brad Stoltzfus, Spencer Buttermore, Goshen College
Behind the Scenes of “The Storytellers”
Radio Copywriting 1.) Danielle Kerschhackl, Goshen College 2.) Samantha Horsch, Goshen College Radio Newscast 3.) Danielle Kerschhackl and Dalton Shetler, Goshen College Radio In-Depth 3.) Dalton Shetler, Goshen College
Deaton spent over 50 hours filming during the spring 2014 production of Goshen Monologues and wanted to document the stories from behind the scenes of the monologues production. “The process itself,” Deaton explained, “is almost as powerful as the presentation, and I felt it was valuable for people to see the full process.”
“Goshen Monologues, the performance, is about the people who wrote the stories. This movie focuses on “the storytellers,” the women who worked to organize, memorize, and perform
First Place - “Portraits of the Potawatomi,” Best Pullout Section - Tony Miller, Best Sports News Story -Carina Zehr, Best Opinion Column Second Place - Alia Munley, Best Photo Essay - Chenoa Mitchell,
Overall, Deaton is extremely proud of the project. “I still can’t really believe it,” she said. “It’s a full length film, and there’s not been anything else like it created on campus. The fact that two of us could put together something like this within a few months is really…it really seems impossible.” Deaton described this experience as an incredible accomplishment and one that has built up her confidence as a filmmaker, and she believes Derstine feels the same. One of the most rewarding aspects of the process for Deaton was the opportunity to organize the premiere of the film on campus. “It was surreal to watch it on the big screen,” she said. “It was even more bizarre to have other people, people I didn’t even know, watch it. Elizabeth and I talked about how great it was to hear people laugh and enjoy parts of the movie that we loved. It was also hard to watch people leave when the movie got very intense and to hear people cry. It made the whole experience more real,” Deaton said.
Lauren Treiber delivers a monologue in this screenshot from “The Storytellers.”
Although the idea for the film and a lot of the filming came from Deaton, Elizabeth Derstine worked on the project as a co-editor, co-writer and co-director for the film. “This is really our project,” Deaton said. “Without her, there is no way this film would exist.” Both students spent over 300 hours collectively working on the project this spring semester. Sifting through 895 gigabytes of footage and five hours of interviews, Deaton and Derstine transcribed interviews, spent 12-24 hours writing and revising an outline for the film. “We spent a lot of time trying to decide how to present the story,” Deaton said. Once they had a finalized script, the two of them logged over 200 hours editing the footage.
The Record’s Awards
these stories.” Deaton said. “They gave a voice to people who couldn’t share these stories. They worked very hard and were transformed during the process of putting on this performance, and I think we can learn a lot from what they experienced as cast members.”
Video Still by Abby Deaton
2015 Indiana
2014-2015 Department Awards
Both Deaton and Derstine have high hopes for “The Storytellers” documentary. They plan to send the documentary to film festivals over the course of the next few months. “This documentary wasn’t just some small project we were working on,” Deaton said. “It’s a film and a story that I believe made an impact on a lot of people, and Elizabeth and I think it has the potential to impact even more people in the future.”
Best Entertainment Column - Chenoa Mitchell, Best Sports Column - Quinn Brenneke, Best Staff Editorial - Elizabeth Franks-North, Best Single Issue Third Place - Quinn Brenneke, Best Overall Design - Elizabeth Franks-North, Best Front Page
- Hannah Sauder, Best Photo Essay or Picture Story - Roberto Ortiz, Best News Photo - Mandy Schlabach, Best Feature Photo - Kolton Nay, Best Sports Feature Story - Elizabeth Franks-North and Hannah Sauder, Best Breaking News Reporting - Luis Perez Lerchundi, Best Feature Story
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Writing About Culture: 2015 Graduate Accepts Internship in Beijing After her last four years as a communication major at Goshen College, Chau Bui has both received her diploma, and a unique internship opportunity in Beijing, China. Originally from Ho Chi-Minh City, Vietnam, Bui has always wanted to find work in China. But she had never anticipated that she would come across a job opportunity this soon.
Alumni Profile: Goshen Grads Bring Marketing Services to Small Businesses When you spend a large portion of your time writing copy for small businesses, you don’t always have the time to write your own story. You are the proverbial cobbler with no shoes until someone prompts you, like a college professor, to write about what you’ve been doing. So here’s our story: We are Jessica Bubp (’10), Gina Rambow (’09), and Piper Voge (’10), and we love that we are telling our story for the first time to Goshen College, the place that our story began as students in the Communication (Bubp, Voge) and Theatre (Rambow) departments. We initially met fall of 2006 when we all lived on Yoder Floor North (Yo-Fo-No to us). After losing touch, the sudden death of our friend and classmate, Deanne Binde, brought us together in support of one another, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. We felt it was only fitting to honor her when naming our business, thus, this year becoming Bindy Marketing Associates out of Indianapolis, Indiana. Being Goshen grads, it’s no surprise that we aren’t satisfied to work in pre-existing paradigms; so instead we have set out to create our own, pioneering a method of marketing geared towards small companies that includes a flexible combination of services and training. This method allows small businesses access to a level of marketing that otherwise would be outside of their budget. The companies we work with get a full service firm that offers assistance in capturing and utilizing earned media, brand creation, development of relevant promotional materials, designing and managing websites, event planning, photography and digital image editing,
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Courtesy Photo
copywriting, along with an array of other services. Continuing the tradition of Goshen College’s core values, most notably servant leadership, our founding trio holds the philosophy that the success of a business is in the hands of its community. We believe that earning a lasting place in a community requires strategic partnerships and mutually beneficial relationships, which can only be achieved through awareness and community involvement. Instead of ad dollars being used to tear down competitors, we believe they can be better used to uplift the community by taking action that will result in positive press coverage. We encourage our clients to be servant leaders by uplifting their communities, and as a result, they too are uplifted; an ethos we developed during our time at GC. Reflecting back on our journey, we realize we have Goshen College to thank for more than just our formal education and mad graphic design skills. We are grateful for our professors who required us to read and discuss an inordinate amount of articles, which at the time we believed to be pointless, but were shaping our critical thinking skills. We also now appreciate every time we were forced to extemporaneously speak because you never know who or what life will throw at you. But most of all, we are thankful for the caliber of mentors we were blessed with who inspired us not to just do well, but to do good and fostered within us the belief that we could succeed in our own way. So here’s to writing your own stories, and to the beginning of ours. We’ll let you know how it turns out!
reporters,” Bui said. The process of getting connected with The World of Chinese was a long one for Bui. “I contacted a head on company to help me with exposure to Chinese companies. I paid a fee, because in China if you want to get a job, you need connections; especially
“I got my education in the U.S., so I thought ‘Oh, I’m going to get a job here and eventually go back,’” Bui said. She explained that during her last semester at Goshen, she spent a lot of time looking into the possibility of finding a job in China. “I worked really hard and was very passionate about going to China, and it happened. It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” she said. The internship itself is with a company called The World of Chinese, which is based in Beijing. It is a magazine company that releases bi-monthly issues in English. According to the World of Chinese website, the magazine focuses its content on exploring Chinese language and culture. Bui will be spending the months of September and October writing and editing online articles in English for the magazine. “The job will be me going out to interview people or if that’s not possible for me, because I don’t know Chinese, editing articles that come in from
The writing internship with The World of Chinese, however, was not the only internship Bui applied for in Beijing. Bui had interviewed for a writing internship at a marketing company, before accepting the position at The World of Chinese. Bui selected her internship because she was drawn to the cultural focus of the magazine. “The company focuses on daily life and the Chinese traits of life. Like what people view as beautiful in China, or the fashion trends, popular cuisine, and family life in China. And it’s more of a feature writing style, which I like,” she explained. Although the internship is solely lunch-paid, Bui is excited about the opportunity to write stories about culture and about people. “There’s value in the experience,” she said.
Photo courtesy of FiveCore Media
for foreigners and people who don’t know Chinese,” she said. The company she worked with sent her resume to businesses in the area with the requirement that the work needed to be in English. “When a company was interested, they contacted me directly, and then together, we set up a Skype interview and worked out the application requirements,” explained Bui.
Above, Bui poses for a picture while working on a film crew with a Goshen College class in Athens, Greece, in May 2012. At left, Bui runs a camera during the filming of A Festival of Carols in Sauder Concert Hall, December 2014. Photo courtesy of FiveCore Media
Upon accepting the internship, Bui mentioned the possibility for her internship position to become a full time job. However, she is also exploring job opportunities with entertainment companies closer to home. “There are job opportunities in Vietnam that are looking for magazine writers and script writers,” Bui explained. “These companies target younger generations, and I like entertainment in Asia for young people, so it’s a good opportunity to keep in mind when my internship is over,” she said. For the first time in two years, Bui plans on spending her summer at home in Ho Chi-Minh City with her family. She has applied for two teaching assistant positions, where she would help with teaching English part time. “I’m looking forward to spending the first summer ever relaxing and spending time with my family before I leave for Beijing,” Bui said. For more information about The World of Chinese magazine, visit their website.
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Professor Recommends Multiple SSTs My recommendation is to go on SST twice – both times to Peru! At least for me, the second time is even better than the first. My wife, Karen, and I directed the SST program in Peru in 2007-08. When the opportunity came to move back here this year, I had a nagging worry that it might feel repetitive or overly familiar. Each semester, though, is a passage of time all its own. That’s true in part because each group has its own distinct personality and set of experiences. For example, in the fall, more than half of our group of 15 was composed of ASL majors. Through them, we learned to know deaf communities in Lima, Chiclayo and Cusco. During our first year here, we had never met a single person who was deaf. We had some heartbreaking times (hearing about the corporal punishment of a deaf child) and poignant moments (watching a host mother try to hail a cab, and seeing drivers abruptly pull away after they discovered she was deaf ). But we also marveled at the ability of our Goshen students to communicate with their host families, even with little
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command of Spanish. In some cases it was as though hearing family members were seeing signed communication, rich and nuanced, for the first time. And the spring semester was very different from the fall. We had a group of nine, all Spanish speakers. Given the smaller group, we added a bike ride along congested Arequipa Avenue, which is closed to traffic on Sundays. When we learned that the Museo de la Nación opened an exhibit on the Shining Path, we added that to our schedule. And so it goes, a semester with its own stamp. There’s something tiring but also rejuvenating about the change of culture, pace and language. I’m aware of feeling more relaxed this year, less worried about understanding every word and more attuned to simply communicating, to catching the main points of a conversation (at least that’s the idea). And it certainly doesn’t hurt that Peru takes its food very seriously. People talk about Gastón Acurio being a candidate for president in 2016. His primary qualification? He’s a celebrity chef. Cab drivers often ask whether I like the food in Peru, knowing full well I’ll say, “Yes,
Courtesy Photo
I love Peruvian food – especially ceviche and aji de gallina, but also lomo saltado and papa a la huancaína.” We’re about to start our service visits. This is one of my favorite times, though not for the travel per se. We easily qualify for frequent and long-haul rider status on the Cruz del Sur bus line (Arequipa will be about 17 hours, one way). What’s gratifying is to arrive in a city or town and be welcomed by Goshen students. Roles now switch. They become our guides, introducing us to family members and workplaces and the community they have learned to know well. We see a self-assurance that wasn’t there in the early going in Lima. Yes, you may be thinking, but doesn’t it get old visiting Machu Picchu several times a year? In February, we arrived at the Incan Camp David in the rain. Group photos were shrouded in a fog so heavy we barely saw any ruins below. Oh, no, I thought. We’re going to be rained out, for the first time. But by midmorning, the sun broke through and there was Machu Picchu in all its singular glory, never wanting to be taken for granted.