Jodi Bogert
Emmaus High's 'Guidance Night'
One day I found an ad for a freelance reporter position for the East Penn Press, part of the Lehigh Valley Press's family of newspapers. This was the job I was searching for and would give me what I needed to get my career off the ground. I met with the editor, Debbie Gailbraith for an interview. She liked my portfolio and believed that I was perfect for the job. Around a month later, I received my first assignment, covering Emmaus High School's 'Guidance Night' for upcoming freshman.
The Collage, Fall/Winter 2015 issue
During the Fall 2015 semester, I was the student intern for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Kutztown University; my primary job was to develop and edit the upcoming issue for The Collage, a newsletter about Kutztown students, teachers, and alumni members.
The process involved arranging and conducting interviews, recording information and designing the final templates. As the semester ended, I was assigned to be the student intern for the English Department in Spring 2016. Julian Ruiz took over as the student intern after I left the position and completed the final draft.
Cracking the Dome
During my time at Kutztown University, I published two short stories in the 2015 and 2016 issues of Shoofly, the student literary magazine. The second story is called "Cracking the Dome." It is about a wife who is dealing with her husband's PTSD during his latest stint in the hospital after another suicide attempt. He was a soldier in Iraq and has not been the same person he was when they first met long ago. To put it simply, she loves her husband but hates their situation.
Zootopia Movie Review
During the summer of 2015, I was thinking about finding ways to volunteer at Kutztown. I knew that we had a newspaper, but I couldn't think of any way I could contribute. Then I realized that the Arts and Entertainment section didn't have a movie review column, even though Kutztown has a local theater, The Strand. I proposed to the editors that I could draft reviews of movies shown at the theater. Not only would the column bring cultural critique to the newspaper, but it would have community ties as well. By graduation, I wrote a total of 10 reviews during the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semesters.
Zootopia had to be one of the better movies I saw at The Strand. There were many good reviews I published, but the Golden Globe winner Zootopia showed me something more. Not only did the film discuss racism and gender roles, but it managed to incorporate it into an animated movie, filled with colorful characters and a great story.
Student Stabbed-Winter 2016 article
While my specialty at The Keystone was review writing and other arts and entertainment pieces, I didn't shy away from hard news writing. One of the most significant events during the Spring 2016 semester was when a student got stabbed near a local bar not too far from the campus. The victim eventually recovered, and the criminals were arrested and charged.
What I did with my story was cover the main details of the story, but also talked about the probable aftermath. After a student gets seriously hurt near campus, it is understandable that parents would become concerned and protective of their kids. My argument is that there is no way to prepare for a disaster like this. Students are at a point where they have the choice on how to spend their time, and tragedy won't stop them from going out on a Friday or Saturday night.
