Final Project is an in-depth multimedia project. Each student’s part of this project will include a headline, abstract, 400-word (minimum) text story, video that includes multiple sources, sound and nat sound, strong sequenced video and a voice track. You’ll lay it out on the project site using subheads, pull quotes, multiple photos, captions, links, etc. using the elements of strong web layout we’ve discussed in class. The video should run between 1:15-1:45, include multiple sources, sound and nat sound, and signed out with “I’m ____________, for the Webster Journal.” Email the script for the video to your teacher. Your individual project is worth 400 points.
Headline: xx/20
Is it web optimized-or at least engaging enough to click on?
Abstract: xx/30
Does it entice the reader to click?
Focus: xx/10
Does the story speak to the intended audience—students, faculty and staff at Webster University?
Have I chosen a story that lends itself to both text and video?
Text: xx/100
Does the lead engage the reader?
Is the story accurate, fair and complete with appropriate sources?
Have I avoided opinion?
Have I used active voice, precise language, good grammar and spelling? How’s the SVO sentence construction? Sentence length?
Video: xx/175
Did I engage the viewer in the first :05-:10 seconds? Is there an appropriate establishing shot in this sequence?
Is it clear that I understand and used the five-shot sequence technique?
How’s the continuity
Did I shoot people, not just things?
Is the video clean?
Is the sound and natural sound clear?
Is the editing clean?
Etc: xx/30
Have I diligently performed my job as part of the group project?
Is the story posted by the deadline?
Have I posted it properly on the project website and added the transcription to the Comments section below the ‘rough’ post on the class website?
Layout: xx/35
Have I drawn the reader’s eye down the page from start to finish using photos, video, subheads, additional information, related content and links?
Students from college campuses all over Missouri gathered at Camp Lakewood for a spiritual retreat. InterVarsity, a campus ministry program, helped students disconnect from the world and connect with their faith.
Webster University students organized a protest on the schools campus. The protesters were demanding answers address the University’s finances and student benefits.
Electric cars, big solar panels, and other fancy gadgets may be the biggest push towards a healthier environment, but what about those who can’t afford those gadgets?
From environmental hazard to a vision of hope and community outreach, the lot which was formerly home to the Carter Carburetor Corporations factory will now be transformed into a golf facility for children in the neighborhood.
The now empty lot once held a factory which was abandoned and left vacant for over 30 years. A resident of the community said he remembered the factory being well and active when he was a kid living in this area. This resident asked not to be recorded or have his name mentioned.
“It was a car part factory,” the resident said. “They would make parts for a bunch of car companies and then they just tore it all down so now there is just that empty lot. I don’t know what they are going to do with it now.”
The former gasoline and diesel carburetor manufacturing plant left behind large amounts of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) and trichloroethylene (TCE). Former U.S. Rep William Lacy Clay Jr. said this site is the result of a much bigger problem in America.
“Far too often, older urban neighborhoods with mostly minority populations are turned into toxic dumping grounds,” Clay said in the St. Louis American. “That environmental racism is shameful, and it has been going on for decades.”
This forced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to step in and label this 10-acre land a superfund site. Region 7 of the EPA overlooks most of the midwest including Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. They deemed the Carter Carburetor building as a federal superfund site in 1992.
Flint Fowler, director of the Boys and Girls Club of St. Louis, described the abandoned factory as a hardship on the neighborhood. He said it was driving away money and residents out of the community due to the conditions of the building.
“It was contaminated, and it was ugly,” Fowler said. “It wanted to get the building down to make that part of the neighborhood more safe and create a better environment for children. If you are looking at busted windows, overgrown grass and signs that say ‘danger’ it leaves a psychological impact on not only the kids but the residents as well.”
The abandoned factory was located in the center of what is known as the “open market” ,according to the Fourth District Police Captain. This is not a supermarket of fresh fruit, baked goods and well priced clothing. Rather this area of grand is widely reported for it open drug distribution, drug usage and prostitution.
Residents in the area were reluctant to speak on record, wanting to keep their name and face out of the media. The neighborhood contains people walking around carrying firearms. Stray dogs roam the streets and nearby echoes of gunshots aren’t even flinch worthy for those waiting at the bus stop. Fowler and the Boys and Girls Club of St. Louis want to use this project to inspire some development in the area.
Fowler said there were two main parts to this mission. The first part being to get rid of the building which he described as an eyesore for the community. This included a negotiation between Carter Building Incorporated (CBI) and American Car and Foundry (ACF) Industries. ACF and EPA came to legal agreements in 2013, making ACF responsible for removing asbestos from the building and then the complete demolition of the building. Demolition of the building began in 2015
The next steps ACF agreed to complete was removing all the PCB and TCE from the soil on the superfund site. According to Fowler, due to the agreement between EPA and ACF, public money did not have to be used for the clean-up of this site as ACF paid for all expenses. Jeff Weatherford, EPA’s on-site coordinator for this project, told NPR the contaminated waste would be shipped out on a truck to a chemical waste landfill in Oklahoma. In total the cleanup cost $30 million.
The second part of Fowler’s plan is to come up with an idea to replace the factory which would be useful to the neighborhood. The Boy and Girls Club of St. Louis is now working with the PGA reach program to finalize the design and development of a golf center which will replace the Carter Carburetor Factory. Fowler said building a golf facility will introduce a sport which is highly profitable to a community which does not have a lot of exposure to it.
“When you think about things like environmental justice and how certain communities are left to hold the bag and responsible parties are not held accountable for what they do in certain communities becomes an environmental crisis,” Fowler said. “That building was all to stand for so long without a lot of pressure to get rid of it that it ultimately impacted the welfare and the health of the neighborhood. Not only physical and psychological health, but the vibrancy as well.”
The Boys and Girls Club of St. Louis and the PGA Reach program plan to meet in early December and finalize a plan to finish production of the golf center. Fowler said he hopes to have the facility up and ready for use by 2023.
Over the past 20 years, Missouri soccer players have experienced extreme flooding and rainfall affecting their games and season. Former soccer player and climate change activist talk about how this has changed sports for them.
THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM EXPOSURE TO ENVIORMENTAL STRESS
By Nae Lowery
Americans face many environmental stressors daily. Some in which everyone is exposed to, like legacy chemicals that grow in people’s bodies because, they are present throughout the world. Others are distinct to an individual’s location, like living next to a railroad track or surviving a natural disaster like Hurricane Harvey or the California wildfires. Long-term exposure to stress, such as environmental stressors, causes far more health concerns than quick stress events.
“We had to evacuate, it was hard to see outside. It smelled like fire. Every day it was normal, from October to December it was windy. With the mixture of how dry and windy Cali was, a person could light a cigarette, throw it and start a fire”
Jai Smith, 27, experienced a plethora of wildfires in his city of Vacaville, California in 2019. Since then he has moved to St. Louis, MO, and says he has slight PTSD due to the unfortunate events that took place in 2019
Throughout Smith’s adult life he purchases estate. He equates the trauma of the wildfires to not wanting to buy or emotionally invest into valuable things.
In recent years the psychological effects of exposure to environmental stress is becoming increasingly apparent.
Individuals with trauma from environmental stress may experience feelings of weakness, helplessness and emotional distraught over potential to exposure of environmental stress.. This may be to the point where everyday choices can leave them feeling unsatisfied.
Environmental stress which can classify as climate anxiety, is influencing the career choices of youths, and their decision to have children in the future. This is led by concerns over the state of the environment decades down the road.
Among other things, environmental stress can be attributed to the constant and overwhelming media coverage of environmental destruction. One way to manage the trauma from environmental stress is to be mindful of one’s consumption of news and social media, as well as finding action-oriented community groups for support and ways to take collective action.
“I was invited to a bonfire after the wildfire in Napa, California. The bonfire was to heal the community and talk about the trauma. Many residents lost their lives due to late notice to evacuate. The rich white people in Humboldt County were also affected and it was complex experience to see a community once diverse to become unified due to loss.”
Photographer and Journalist Randall Hyman warns warming temperatures and melting glaciers in the arctic could directly affect life in St. Louis and around the globe
Swapping beef for beans, cheese for nutritional yeast and cows milk for soy milk doesn’t seem too drastic. But if the research is accurate, widespread veganism could drastically impact our climate.
Have you noticed more and more empty shelves in your local Target, or that your favorite chip brand is being discontinued? Due to the nationwide supply shortage, businesses, big and small, are struggling to stay a float.
The Webster University Orchestra will perform a piece never heard before. Brady Stiff reports on why this composition is so emotional for the orchestra lead guitarist.
This sorority raised hundreds of dollars for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Watch Emma Kramer break down the event and what it means for the Webster community.
Doubling your money never seemed easier. Brian Rubin shows us how buying specific kinds of baseball cards will earn you money while still doing something fun.
Have you noticed basic items in your local Walgreens to be out of stock or close to it? Businesses are currently struggling to stay a float during a nationwide supply shortage.
Dr. Bill Russel serves as Webster University’s “Dance Doctor.” As Zoe DeYoung reports, at 72, his age, hearing aids and wrist braces haven’t slowed him down.
