This semester was my first time reporting for KentWired, Kent State’s student media site.
All semester, I covered Kent State’s Executive Administration. This entailed joining a lot of meetings, namely board of trustees business meetings and committee meetings.
As the executive administration reporter, there is no shortage of things to cover. I started the semester by joining the first ever “Talking with Todd” session. This is Kent State president Todd Diacon’s new live chat for faculty and staff.
This is where I first discovered the difficulty of reporting on long meetings. These meetings have lasted anywhere from a half hour to two and a half hours. These meetings span several topics from all over the university. Finding what to focus on, what to include and how to simplify the information for the audience.
That first meeting covered a huge range of topics, so I struggled to condense everything into a brief article.
My first few articles were a learning experience, but after some time I got used to the flow of reporting on university business. It also helped me to get in the groove of attending meetings. It was easy to find story ideas and keep moving throughout the semester. As a serial procrastinator, this helped me work on a normal schedule.
Later in the semester, I got much better at reporting and writing on short deadlines. On days with meetings, I would attend, go to classes, go home and write my article before the end of the day. This is important in this kind of reporting so that information can be available first thing the next day.
It is no secret that these meetings aren’t the most exciting, but I enjoyed attending them and reporting on them. I think it is really important that students are aware of decisions made by Kent’s administration, and I am glad I was able to bring that information to the community.
Another thing I got out of the semester was a better understanding for myself of all the changes happening at Kent. I would encourage other students to take interest in the business behind our education. At the end of the day, these decisions affect how our tuition money is spent, what parts of the university are updated and other administrative changes.
If you are interested in learning more about Kent State’s operations, check out my most recent article on KentWired in which I cover the Board of Trustees’ Finance and Administration Committee.