The Rampage
Spring/Fall 2022 Portfolio
Cover Page
Spring 2022
Although this semester is the first time I’ve been a reporter for the school newspaper, I believe that my time as a reporter for The Rampage was well spent and proves that I was a great citizen of The Rampage. In regards to my articles, I feel that as the semester continued on, I got more and more involved in the process of writing articles. I would find potential story ideas to post every Sunday when the assignment came up, I got most of my assignments done on time, and put a great emphasis on making sure I got as much information as possible when I would conduct an interview. Early on in the semester, I had failed in completing my second story from The Rampage as I hadn’t prepared my questions correctly beforehand. Although it set me back a little, I was able to make up for it by completing my first story and managing to gain more information as well. I’ve always managed to make up for my shortcomings in the class through trying harder on the next assignments that I had to do in the class. Through the class discussions, I believe that I’ve learned of various ways to solve issues that can take place in the newsroom. For example, I learned that when there was trouble with contacting a source, I could contact an editor in order to either switch the story or get extra aid in getting the source to respond to my request to interview. In regards to issues surrounding the people I try interviewing, not providing enough information or not being cooperative, I’ve learned to simply switch to a different source in order to meet the expectations for the article. Through the class, I’ve learned about ethical issues surrounding the newsroom that can affect how news is done. For example, I’ve learned from the class that there is certain information that I’m capable of getting from places like the Hospital due to HIPPA. I feel that I participated a good amount of time in the class, however I could have done more to participate like talking more when there was a question posed in the class. Every time I would have an article draft finished, I would always make sure to check therampageonline.com to see if the article was published or not. Overall, I have enjoyed my time here at The Rampage. The talks I’ve been able to have, the classmates I was able to communicate with, it was all great this semester. I can’t wait to return next semester to write new stories and make new friends!
Fall 2022
This is now my second semester here at the Rampage and it was just as enjoyable this semester as an editor rather than a reporter. In spite of the various changes I dealt with making the transfer from reporter to editor, I believe that I was just as valuable to The Rampage as I was last semester. When it came time for article submission, I was both prepared and nervous. The process of writing is the same and is exactly as I’ve been used to for the majority of my time in the class last semester, however the additional action of editing fellow reporter’s works was a new experience for sure. Being an editor as a responsibility was pretty cool, it involved me along with a few others basically handling the workload of both reporting our own stories for the newspaper and helping new students with their articles as well. I was the entertainment editor for the Rampage during my time this semester in which I would look up various newsworthy events on campus that I would then distinguish as story ideas in the module activity. I also worked on campus for the class meaning that I would stay at school for 10 hours a week keeping the newsroom open for various students to work. Going from reporter to editor taught me how important being a resource for reporters was. One of my best memories as an editor would be when I helped a student decide what questions they would ask for an interview through text. I was new to being sort of a mentor but it wasn’t too off putting that I decided not to help or anything of the sort. I have also learned that the load of being an editor is no joke. To have so many students send articles to edit from Sports to News, it was certainly a challenge. Another challenge would be going about how to edit the articles. It was my first time reviewing others' work and although I know the basics of news writing, I was hesitant in criticizing my classmates. Those challenges however taught me that it is best to handle these situations as quickly as possible as well as to not be afraid of being critical. Although it is a weird feeling looking through someone else’s work, it is ultimately to their very own benefit rather than the opposite. With all that being said, I don’t feel that I performed as well as I could have in the class this semester compared to last. Last semester it was my first time being an active reporter and even though it was hard, I got used to it. This semester was no different in terms of enjoyment only in my own management of my workload. I was overwhelmed by my other classwork and thus began to slack on my reporting and editing toward the end of the semester. I still believe that I was a good citizen to The Rampage as I was much more talkative with fellow editors and students then I was last semester and felt that I made a good impact on the class.
Articles
Spring 2022
Spring 2022 Enrollment, Campus Sees Decline
In order to find the information for this article, I had to schedule two interviews, one in person and one via Zoom, with the school vice president of instruction, Don Lopez. I also had to make sure to interview two or more students on the topic in order to get a different reaction from a student as opposed to an instructor. In order to prepare for the interview, I wrote down the questions that were suggested by the editor who suggested the story for the interviews I would have with the students and vice president respectively. When I interviewed Mr. Lopez, I was very nervous. It was the first time I ever interviewed someone. Despite how nervous I was, it was calming to hear his answers and write them down on my notebook. It was a very nice conversation. The second interview I had with him was better since I was on Zoom rather than in-person since I had already gotten used to interviewing him at that point. When it came to the two interviews I had with the students, Jesus Uriarte and Brandon Howell Perec, I was also nervous for those interviews too. I always overthink my interviews with students as I will stumble with my words at times.
Talent Night Online Party
For this article, I attended the virtual event and had a chat with Paul Torres before the online event had begun. It was really nice hearing the poems that were shared when I was attending. In order to set up the interviews, I asked some of the students who did attend to contact me at my gmail in order to reach me for an interview. One student, Lupita Lopez, reached out to me for an interview over Zoom. It was a pretty cool interview however nothing too memorable happened. Since Lupita wasn’t an FCC student, I had to interview two other students in order to get their views on the event. Same as the interview with Lopez, nothing too memorable happened. After I got those interviews, I then went on to interview Paul about the event. The interview was really good to me as I had asked some good questions for Paul and wasn’t too nervous this time around. Plus, it helped that Mr. Torres was really chill during the interview and even gave me some words of advice after I had finished asking my questions.
FCC’s Student Mixer Scavenger Hunt
For this article, I went on campus in order to try to get some interviews with students who would participate in the event. However, I had come too late in the event so I wasn’t able to get interviews with the students I wanted. Although I had arrived late, I was still able to get an interview with Alicia Garza, a member of Student Activities. The interview was a little difficult to set up at first since I had gotten there when the rest of student activities had basically finished with the event. Although it was a little awkward at first, the interview went well. The trouble I had from then was trying to get interviews with students. Since I wasn’t able to get interviews with students who participated, I settled with interviewing students on the topic of the scavenger hunt and events like it.
Rams Baseball Team is Preparing for the Playoffs
For this article, I was nervous about it. I was nervous because I had screwed up a sports story before on softball. But after all the interviews I took part in at this point, I was more confident in my abilities now. I emailed the coach of the baseball team to see what would be a good time to have an interview. He had given me a time during the team’s practice on Friday. When I arrived, I was able to interview him as well as three of the players. Each interview went by pretty smoothly as I had asked each of them different questions to try to get better answers for the article. After I was done with the interview, I was super happy since I had successfully gotten information for a sports story.
Fall 2022
COVID-19 Vaccination Sites On Campus
For this article, I was excited. It was my fresh start back at The Rampage. For this article, I was tasked with interviewing the head of vaccination sites on campus with the purpose of seeing the changes made due to COVID. In order to prepare for this article, I went through various points of contact through the public information officer at Fresno City College(Kathy Bonilla), then contacting the African American coalition due to them being behind the vaccination sites on campus. I interviewed Marcie Santana, the coordinator for the coalition. I will say that of all my articles, the interview for this one was most disappointing. I had to go through multiple loops of calling the coordinator just to not get an answer. the only response I got was through my email in which I asked interview questions flatly for the article. Definitly not my favorite experience for the class.
ASG Hosts a Voters Registration Drive at FCC
Now although my first article was my least favorite, this article is personally my favorite article from this semester as well as my favorite interview so far. For this one, I prepared my questions before contacting the person behind the event because I figured that asking about voting would be a worthwhile topic. Once I had my questions, I contacted ASG as they were behind it. Not only that, but after the interview I went outside and took a photograph of a QR code for the Drive as it was cancelled that day. The manager of the Drive was Taran Booker, a senator at ASG. The interview that ensued was very emotional. At multiple points in the interview, Booker stopped to ponder on what his responses would be and he decided to go past describing the drive and delve into his personal reasons for enforcing the drive so much. I specifically remember a story in which he describes his childhood and going through rough circumstances as a teenager and now wanting people my age to vote in order for our lives to be better for the future. I also interviewed various students. They all gave great answers to my questions on voting with each following a pattern of not voting but knowing its importance except for one student who felt that voting was important.
Know Your Props: A Guide to the Propositions on This Year’s California Ballot and Why You Should Vote for Them.
This article was very different from the rest prior in the semester and even different from the previous one as well. This is an opinion article focused on describing the props featured in this year's election. I had the task of gathering information on Prop 26, a constitutional amendment that would legalize sports betting at American Indian gaming casinos and licensed racetracks in California. I searched through ballotopedia and found different articles featuring both sides of the arguments for and against it. Because of this article being a collaborative opinion piece from editors, I didn’t have to go out and interview anyone but rather just had to gather the best info I could. It was slightly challenging figuring out how to word the article, however I figured it out once I got the flow of what I was trying to write.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Review
For this article, I was very happy with writing my second opinion article and my first movie review. In order to prepare for this review, I went to watch the movie in theaters beforehand. After I got through the movie, I thought back to how I felt while I was watching it in order to best capture my true emotions during it. Although I didn’t interview anyone, I did take a photograph of the poster within the movie theater. Writing the review was certainly a challenge. I had to think of what I had to say about how it made me feel but it felt a wide range of emotions watching the film. I was excited and sad throughout. The hardest part was thinking of any honest criticism of the film as I honestly hadn’t found any noteworthy enough to take note of.
Contact Me
Email: ewingfield@therampageonline.com
Phone: 559-246-2349