● National Student Journalist of the Year Runner-Up ●
My Portfolio: Broadcast Journalism
Here's how I start my day:
7:50 a.m.: I walk into Room 200, Conestoga High School's TV studio.
8 a.m.: I make last-minute changes to the day's script with my fellow anchors.
8:07 a.m.: I sit down at the desk, micing up and sound-checking.
8:15 a.m.: The tech room loads the script into the teleprompter.
8:20 a.m.: I touch up my face (gotta be camera-ready).
8:32 a.m.: We go live with music and the slate.
In 3... 2... take Ben.
8:37 a.m.: "Good morning, Conestoga. I'm Ben Shapiro."
Every morning, I announce these six words to the more than 2,500 students and staff at Conestoga and those tuned into Comcast channel 14 and Verizon channel 20.
When I was in eighth grade, filling out my course selection card for high school, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew that I needed a Business/Technology credit to graduate, so I signed up for the Beginner TV class, unaware of the journey on which it would take me. I worked my way up to the Advanced Television Broadcast course in my junior year and started anchoring for the show immediately. Throughout the past two years, I've anchored at the desk and on the weatherboard, directed the show, run the teleprompter, mixed the audio, manned the cameras, primed the technical board, made the graphics and produced numerous packages.
My Reel
As a multimedia broadcast journalist
A Typical Show
I have done all the on-camera jobs and know my way around the control studio, but my all-time favorite job is anchoring the show.
My Interview with PA Gov. Josh Shapiro
Knowing that people are more likely to watch a video than read a transcript, I recorded and edited my interview with Gov. Shapiro (we're not related, I swear!). I'm a Shapiro with a long I (Sha-PIE-ro). He's a Shapiro with the more traditional pronunciation (Sha-PEE-row). Watch until the end of the video to hear me ask my governor about this pronunciation difference.
On Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's one-year anniversary of his gubernatorial inauguration, I had the opportunity to interview him via Zoom about his record-breaking year of education spending.
One afternoon, I got a call from Gov. Shapiro's head of public relations telling me that she found The Spoke online and wanted to know if I was interested in speaking with the governor. Less than 24 hours later, I was sitting on a Zoom call with him. I asked the governor about his education agenda, some of the bills he had passed and what his goals were moving forward.
Normally, I'm the one asking people, especially elected officials, for interviews. So, it was quite unusual to have the governor's office reach out to me asking to be interviewed. Nevertheless, I took the opportunity and made my 15 minutes with Gov. Shapiro count.
Packages
Behind the Scenes of a Music Friday
One of Conestoga's unique traditions is its "Music Fridays." Every Friday, in between classes, music is pumped through the loudspeakers for students and staff to enjoy as they move from one period to the next. Student organizations, clubs and sports teams can "sponsor" a Music Friday and choose the music to play that day.
I always wondered who was in charge of Music Fridays and how they seemed to just happen. I knew that this story would make for a better video package than a written story — the visual and audio aspects just wouldn't come across as well in a print article.
Greening 'Stoga Taskforce Feature
One of the earlier packages I produced for Good Morning 'Stoga was a feature on the student-rin Grening Stoga Taskforce. Looking back, there are most definitely some edits I would give myself.
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Move around more. Don't be afraid to have a personality! Standing still, especially during the intro and outro can look stiff and boring. Your body language says just as much as your words.
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Find a better shot for Katie's interview. Talking to Katie inside the cafeteria was a great choice — it brought the viewer to the scene of the "issue." But please, don't film her interview in front of a closed gate. She looks like she's in jail.
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Don't be afraid to get more B-roll. Once you think you have more than enough B-roll, get 5 more shots. You can never have too much and you'll be thankful for the extra footage in post.
Audio Stories
Wanting to try something new, during the winter of my freshman year I pitched a podcast to my editors at The Spoke. None of them had much experience with audio stories, but they let me run with my idea. I learned how to record, edit and produce a 30-minute podcast by myself over the course of one weekend. And then I produced it. I've since learned that my future doesn't lie in audio journalism, but I am forever grateful for the learning experience with which The Speak provided me (get it? "The Speak"... because the paper is The Spoke...)
Along with a couple of staff reporters, I interviewed past Spoke editors and former Conestoga teachers who work in the news industry. I asked them about some of their favorite moments and stories as journalists and what advice they had for me and other student journalists who were interested in going into the field post-college.
Listen to the podcast by clicking the image below.
