A reflection on my time as a UF journalism student

I still remember my first tour of UF. My preview staffer had been a journalism student. As we walked past Weimer Hall, she said "If you are planning on majoring in journalism then you'd better get used to this place. It's going to be your new home away from home." I remember looking around the unfamiliar new place and wondering if that could ever be true.

Now, three years later, I am at Weimer hall daily. The majority of my classes are there and in addition to that, I have spent so much of my time in the INC, or Innovation News Center at the University of Florida. The INC is UF's newsroom.

It has been my home for the past few years and I know it like the back of my hand. I have spent countless hours there recording and re-recording my projects. I have spent long nights editing packages on the computer and trying to finalize my work into the perfect product. I have also done shifts in the newsroom for radio and TV. On my shifts, I have gotten a chance to gain hands-on experience writing scripts, editing packages, conducting interviews, and appearing live on the 5 o'clock news. Everything that we produce in the INC goes on Channel 3, a PBS affiliated NPR station that broadcasts throughout Alachua County.

I have gained some truly great experience through WUFT News and my work in the INC. As a UF student I have been able to utilize all of our incredible programs. I feel very blessed to be a part of such a great journalism program. The CMIR, or Center for Media Innovation and Research is constantly coming up with new projects and ideas in the world of journalism.

I frequently use the CMIR facilities. I use the newsroom every week during my TV 2 shifts. I also use the AHA lab often, it is the best place to work on group projects or get some quick work done in between classes! As I reflect on my time as a journalism student at UF, I would like to include some pictures from this past semester as a TV 2 Reporter. I included photos from two of the stories that I covered this year. One story was about a retired police K9 named Justice who apprehended a criminal on his last night of service for Gainesville Police Department. The other was about home buyer trends in Alachua county and what buyers are looking for when purchasing a new home.

The Tipping Point

I recently got the opportunity to read The Tipping Point written by Malcolm Gladwell. I found the book to be super informative and also surprising. The point of the book is how little things can make a big difference. The introduction to the novel started out with a few old fashioned stories to explain what a tipping point is. There is one really that caught my attention. It was very personable and taught me about Hush Puppies, a brand of shoes. The idea of the “tipping point” was that a style of the brand of shoes that was so obviously out of fashion but was able to seamlessly make a comeback once they hit the tipping point. According to Gladwell, the shoes went from being thirty dollars and owned by a handful of downtown Manhattan hipsters to being in every mall in America in a span of only two years. The notion of a tipping point is a truly fascinating one. The introduction really set the stage for the rest of the novel by showing what can happen when a trend or idea spreads like wildfire. There is no stopping it or slowing it down… it is contagious behavior. Throughout the novel, three recurring characteristics of a tipping point are shown. One is contagiousness, another is the fact that little causes can have big effects, and the third is that change happens gradually but at one dramatic moment. According to Gladwell, “The name given to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once is the Tipping Point”. The novel goes on to explain many epidemics and pinpoints the causes and tipping points of each of them. Reading about the past was interesting because it gives a lot of insight to history that I had not previously considered. Diseases like Syphilis, AIDS, HIV, PCP, and many more. Besides the history aspect of the book, a lot of what I read surprised me. I found myself constantly asking, “Is this really possible?”. I was also surprised that the tipping point phenomenon applied to so many stories that I have heard throughout my life but never really considered. It even applies perfectly to the story of Paul Revere and the American Revolution. I really sped through the book. It was a light and easy read, full of anecdotes and different stories to keep a reader constantly entertained. Throughout the process of reading the entire novel, I was still constantly surprised by what I read about tipping points. Gladwell kept that pace of the novel quick and lively, it was spiced up with all sorts of different fads, fashions, and epidemics that he observed and evaluated. One story that really caught my attention was the study conducted at Princeton University by Darley and Batson. The study was based on the parable of The Good Samaritan. The results of the study differed from what I expected and proved, according to Gladwell, “that the convictions of your heart and the actual contents of your thoughts are less important, in the end, in guiding your actions that the immediate context of your behavior”. The study proved that the words “Oh, you’re late” had the effect of making someone who was ordinarily compassionate into someone who was indifferent to suffering. In the chapters about smoking, Gladwell writes, “Smoking was never cool. Smokers are cool”. Gladwell explains that the smoking epidemic began in the same way that suicide epidemics or word-of-mouth epidemics began. A very small group… a select few are responsible for driving the epidemic forward. That’s all it takes and it spreads like wildfire. Gladwell explained how devastating the results can be, all due to the Law of the Few and the Stickiness Factor. Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Tipping Point. I feel that the novel did a great job informing, surprising, and entertaining the readers with a variety of content and lessons. It teaches the strength of word-of-mouth and evolving trends throughout society.

Benefits of blogging

Wow! I really lost track of time looking at my classmates blogs. I think writing and reading blogs is such a great use of time. It gives you a chance to learn new things about people and about yourself. For me, writing a blog has been a reflective time. Every week, I sit down on Sunday afternoon and think about what the past week has brought for me and what the new week will hold. It gives me time to organize my thoughts and figure out my plans for the week. Writing an exercise blog has been an interesting experience. I am, by no means, a gym buff and finding the time and energy to go for a run or work out a few times has been difficult at times. But, this blog has helped me to stay on track. Reading the blogs of my classmates, I got a chance to see the many different types of blogs out there. For example, Isis Ash has a blog about writing reviews of places and things in Gainesville. I'm sure she has gotten to do some pretty interesting things! Another awesome blog that I got to look at was Ryanne Doumet's. She has definitely gotten to see some amazing things and travel to some crazy places! A third blog that I really enjoyed was an awesome weather blog, made by Morgan Falcon! You should check it out!

I really can't believe my junior year at UF is coming to an end. I have loved my time here more than anything. I don't want it to end. I always tell my friends that if I could go back in a time machine to freshman year, I would definitely do it. Being a student here, at UF, has been the most incredible experience and I would recommend it to anyone. For my Interactive media class, we made blogs. Using my blog to talk about what I'm doing on a weekly basis has been very cool. I have definitely benefited from taking some time to talk about my thoughts and goals. I got a chance to check out some other blogs that my classmates have been working on and I really loved them! Kayla Kawalec's blog about self improvement was very interesting and motivational! I also loved reading about Maria Carter's life on her blog. She is so cool! Another blog that I really enjoyed was Sarah Kimbro's. Her blog is similar to mine and is about healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.

A quick biography

My name is Sloan Patterson. I am from the town of Palm Harbor, Florida and I have three younger siblings and the most amazing parents. I am currently living in Gainesville but love to go home and visit my family. I grew up near the beach and I have always loved it. Soccer was also a very big part of my life. I played club soccer my whole life and I still participate in intramural soccer at UF. Now I am 21 years old and am just finishing up my third year at the University of Florida. I am majoring in Journalism and Telecommunications and minoring in Communication Studies. I love my major. It has given me the opportunity to experience broadcast journalism in a hands-on environment. For the past two years, I have gotten the chance to be a student intern/reporter for WUFT News. WUFT News is a NPR affiliated TV and Radio station that broadcasts on PBS. I have loved learning how to report, edit, write, and produce scripts and packages for the news. I'm not completely sure that broadcast journalism is what I want to do with my career but the experience has been great and I know that I could always end up pursuing a job in telecommunications. Instead, I have recently decided to go to law school. I am starting up an LSAT class next week and I will be taking the LSAT in June and then I will begin applying to law schools. I am planning on applying to different schools in Florida because I really love it here. As for what time of law I want to practice, I am not 100% sure. I plan to figure out what I like when I am in law school. For now, I think I would like environmental law or something to do with human rights because that is what I am most passionate about. I am also heavily involved with Dance Marathon, a student-run philanthropy that raises money and awareness for Children's Miracle Network hospitals. We work all year to fundraise and plan the event. This year UF raised over 2 million dollars for our local hospital, Shands. I participate in Dance Marathon fundraising events every year, such as bowling, food truck rallies, and a 5K race. The University of Florida truly has so much to offer and I have loved attending this school for the past three years. Thinking about graduation makes me feel sad but I plan to make the most out of the rest of my time here!

Next year, I will be starting my senior year at UF. I'm planning on applying to law school and I have been doing a little work on my resume. Check out Sloan Patterson's resume.

I love 5Ks!!

If you follow my blog, you probably know that I participated in a Gainesville 5k race about a month ago. A couple friends and I ran the 5k just for fun and finished the race in a little under 30 minutes. Running that 3.1 miles had been a lot easier than I was expecting so I have decided to register for another 5K and challenge myself to beat my previous time. The Midnight Fun Run is a UF tradition that usually occurs at the end of the semester during reading days. Starting at midnight, runners take off on a 3.1 mile run through campus. When they finish they receive free breakfast at the dining hall. I can't think of a better way to finish off the semester! I am trying to find some friends to participate in this race with me!