Task #49: Internship at The Hour (Kim)

49.  Internship at The Hour

I have been interested in writing since elementary school.  I wrote for the school newspaper in middle school, but I never pursued writing in the Paw Print at Norwalk High School.  When the opportunity to be part of an internship program rather than attend school for the last quarter of senior year arose, I was more than happy to contact the local Norwalk newspaper and ask to be a high school intern.

I began this internship on Monday, May 18.  I started with tasks like condensing press releases for the Community, Briefs, and To Do section of the paper.  I also began my first story - on a Celtic ceremony at a Norwalk Church.  When I woke up Tuesday morning and saw that what I had worked on was in the newspaper, I was ecstatic. Tuesday I was given my first big opportunity - to write a story on the lack of affordable housing in Connecticut and specifically the Stamford-Norwalk area. I had to call a representative for Governor Malloy, several president's of local business organizations, and dig through a report full of statistics about affordable housing.  It was my first day staying relatively late at the internship, but I was more than happy to do it because I knew there was a good chance the story would run the following day.

On Wednesday, both of my stories were on page 3 of the Hour and featured on the paper's website!

http://www.thehour.com/news/norwalk/norwalk-church-to-kick-off-celtic-celebration-thursday/article_2bb0a549-7a97-5f41-a118-673fc89b7941.html

http://www.thehour.com/news/norwalk/connecticut-ranks-eighth-in-nation-for-most-expensive-housing-stamford/article_2076eed8-70da-58b7-b5ae-13627d4986a5.html

On Wednesday, I headed out to an elevator opening at Lockwood-Mathews Mansion in Norwalk.  The elevator was a 15 years in the making project, so the mayor was leading a ribbon cutting ceremony.  I also drove my fellow intern to an event on the Norwalk Green with the Norwalk Gardening Club.  Then, I spent my day finishing this story, which was published on the website today.

http://www.thehour.com/news/norwalk/lockwood-mathews-mansion-museum-reaching-new-heights-with-elevator-installation/article_00223fb8-ffcd-11e4-9156-afa445dabea8.html?mode=image&photo=0

I did not expect to see my stories featured so soon in The Hour.  I expected to be mostly working on the Community section and Briefs section.  Even though it was slightly nerve wracking at first to call so many people, it is an absolutely incredible learning experience so far.  I'm so happy I decided to be part of the internship program, and Project Explore was one of many motivating forces in being part of it.

Task #42: Accumulate Over 1000 Page Views!

42.  Accumulate 1000 Page Views

When we first started the blog, we had no understanding of Blogger.  We slowly began to use "labels", which are tags that allow your blog to come up in a search engine, and we advertised our blog to friends and family.  Because of this, we started getting a few page views.  It was nice to have even one a day.  Of course, we always get the highest number of views on days that we post and use labels.  We were shocked when we got even 100 views, but over time, we realized more people would look at our blog than we originally thought.  Hitting 1000 views is a big milestone for us; we can see that even if people have stumbled on our website by accident, we may have impacted them or sparked their curiosity in some way.  This means that we are doing what we intended to do with this project: impact other people and inspire them to try new things rather than become warped in a mundane routine.

So, thank you to all our friends and family who regularly read this blog and to anyone else who may be reading.

Task #25: Go A Day Without A Cell Phone (Kim)

25.  Go A Day Without A Cell Phone

Foregoing my cell phone for a day seemed like an almost impractical idea, so I decided to try it for Project Explore.  I've had a cell phone since middle school and have rarely gone an entire day without it.  At first, going without it was very easy.  I was busy; it was a snow day, and we had to shovel.  But after shoveling, I found myself missing not only talking to my friends but checking social media sites like Instagram.  I felt a little closed off from the world, so I distracted myself with hot chocolate and A.P. Euro notes.

Prior to this task, my phone was stolen and I had to go nearly a week without a cell phone.  However, I did not receive any reactions from friends about this because everyone knew why I wasn't answering.  I also used other forms of communication including emails and iMessage to talk to them.  So although I had experienced something similar because I didn't have a choice, I decided to go ahead with this task anyway.

Most of the reactions I received were not surprising.  When I opened my phone about 11:00 that evening, I had many texts repeating my name over again, and a few friends wondering if I was angry at them.  I shared some of screenshots of the messages and crossed out the names for privacy reasons. After explaining to my friends it was merely an experiment, most of them were surprised I had gone an entire day without a phone and said they would be unable to do that themselves.  Those who had actually gone an entire day without their cell phones did it for necessity or because they went somewhere for the day and forgot their phones.

My age group is incredibly attached to these devices, and no wonder: they can do amazing things in the palm of our hand.  However, the attachment is often considered unhealthy.  I researched the following article about teens' growing dependency on their phones: http://cell-phone-parental-control-software-review.toptenreviews.com/are-teenagers-becoming-too-attached-to-their-cell-phones.html.  Almost half of all teens can text with their eyes closed, and one-fourth of all texts teens send are sent during class.  Cell phones are not used as purely educational resources at school; students are distracted from class by their cell phones.

My own reaction surprised me.  After the initial discomfort of not having a phone in my hand or in my pocket at all times, I was just fine without it.  Granted, it is much more convenient to have a phone because it provides such fast access to the time, weather forecast, and Internet.  However, I was so focused on myself and what I wanted to get done for the day because I was not being distracted by anything else.  With that being said, I will not consider giving up my cell phone all together.  I would like to increase the productivity on my phone and decrease the number of  conversations I have with friends that do not necessarily have any benefits.

Task #23: Writing Experience (Rachael)

23. Writing Experience 

Kim and I are reaching the mid point of our project as we are coming up on our twenty third idea. Project explore had been pretty slow over the break, and we started to brain storm another batch of ideas in choir when we reached the conclusion that not every blog post had to be planned. This notion sparked when I began to tell Kim about what I had done the previous weekend. I babysat for an Orthodox Jewish Family and being the curious critter that I am, I bombarded the little rascals with questions regarding their faith and way of life.

When I walked in all of the children were cleaning up from what seemed to be the evening prayer. They were putting away the "Gartel" which Ellie explained to me as a mini Torah or a Prayer tool similar to a Mazuzah. It is used during the ritual of night time prayer. This was intriguing because I have never experienced anything like that.

It was also very obvious that God has a major presence in these children's lives.  When I asked the boys to sleep, Ellie remarked "But Hashem's not sleeping right?" This comment took me back in two regards. First of all, I did not realize that the word Hashem was a reference to God. I was also very shaken that this little boy had expected me to know the answer to a religion specific question. All though I do not remember what I responded I do remember that this comment put me very off guard.

It is very important to note the fact that even though there is such a difference in culture the children I babysat were very much children indeed! They begged to play games on my phone, asked me to read them books and fought with me when I asked them to go to bed up to the very moment their mom got home! The experience as a whole was very eye opening and interesting to be able to look at a home so rich with culture and religion.

Task #5 Completed: Trip to 9/11 Memorial (Rachael)

5. Document Trip to 9/11 Memorial   

As Kim and I created our list, task Number 5 had originally been dictated as "A Trip to New York City." However, we both soon realized that we had been to New York countless amounts of times so unfortunately, it could not be used as a part of our list. 

Yet as I passed 180 Greenwich Street in Manhattan I came across a totally new aspect of the "City of Dreams" which in fact was a place that symbolized much that was lost, the 9/11 memorial. 

The 9/11 memorial was built in honor of the victims of a terrorist attack in 2001. The sight of the memorial is breath taking and there were mass amounts of people gaping in awe at the beauty as well as checking for the names of their loved ones.  It was very interesting to me that there were many security guards and furthermore they were not letting anyone smoke or speak on the phone while on the premises. I believe that shows a huge sign of respect to those who were lost in this tragic event. The memorial means so much to the families that lost members so it was very touching to experience to be able to see the amazing structure. 

 

Task #3: Drive By Raking (Kim)

3. Participate in the volunteer "Drive By Raking" project.  

The youth of St. Philips took to the community streets today to show support and rake leaves.  "Drive By Raking" is a service project; the youth group surprises members of the community by raking their yards.  People are chosen to be Drive by Raking victims because they have recently suffered a loss or tragedy, and the youth pick up rakes to show them how much we care.

This sign was left at the yards we raked.

Everyone was surprised to look out and see a group of young people raking their lawns.  But we were surprised, too: several times, hot chocolate and cookies were brought out as a thank you!

NHS students Sabrina Imbrogno (left) and Rachel Ranieri (right)

 The activity was a great success.  Six groups of youth raked twenty-four yards.  And gained a whole new appreciation for leaf blowers.

Task #2 Completed: Write A Letter to Your Future Self (Kim)

2.  Write a letter to your future self 

Okay, I'll admit it.  Writing a letter to my future self was a little weird.  But in about five months from now, I think I'll be glad I did it.  If I'm not moved by what I've written to myself, at least I'll be amused.

When Rachael and I first came up with this task, we thought it would be interesting to write a letter to ourselves in September and open it on graduation day.  For Project Explore, that is not realistic because I would not be able to open it prior to the presentation.  Instead, I wrote a letter to myself to open just before my presentation.  I think that will be a nerve-wracking day, and I'll need some of my own sage advice.  Maybe sage is too strong a word....oh, well.  Here are a few excerpts from my letter.

What Is Project 52? & First Task Completed (Kim)

What is "Project 52"? 

Seniors at Norwalk High School are given the chance to participate in an experience program called Project Explore.  Students can choose to explore any topic of their choosing and work on this project throughout the school year. Recognizing this unique opportunity, Rachael and I decided we wanted to be partners for Project Explore. We sat in Panera at the end of our junior year and began to brainstorm.  What did we want to explore for an entire school year?  Surprisingly, our problem wasn't that we couldn't come up with any ideas.  It was the opposite: we came up with too many.  A few Panera trips and headaches later, Project 52 was born. Rather than pick one topic to focus on, we decided to involve ourselves in a small aspect of each thing we wanted to try.  The 52 symbolizes each week of the year.  Over the summer, we came up with our list of 52 tasks and have begun our journey.  We have no idea what we're going to learn from this experience, so our theme for now is simply discovery. Or, if you're feeling ironic: exploring.

Task #1 Completed 

1. Kim: experimentation with photography.

Social media has greatly increased the significance of pictures in today's society.  But Facebook and Instagram made me realize I don't just love posting pictures; I love being the person holding the camera and taking them.  You know, that relatively obnoxious person at Christmas pleading for you to pose just "one more time" while you are still blinking away the spots from the last unnecessarily bright flash.  Well, I want to be that person, believe it or not.

My parents helped me purchase my first DSLR camera in September, a Canon Rebel T3I. I have not been able to tear myself away from it.  It has quickly become my "claim to fame" among my friend group. They have no qualms about yelling across the room for me to come take a picture with the "pretty camera!" Although I will continue taking, posting, and learning about photos and camera settings, I consider my original "experimentation with photography" task completed.

Cosette, September 2014.

Portrait of Allison Latour taken after the Norwalk High School Pep Rally in October.

Sarah Laverty and Daniel Devine, September 2014 at Shorehaven Golf Club.

EDIT AS OF 12-11-14

I have continued this task since my original experimentation.  In fact, today I held a photo shoot for my cousin who wanted pictures for her Christmas card.  I faced the challenge of shooting in the dark, and I also had a difficult time trying to get her dog to look at me.  But I ended up liking some of the pictures were her dog wasn't looking.  He kept looking at her as if for guidance, and it was so cute!

EDIT - JANUARY 2015