Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference

 
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Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
Spring 2018

UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
   Nikki Brahm
   NEWSPA PR Assistant

T
       he Northeastern Wiscon-
       sin Scholastic Press As-
       sociation will celebrate its
49th anniversary of the organi-
zation’s beginnings by featuring
10 NEWSPA alumni with expe-
rience in different areas of the
journalism field.
     The NEWSPA alumni are
returning to campus to host
individual sessions, along with
a keynote panel, “NEWSPA
Alumni: Oh, the Places You
Could Go,” (See page 4). The
individual sessions include a
variety of topics within journal-
ism such as “Alternative Story
Formats,” (See page 14) “How
to Thrive in this New Age of Mul-
timedia Journalism,” (See page
12) “Storytelling in Advertising,”                                                           Photo by: Nikki Brahm
(See page 10) “Visual Design          NEWSPA will be back at Reeve Union for it’s 2018 conference April 18.
Trends: Making Your Pages
Pop,” (See page 13) “What You         Dream Internship, Too” and “Jour-         NEWSPA has also gone digital
Can Do with Google Analytics”         nalism Smackdown.”                    with the ability for students to sub-
(See page 9) and many more.                The conference will once again   mit entries online as well as receive
     Many favorite sessions           be held in Reeve Memorial Union.      the critiques online after the con-
will be returning as well, such       It’s newly renovated rooms were       ference.
as “Getting the Big Picture in        finished in October. The building         Advisers       should    contact
Sports,” presented by Evan            includes a modernized entrance        NEWSPA Executive Secretary
Siegel, the team photogra-            and innovative design, such as        Barb Benish at benish@uwosh.
pher for the Green Bay Pack-          updated offices and large confer-     edu if they are interested in sched-
ers. Other popular returning          ence rooms on the second floor        uling an in-person or online critique
sessions are “You Can Get a           that will create a welcoming envi-    from Advance-Titan Adviser Vince
                                      ronment for the conference.           Filak.
NEWSPA 2018                                            01
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
NEWSPA Newsletter

 Table of Contents

                Features                                     Departments
                                                             Department
4- Alumni Return for Keynote session                  1- NEWSPA preview
6- Alumna Reegan Wallander on preparing for           3- Letter from NEWSPA president
a job that doesn’t exist yet                          5- NEWSPA moves to online submissions
8- Alumna Madison Goldbeck on broadcast               6- Meet NEWSPA board member
journalism
                                                      7- NEWSPA returns to Reeve Memorial Union
9- Noell Dickmann on feature writing, Alumni          16- NEWSPA board members
Hannah Jean and Emily Miels talk Google
Analytics
10- Amberlee Perry and Karnpal Cheema
on your first post-college job, Joel Thomas
on storytelling with advertising
11- Adviser Session on summer seminars
12- Alex Gelhar on multimedia journalism
13- Tyler Remmel on page design
14- Haley Walters on alternative story formats
15- Journalism students Kaitlin Biersach and
Laura Dickinson on internships

NEWSPA 2018                                      02
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
Letter from the President

                                         makes no comment, that person           ists, and I encourage you to bring
   Jeff Carter                           must have the opportunity to have       these issues into your class and
   NEWSPA President                      a voice present in the article.         your publications.
                                            What should you do if the princi-
                                         pal tells you and the students that
   At my school today, a group of        they cannot cover the walk out or
about 50 students walked out of          print a story about it. Suppressing
their third-period classes in sup-       information because it makes the
port of the students of Parkland         school look bad is a violation of the
High School. Members of the              students First-Amendment rights.
community showed up to support           If they try to, contact us, and we
the cause, the police were pres-         will help you fight.
ent to monitor the demonstration,           The same is true in regards to
and the local media was there too.       writing an editorial or column about
   As the advisor of our school’s        the event. A student has the right
student newspaper I used this op-        to comment on these the event.
portunity to discuss the role of the     This could take the form of a crit-
journalism and the students’ role        icism, praise, or suggesting other
in how to cover this situation.          ways to express support.
   The first thing we discussed is          This has been a great learning
does it need to be covered. The          experience for the student journal-
answer is a resounding yes. This
is an event that is topical, affects
the students, and has conflict. It is
news, it needs to be covered.
   The next step is determining who
to cover the event. In our case, the
paper had to avoid conflict of inter-
ests. We have several staff mem-
bers of the newspaper who are
friends with those who organized
the walk out. These students can-
not write the story because they
would have a difficult time fairly in-
terviewing the students and fairly
discussing the event. A news sto-
ry needs to state the facts and let
the audience form their opinions.
   Next was getting fair coverage.
Covering the event needs to have
                                                                                                   Photo by: Nikki Brahm
the voices of the students and            NEWSPA President Jeff Carter reading an issue of the high school news-
the voices of the teacher or ad-          paper he advises The Hartford Chronicle.
ministrators. Even if the principal

NEWSPA 2018
                                                         03
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
Journalism alumni return for keynote session:
NEWSPA Alumni: ‘Oh, the Places You Could Go’
  Sloan Tackett                         across NFL media,” Gelhar said.        ald in Lake Havasu City, Arizona,
                                           Alumna Madison Goldbeck,            and now works as a reporter for
  Journalism Student                    Plymouth High School, writes for       the Greenville News in Greenville,
                                        numerous magazines such as             South Carolina. Walters has had a

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          here are opportunities in     Media Milwaukee, Taylor Maga-          lot of experience working as a re-
          journalism. Just a look       zine and Superhero Magazine.           porter and can offer valuable infor-
          at the profiles of the 10     She is currently finishing school      mation pertaining to that.
NEWSPA alumni coming back to            at UW-Milwaukee with a major in           “Don’t expect all the hard work to
the high school journalism confer-      journalism, a minor in English, and    pay off immediately,” Walters said.
ence as keynote speakers shows          an emphasis in creative writing.       “Many journalists often start off at
that.                                      Oshkosh North High School           small companies and put in lots of
   The 10 alumni will present           alumna Hannah Jean works as            work there before bigger compa-
“NEWSPA Alumni: Oh, the Places          a part of the E-Power Marketing        nies even consider them. Coffee
You Could Go” at the 2018 North-        team in Oshkosh. She graduated         helps.”
eastern Wisconsin Scholastic            from UW-Whitewater and interned           Andrew Winistorfer, Oshkosh
Press Association conference on         on the East and West coasts. Also      North High School, started by
April 18. The alumni have taken         an Oshkosh North High School           writing movie reviews for his high
different paths with their careers in   alumna, Emily Miels started work-      school newspaper and continued
media-related positions.                ing as an entertainment editor at      to write music reviews in college for
   Karnpal Cheema, Berlin High          the Eau Claire Leader Telegram         UW Oshkosh’s The Advance-Ti-
School, is one of the returning         and now works as a content spe-        tan. He is now head of editorial
alumni who works close to home          cialist at E-Power Marketing.          at Vinyl Me, Please, a vinyl record
as a content specialist. His love for      Alumnus Amberlee Peery, Ber-        subscription company.
journalism started when he partic-      lin High School, found interest in        Four of the returning alumni
ipated in his high school newspa-       journalism by helping with her high    attended Oshkosh North High
per, which eventually resulted in a     school newspaper and turned that       School, which is where Jason
major in journalism, as well as a       interest into an English degree with   Cummings is a teacher and the
major in anthropology and minor         an emphasis in communications.         school newspaper adviser. Cum-
in Arabic.                              She works as content specialist at     mings recognizes the importance
   Returning alumnus Alex Gelhar,       DealerSocket.                          of attending an event like NEWS-
Oshkosh West High School, first            Tyler Remmel, alumnus of Hart-      PA, especially for individuals inter-
started working as a writer and         ford Union High School, earned         ested in a career path that follows
editor for the NFL as part of the       a degree in journalism and sports      some aspect of journalism.
Digital Features team, but he now       communication from Ashland Uni-           “Attending NEWSPA can ignite
works with a team on the fantasy        versity. He is the lead page de-       excitement and ideas that can go
football side of the NFL. Gelhar        signer for the Detroit Free Press.     beyond working on a school pub-
said he has seen a lot of growth           Joel Thomas, Oshkosh North          lication. It can launch prospective
with himself and the fantasy foot-      High School, earned a bachelor’s       students on a path of success that
ball brand since he started work-       degree in communications and           might last a lifetime,” Cummings
ing in that department.                 media studies from UW-Madison.         said. “I am very proud of all of the
    “I resurrected the defunct NFL      He works as a copywriter for Tom,      former NEWSPA participants. I am
Fantasy LIVE podcast by produc-         Dick, & Harry Creative Co. in Chi-     glad that many of them found suc-
ing and editing it myself when the      cago.                                  cess in life that’s tied to writing and
company said they couldn’t af-             Hartford Union High School          journalism.”
ford a designated producer, and         alumna Haley Walters started her          The keynote panel presenta-
we’ve grown that podcast into the       career as a city, crime and coun-      tion will begin at 11 a.m. in Reeve
second most downloaded pod              ty reporter for Today’s News Her-      227ABC.

NEWSPA 2018
                                                        04
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
NEWSPA moves to online contest submissions
                                      submitting,” Schultz said.              “We will generate certificates to
   Zackry Wiese                          With the new submission meth-      the various place winners, and
   Journalism Student                 od this will no longer be an issue,   then we will put together emails
                                      since schools must submit a PDF       with judge’s comments that will go
                                      of the pieces they are submitting     directly back to the students as

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                                      by email. No more confusion and       soon as they get on the bus after
         he Northeastern Wiscon-      red circles.                          the conference,” Schultz said.
         sin Scholastic Press As-        Another issue that the
         sociation fully implement-   new submission method
ed an online submission process       solves is the cost. Instead
for both newspaper and yearbook       of the expensive and
contest entries this year that aims   complicated process of
to make the submission process        mailing the submissions
simpler and more cost-effective.      to the university, then to
   Instead of the lengthy and re-     the judges, then back to
source-consuming process of           the university and eventu-
years past, NEWSPA went digital       ally back to the schools,
(except for publication entries),     all the submissions are
which will save postage costs for     now emailed to the uni-
schools, NEWSPA and the many          versity and put into a da-
judges. The process should also       tabase as they are sorted.
save time and create less confu-      NEWSPA Public Relations
sion than the former system.          Assistant Taylore Radtke
   The previous process of submis-    said the new method is a
sion for the yearbook and news-       lot simpler for the news-
paper contests included mailing in    paper and yearbook ad-
print issues of the newspaper or      visers.
yearbook with the actual submis-         “It is a lot cheaper for
sion circled in red, then those is-   the entire organization;
sues were sorted and sent out to      there’s no mailing or print-
the judges. The judges would cri-     ing, which was a lot of the
tique them and mail them back to      cost. The new method
the journalism department, which      takes a lot less time,” said
would then create certificates for    Radtke. “After talking with
the winning entries and sort them     advisers, they said that it
by division and school so they        is a lot easier to submit
could be returned to the students.    things rather than hand-
   This may sound simple, but         write everything and send
when you have hundreds of             it to us, (and) then the
submissions, some things usu-         judges.”
ally don’t go as expected. Cindy         Submitting the work by
Schultz, academic associate to        PDF over email will ben-
the Journalism Department, is re-     efit the participating stu-
sponsible for the NEWSPA con-         dents as well. Instead of
tests and she is the one who had      waiting a few weeks for
to deal with the issues that arose    their awards to be mailed
with the submissions.                 to them, they will have in-
    “Many times, the entries were     stant access as soon as
not circled, and it was up to me to   the conference is over.
guess which story they were truly                                                        Infographic by: Tristan Groth

NEWSPA 2018                                           05
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
How to prepare for a job that doesn’t exist yet
                                       about finding a career in an un-         what it entails, Wallander said.
                                       known field, while also encourag-             “There are going to be people
   Tristan Groth
                                       ing others to take a leap of faith to    who scoff or don’t think it’s a se-
   Journalism Student                  find their niche in the ever-chang-      rious job that could lead to suc-
                                       ing field of social media. Her ses-      cess,” she said. “Ignore those

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                                       sion begins at 10:10 a.m. in Reeve       people and do what makes you
          o you Instagram your         221.                                     happy.” According to Wallander,
          meals or outfits of the         “Even if it’s just one person, I’m    it is important for students to real-
          day? Do you write clever     most excited about that possibility      ize their education is in their own
tweets? If so, maybe it’s time you     to inspire someone to consider a         hands.
turn these obsessions into a pay-      career in social media,” Wallander          Social media is constantly
check.                                 said. “I am very passionate about        changing and updating, and Wal-
  If social media is your addiction,   what I do and I hope my session          landar said it is crucial to be on top
wouldn’t it be great to use that ad-   can light a spark in someone to          of trends and events as they im-
diction to design and implement        look into professions within this        pact whatever industry they are in.
campaigns for a company and get        field.”                                     “A lot can happen in five years,
paid? That is what UW Oshkosh             During her session, she plans to      especially in the highly innovative
alumna Reegan Wallander did            explain some of the options that         world we live in,” Wallander said.
when she was hired as the social       are available within social media.       “I predict we’ll be seeing a lot of
media community engagement             One of the biggest hurdles for           crossover among social platforms
adviser for Kohl’s.                    anyone choosing a social media           as they continue to compete with
     She will speak at the 2018        career is trying to explain it and get   each other and try to be ahead of
NEWSPA conference on April 18          people to wrap their minds around        the game.”

Meet NEWSPA board member Beth Plankey
    Andrew Shea                        veyed jour-                                staff to this year’s conference.
                                       n a l i s m                                “The staff is motivated and many
    Journalism Student
                                       advisers                                   fresh ideas are a result of the feed-

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                                       across Wis-                                back we receive on our work,” she
          eth Plankey has used her
                                       consin        to                           said. She also said networking
          NEWSPA experience as a
                                       determine                                  with other NEWSPA school mem-
          board member, as a pre-
                                       the level of                               bers strengthens their scholastic
senter and just as an attendee to
                                       censorship                                 journalism program.
help increase her knowledge and
                                       as a result of                                   “NEWSPA fills the valuable role
skill in the ever-changing journal-
                                       the famous                                 of collaborator and resource of lo-
ism field.
                                       H a ze l w o o d                           cal districts who support scholas-
    Plankey is a teacher and advis-
                                       case.      She                             tic journalism,” she said.
er for the Neenah High School on-
                                       has present- Photo courtesy of: NEWSPA          Plankey said she’s been
line newspaper, the Satellite.
                                       ed at the annual NEWSPA confer-            amazed by the growth of NEWS-
     She graduated from UW Osh-
                                       ence numerous times since then             PA and the conference since her
kosh in 1992 as the first journalism
                                       on a variety of topics.                    involvement. “The innovation of
education student, and has taught
                                          Plankey said she owes her in-           the organization to gain members,
speech, English and journalism at
                                       volvement in NEWSPA to Gary                increase participation and offer
Neenah High School for the past
                                       Coll, who founded NEWSPA near-             support to local school districts is
25 years.
                                       ly 50 years ago, to Gene Hintz and         exceptional,” she said. “NEWSPA
   Plankey said she first present-
                                       Skip Zacher. All three were journal-       has always featured leaders who
ed at the NEWSPA conference in
                                       ism professors at UW Oshkosh.              are budget savvy, resource rich
1991 about the results of an inde-
                                           Plankey said she will bring her        and student centered.”
pendent study in which she sur-
NEWSPA 2018                                             06
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
There’s no place like home
                                                                                 of food options. Guests can visit
                                                                                 the Marketplace to enjoy salad,
                                                                                 Mexican, grill, pizza, sandwiches
                                                                                 or grab/go food items. The Titan
                                                                                 Underground offers freshly made
                                                                                 panini sandwiches and appetizers.
                                                                                 On breaks, guests can stop by the
                                                                                 Convenience Store or University
                                                                                 Bookstore to grab essentials or Ti-
                                                                                 tan gear.
                                                                                    NEWSPA offers a day of learning
                                                                                 from mass media professionals,
                                                                                 as well as sharing with other stu-
                                                         Photo by: Nikki Brahm
Reeve Memorial Union recently renovated the front entrance of the build-         dents and advisers. Students and
                                                                                 advisers can choose from nearly
ing, where students coming for the conference will enter from.
                                                                                 40 sessions on topics as varied as
                                                                                 the basics (sports writing, feature
  Shannon Gaffney                     it easier and quicker for students
                                                                                 writing, interviewing, etc.), to fun
                                      and advisers to move between
  Journalism Student                  sessions and for people to find            (Journalism Smackdown, where

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                                      speaker locations.                         teams that are first to the buzzer
         orothy may have made            The Reeve location will also be         can win sweet prizes for answering
         the line famous in Wiz-      more convenient for attendees of           journalism, grammar and AP Style
         ard of Oz, but organiz-      the conference.                            questions), to trends in the field
ers for the Northeastern Wiscon-         “The last two years the confer-         (social media for students, alterna-
sin Scholastic Press Association      ence had been located at Gruen-            tive story formats, what you can do
conference share her sentiment:       hagen Conference Center and the            with Google Analytics, etc.).
There is no place like home.          Alumni Welcome and Conference                 The NEWSPA conference is also
  After a two-year stint away,        Center because of Reeve’s con-             about celebrating successes of
NEWSPA will return to Reeve Me-       struction,” Benish said. “While both       students with the annual newspa-
morial Union at the University of     are beautiful facilities, it just wasn’t   per and yearbook competitions,
Wisconsin Oshkosh for its annual      as convenient if people had to run         Benish said. The day’s activi-
high school journalism conference     to different buildings for sessions        ties end with awards ceremonies
on April 18. This year brings even    since there is only 10 minutes in          where students receive certificates
more excitement with a newly ren-     between presentations.”                    and ribbons for their quality work.
ovated space including welcom-           Holding the event at Reeve                 “Judges give written comments
ing meeting rooms and creative        Union also exposes students to             on how they can improve, and
space providing upgraded tech-        a taste of college life. Conference        that’s valuable for both schools
nology and WiFi capacity.             attendees are immersed in the col-         and students who want to do bet-
  According to Sarah Suwalski,        lege setting and have the chance           ter for the following year,” she said.
associate director of operations at   to interact with peers, mentors and           Journalism is much more than
Reeve Memorial Union, and Bar-        others with similar interests.             just writing for newspapers and
bara Benish, NEWSPA executive            The student union is the primary        NEWSPA tries to showcase the
secretary, there are many benefits    community gathering place for this         many job opportunities that exist in
to the conference being held in       university, full of spaces to relax,       the field. “It really is a fun day, a day
the student union.                    meet with others or even charge            to learn, network and to get excit-
  The entire conference — except      your devices.                              ed about how students and advis-
for a PhotoShop session — will be        Reeve Union also offers a variety       ers can improve their publications,”
held in the same building, making                                                Benish said.

NEWSPA 2018                                            07
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
Life behind the scenes of news
   Drew George
   Journalism Student

 I
      magine growing up and being
      a part of one of your favorite
      shows. That dream came true
for UW-Milwaukee senior Madison
Goldbeck when she first got to in-
tern at WISN-12 in late January
2017.
   “I grew up watching WISN 12
so it was really surreal to me to be
interning with them!” she said. “I
recognized their faces since I was
in elementary school.”
   Goldbeck’s ideal internship
would soon become an even
better opportunity after working
with Mike Anderson covering the
March Madness tournament in
Milwaukee. The work Madison did
that day impressed Mike enough
that he told the producers about                                                   Photo courtesy of: Madison Goldbeck
her; she said that’s when the pro-
                                       Madison Goldbeck (left) and newscaster Michael Anderson at WISN.
ducers really started to notice her.
After her internship ended in mid-
May 2017, she went back to her         6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts         to get involved with broadcast
campus job at UW-Milwaukee’s           during the weekdays and also         should get involved as early as they
school paper.                          the Saturday and Sunday evening      can. Getting involved on their col-
   But shortly after, the executive    news. She is also in charge of ed-   lege campus will help them meet
producer and assistant news di-        iting voice-overs, sound over tape   professionals in the field who can
rector of WISN 12 contacted her        and packages. Plus she creates       help them grow, as well as build
and encouraged her to apply for        the graphics and banners you see     a strong network of profession-
an open assistant producer po-         on the screen during the news. “I    als. Broadcast journalists need to
sition. After her interview, she       just help edit the show and make     be ready to work in a fast-paced
was offered the position at WISN       sure everything runs smoothly and    environment and be able to meet
12 where she works 30 hours a          that things will be done before we   deadlines or else the show could
week.                                  go live,” she said.                  suffer, she said.
   Goldbeck will speak at the 2018        Broadcast news is a fast-paced       Goldbeck said she is excited to
NEWSPA conference about her            environment with a hectic sched-     be back at NEWSPA as a speaker,
experiences at WISN 12 and will        ule. Goldbeck recommended stu-       after she attended the conference
give advice for students looking       dents who want to get into broad-    as a student from Plymouth High
to pursue broadcast. Her ses-          cast have a thick skin and be        School. (NEWSPA is a way) “to
sion begins at 9:20 a.m. in Reeve      prepared to work long, odd hours     meet people in the field and learn
227BC. Goldbeck assists the oth-       including weekends and holidays.     from professionals in the areas you
er WISN producers for the 5 p.m.,      She also said students who want      are interested in,” she said.

NEWSPA 2018                                            08
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
For the love of feature writing
                                         she said. “My writing was mostly         of the people in her community, but
   Heather Tice                          with music and songs.”                   has also impacted way she lives
   Journalism Student                       Once she reached college,             hers. “I learned so much about
                                         though, her plans changed. She           life from listening to other peoples’

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                                         changed her major to journalism          experiences and it helped shape
          our writing can change         and became active with the “War:         who I am now,” she said.
          the world. It was that sim-    Through Their Eyes” project, a              Dickmann said she hopes her
          ple realization that made      multimedia project that gave UW          presentation will inspire people
Noell Dickmann decide to pursue          Oshkosh student soldiers a way to        with their writing. “I have had a few
journalism as a career.                  tell the world their stories from the    experiences where my stories had
  Journalism is more than just           front lines of the Iraq War.             a greater impact than just some-
writing fast-paced, breaking news           She said she thoroughly enjoyed       thing for someone to read on a
stories. Journalistic writing can        working on the project because it        Sunday morning.”
include everything from coming           gave her the opportunity to really          Dickmann said she wants to
up with funny slogans to writing         get to know her subjects. “Most of       share her love of writing with stu-
heartfelt stories about people.          the projects we did were in-depth,       dents and show them that their
  Dickmann, a UW Oshkosh                 months-long projects where we’d          writing can make a difference in the
alumna, will speak about how to          meet with our interviewees multi-        world. “I really felt like I was doing
write feature stories at the April 18    ple times and fill books, podcasts       my part to change my little corner
NEWSPA conference.                       and videos with their stories. I         of the world while I was a journalist,
  As a high school student, Dick-        loved the process of digging to a        and I got validation in that time and
mann said she never considered           deeper level.”                           again.”
a career in journalism for herself. “I      Dickmann’s love of feature writ-         Her session begins at 9:20 a.m.
was super into the music scene,”         ing has changed not only the lives       in Reeve 221.

NEWSPA alumni share info on Google Analytics, careers
   Danielle Beelow                       may have during their NEWSPA            also in Reeve 209.
                                         presentation, “Transferrable Skills:       Jean and Miels use Google An-
   Journalism Student                    Turning Your High School News-          alytics and want to show students
                                         paper/Yearbook into a Career.”          how important it is in their every-

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                                         The session begins at 8:30 a.m. in      day jobs and have them leave with
         on’t overlook your pas-
                                         Reeve 209.                              a deeper appreciation for the im-
         sion and unique skills you
                                           Miels says working at your stu-       portance of this data and how it
         gained throughout your
                                         dent newspaper or yearbook              can be used in their high school
high school years being dedicat-
                                         teaches you valuable skills that        publication websites. Google An-
ed to your school’s newspaper
                                         you’ll utilize throughout your ca-      alytics is a free web analytics tool
or yearbook. And don’t think your
                                         reer, no matter what direction you      that generates comprehensive sta-
hard work will go unnoticed with
                                         take. Jean adds, “I truly believe       tistics and data about activity on a
colleges or employers.
                                         that working on Oshkosh North’s         website and helps analyze visitor
  Hannah Jean and Emily Miels,
                                         newspaper helped set the stage          traffic and draw a complete picture
both NEWSPA and Oshkosh North
                                         for my college years, which ulti-       of your audience and their needs.
High School alumni, will help high
                                         mately helped shape my career so        Their hope is to show these young
school students recognize how
                                         far.”                                   writers the value of using Google
useful the skills they are learning
                                           The two are also offering a ses-      Analytics for the newspaper or
are and how transferable they are
                                         sion on Google Analytics. This pre-     yearbook’s websites and to use
with any future career path they
                                         sentation will begin at 9:20 a.m.,      that tool to improve their writing.

NEWSPA 2018
                                                         09
Spring 2018 UW Oshkosh hosts a new kind of NEWSPA conference
What to expect from your first post-college job
                                         gins at 10:10 a.m. in Reeve 306.          ered when searching for your first
                                            Perry and Cheema are both              job. First is a comprehensive job
   Jess Foster                           content specialists at DealerSock-        description. It is important to know
   Journalism Student                    et who write blogs, landing pages         what is expected of you in a posi-
                                         and press releases. The key points        tion.

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                                         Perry plans to resonate are being            Another realistic expectation is
            s a high school student,
                                         realistic about first job expecta-        for employers to talk to you about
            you’ve probably worked
                                         tions, getting the best value of time     your resume. This opportunity al-
            in a restaurant or retail
                                         spent at your first job, and knowing      lows for employers to critique the
store to earn some extra cash. But
                                         when it’s time to leave for another       resume. They are able to highlight
how do those jobs differ from your
                                         opportunity.                              the strong parts, inform you if they
first “real” job after college?
                                            Perry said she wanted to cover         believe a section does not align
   Amberlee Perry and Karnpal
                                         this topic for NEWSPA because it          with their company and ask about
Cheema, both Berlin High School
                                         is relatable to her current life situ-    work you have performed.
and NEWSPA alumni, will share
                                         ation, and it is also important for          A final realistic expectation is
their experiences on what to ex-
                                         young adults to know. She said the        being frustrated and impatient.
pect from your first post-college
                                         overall skills from her high school       Job searching can be a long and
job in their presentation at the
                                         newspaper work helped her land            stressful process. Just remember
2018 NEWSPA conference. The
                                         her current job, where she has            the hiring process is a process. It is
two will also address how to obtain
                                         learned that critical thinking skills     unrealistic to believe you will apply
professional skills, be realistic with
                                         are incredibly important.                 for a job, interview and receive an
pay and duties as an entry level
                                            According to a career expert at        offer within one week. Be patient,
employee and how to value time
                                         Monster.com, there is a set of ex-        stay positive and keep sending out
in the company. Their session be-
                                         pectations that should be consid-         your resume.

Stand up and storytell; Mixing storytelling, advertising
                                         is my favorite way to tell a story, but   ways writing for an audience, and
   Karly Curtin                          it’s not always the answer,” Thom-        sometimes the audience doesn’t
   Journalism Student                    as said.                                  like what I like,” Thomas explained.
                                             But comedy helped Thomas get          “You have to learn to balance satis-

 F
        unny? Check. Creative?           to where he is today. “One of the         fying yourself, satisfying the client,
        Check. Instagram cat pic         classic rules of improv is to just be     and (most importantly) satisfying
        lover? Check!                    honest. That commitment to hon-           your audience.”
   Young professional and self-pro-      esty is just as important when I’m           Despite the obstacles faced as
claimed media junkie, Joel Thom-         telling a brand’s story,” Thomas          a creative, it’s important to stay
as, is able to check off just some       said.                                     inspired. “I stay inspired by con-
of the things it’s taken for him to          When telling a brand’s story,         stantly consuming creative work:
succeed in mixing storytelling and       Thomas said it’s important to re-         film, books, art, Instagram pics of
advertising together.                    member that in advertising, there’s       cats, etc.,” Thomas said. “Every
   Thomas, a NEWSPA alumnus              a reason that creating a story is         story is basically a new version of
and creative writer at Tom, Dick         called storytelling and not story         a story that’s already been told,
and Harry Creative in Chicago, will      selling. “If I can tell a compelling      so I think it’s important for people
present “Storytelling in Advertis-       story about a brand, everything           in any creative field to never stop
ing” at the 2018 spring NEWSPA           else will fall into place,” Thomas        consuming.”
conference.                              said.                                        Thomas will share more of his
   Thomas said he had a lot to               The hardest part about story-         insights about storytelling in adver-
learn himself when he transitioned       telling for Thomas is accepting           tising in Reeve 227AB, beginning
into creative advertising. “Comedy       that creativity is subjective. “I’m al-   at 10:10 a.m.

NEWSPA 2018
                                                           10
How a short summer seminar
can jumpstart the school year
                                      year more manageable. “Investing    journalism work ahead of them
     Jaimee Pitt                      a little time in the summer, when   can create a lot of energy and ex-
                                      everyone is a little less stressed, citement to start the publication
     Journalism Student               can have big payoffs in starting theyear off strong.”
                                      year strong,” Ramponi said. “Plus,     As an adviser, if you are interest-

  T
                                      for a teacher/adviser, it helps to  ed in putting on a summer sem-
          he beginning of the school  get the publication work started at inar yourself, Ramponi has some
          year can be crazy busy,     a time you can give it your focus,  advice to help get things running
          so why not tap into sum-    rather than trying to juggle your up-
                                                                          as smoothly as possible.
mer’s good vibes and start your       coming course loads and publica-       “Get the students to help plan it;
publication off strong?               tions work at the busy beginning of empower them to make decisions
   Appleton North High School En-     a school year.”                     and make it their own. Invite local
glish teacher Aaron Ramponi will         During this session, advisers will
                                                                          media professionals to come pres-
present an adviser-only sesssion,     learn how a short summer semi-      ent or be a part of it -- often they
“Make Summer Funner: How a            nar, anywhere from one day to two   will, for no cost beyond a cup of
short Summer Sem-                                                                             coffee and a ba-
inar can Help” at the                                                                         gel,” Ramponi said.
April 18 NEWSPA                                                                               “Get the dates of
conference. He will                                                                           the seminar on the
discuss how summer                                                                            calendar early --
seminars can help                                                                             before the school
bond your team, pro-                                                                          year is even done.
mote leadership and                                                                           Summer fills up
set the groundwork                                                                            quickly with travel
for a strong start to                                                                         dates and work.
the school year.                                                                              You want as many
   The key takeaways                                                                          members of your
from his NEWSPA                                                                               team there as pos-
presentation include                                                                          sible, so schedule
team-building activ-                                                                          it early and save
ities, creating official                                                                      the dates.”
press passes for staff,                                                                          Ramponi     said
an exercise on ratify-                                                                        students    always
ing a code of ethics,                                                                         enjoy taking sum-
                                                                   Photo courtesy of: Pixabay
sample agendas for Summer Sessions can be both fun and productive.                            mer classes and
a two-day workshop,                                                                           that they have fun
and tips on preparing your first weeks, can benefit not only advis- and feel a part of something im-
publication. Ramponi will also offer ers, but students as well. Ramponi portant. He said his favorite part
some tips on how to successfully said: “Students are generally less about offering summer seminars is
run a summer seminar while keep- stressed, less busy, and some- “…seeing the team click and hear-
ing it fun for everyone.             times even just bored. Getting to- ing the excitement they have for
   Adopting a summer seminar as gether with their team and spend- the work to come.”
an adviser can help keep the work- ing some time having fun, bonding         His session begins at 8:30 a.m.
load at the beginning of the school and thinking about the important in Reeve 227BC.

NEWSPA 2018                                            11
How to thrive in this age
  of multimedia journalism
   Hannah Thorn
   Journalism Student

  W
              ish you could spend
              all day writing and
              talking about football?
Alex Gelhar doesn’t have to wish.
   The NFL writer/editor and
NEWSPA alumnus is back for his
third year speaking at NEWSPA.
Gelhar will be talking about the
importance of using various plat-
forms and mediums for storytell-
ing, as well as how to use those
platforms and mediums across
social media sites to differentiate                                                           Photo courtesy of: Alex Gelhar
yourself from the competition.          Alex Gelhar (left) records his conversation with Packers Defensive End
   Before Gelhar spent time in          Mike Daniels for his podcast, “NFL Fantasy LIVE podcast,” which he pro-
sunny California, he grew up in         duces twice a week.
Oshkosh and graduated from
Oshkosh West. He next went to           which he produces twice a week.         that stuff takes practice,” he said.
Marquette University in Milwaukee       He gets to meet and talk with dif-      “Start practicing that now. It is in-
where he landed several intern-         ferent NFL players, like Packers        creasingly important.”
ships writing and producing video       defensive end Mike Daniels.                That’s because he has seen the
content for different companies.            Gelhar said he hopes his pre-       shift that companies are making
After college, he moved to Los An-      sentation will teach students how       toward putting more content online
geles to work for an independent        to succeed in the ever-chang-           and in a video format; he predicts
production company that worked          ing media landscape. “Media is          that it will only increase so students
on smaller Indie films. A contact       evolving,” he said. “Many compa-        should be prepared for that.
told him about an opening that the      nies are pivoting to video, which          Even though he spends a lot of
NFL had in their Digital Features       students can use to help elevate        time creating content for video and
department. Gelhar thought that         themselves and stand out.”              online mediums, Gelhar is a tradi-
it was the perfect opportunity to          Gelhar also believes in the “prac-   tionalist when it comes to his fa-
combine his experience in video         tice makes perfect” mantra. He          vorite mediums. He is a fan of the
and producing and his passion           urges students to start practicing      written word because of the cre-
for football. He got the job in 2012    being on camera now, so that            ativity and freedom that it allows.
and spent a year with the Digi-         when they are ready to enter the        He believes that there will always
tal Features team before moving         job field they are ready and able       be a place for traditional journal-
to the Fantasy Football depart-         to differentiate themselves. “Being     ism. “We are always going to need
ment. He now writes fantasy foot-       able to be comfortable on cam-          it and have it,” Gelhar said.
ball advice columns and talks on        era, and speaking eloquently and           His session will begin at 9:20
the “NFL Fantasy LIVE podcast,”         confidently on radio and podcasts,      a.m. in Reeve 220.

  NEWSPA 2018
                                                           12
Consuming and creating media
                                         come.”                                  there are important differences.”
   Lance Gulotta                             Remmel does warn that not all          The topics Remmel will touch on
   Journalism Student                    days are big news days. “It’s on        at NEWSPA will be the big-picture
                                         the run-of-the-mill days that you       approach to design and media

  A
          n award-winning lead           have to make sure you’re still doing    consumption. Remmel will review
          news enterprise design-        all the right things to visually com-   tips and tricks for designing the
          er from the Detroit Free       municate stories to the reader,” he     best page possible, but also talk
Press will be a featured present-        said. “These normal days are prac-      about InDesign design features.
er at this year’s NEWSPA confer-         tice for when big news strikes – if     He will teach the value of the rough
ence.                                    I’m doing my job well day in and        sketch, what makes a good page
   Tyler Remmel, a NEWSPA and            day out and if I follow the process,    great, communicating ideas effi-
Hartford Union High School alum-         I’ll be able to keep a clear head       ciently through words, and the im-
nus, has worked for the USA TO-          and steady hand when I need to          portance of personal growth.
DAY NETWORK for five years and           step up the design to match the            Remmel will also cover his dai-
has been a part of hard-hitting          news at hand.”                          ly news consumption routine that
stories, the most recent being the           He says run-of-the-mill days are    keeps him in the know and on top
trial of Larry Nassar, the longtime      where good routines keep you on         of the biggest breaking stories.
doctor at Michigan State and USA         your toes. “Routines are essential      Remmel said: “I’ve been able to
Gymnastics charged with sexually         because they will allow a design-       grow quickly as a designer be-
assaulting young gymnasts.               er to maintain consistency. Every       cause I never take a break from
   Remmel said a typical week            page every day may not be great,        the news. Every morning, I am
starts out with him sorting through      but I am not the pages I did yester-    looking at front pages from around
story lineups sent in from journal-      day. As a designer, it’s important to   the country, reading newsletters,
ists in Detroit. With those lineups in   judge yourself based on what you        reading stories.”
mind, he will sketch out the section     bring to the table, not what you put       His presentation begins at 10:10
and make sure that the pages put         on the page. They’re related, but       a.m. in Reeve 212B
stories and jumps into appropriate
locations. Then he will check for
consistent page flow and ensure
that the typesetting will be done
in time for the plateroom to begin
running copies for the next morn-
ing’s paper. Toward the end of the
week, Remmel works on projects
that are set to run on later dates.
These projects include the Sun-
day cover and jump pages.
   When it comes to big news,
Remmel lives for it. When design-
ing the front page for the breaking
story of the Nassar trial, Remmel
said, “When the editors in Detroit
pitched the idea, I knew immedi-
ately that a statement page like
this would evoke an emotional
response from readers, but I had                                                          Photos courtesy of: Tyler Remmel
no idea just how big it would be-         Two of Tyler Remmel’s recent award-winning front pages for coverage of
                                          the Larry Nassar trial.

  NEWSPA 2018                                              13
Creative ways to structure news
                                            where she works for a larger pa-         pyramid.
   Nikki Brahm                              per, The Greenville News.                    “You basically cut your work time
   PR Assistant                                “When it comes time to accept         in half and provide all the informa-
                                            a job, I basically choose the one        tion people would want to know

 D
                                            that sounds the most fun,” Walters       without making them read an en-
          on’t listen to the naysay-
                                            said. “I chose Havasu because I          tire story,” Walters said.
          ers, Haley Walters said.
                                            loved the southwest and the city             Walters said alternative story for-
          Journalism can be a re-
                                            looked interesting to cover. I fig-      mats are important because jour-
warding career.
                                            ured I was going to be broke no          nalists have a lot to compete with
   Walters know that firsthand.
                                            matter where I lived, so I might as      today.
From roots in Wisconsin, to a job
                                            well live where I could drink Coro-          “If you can package a story in a
opportunity in Arizona, to another
                                            nas on the beach after work.”            clever way that catches a reader’s
job opportunity now in South Car-
                                               While at UW Oshkosh, Walters          attention and doesn’t take them
olina, this well-traveled UW Os-
                                            majored in journalism and minored        20 minutes to read, it’s much more
hkosh alumna will return to Wis-
                                            in political science, and was in-        likely they’ll read it and remember
consin on April 18 where she will
                                            volved on campus in different or-        it,” Walters said. “It also helps set
discuss alternative news stories
                                            ganizations and clubs. She wrote         your work apart when you’re ap-
at NEWSPA, focusing on creative
                                            for the student newspaper, the           plying for jobs or awards. For ex-
ways to structure news and infor-
                                            Advance-Titan, and was involved          ample, I put together a story about
mation.
                                            in the Society of Professional Jour-     the 50-year anniversary of the Ha-
   Walters moved to Arizona imme-
                                            nalists and Photo Club.                  vasu Fire Department using audio
diately after graduation where she
                                               Walters      started      attending   clips of some of the original fire
worked for Today’s News Herald,
                                            NEWSPA while she was a student           fighters telling their favorite stories.
a small paper in Lake Havasu City.
                                            at Hartford Union High School and        It won a few awards and saved me
She now lives in South Carolina
                                                        in college helped orga-      a few hours of writing.”
                                                        nize the conference as           Walters said aspiring journal-
                                                        NEWSPA’s PR assistant.       ists should get ready to work their
                                                          “[NEWSPA] helped me        butts off and figure the rest out on
                                                        realize journalism could     their own.
                                                        actually be a rewarding          “When Pat Stiegman from ESPN
                                                        career,” Walters said.       came to speak at NEWSPA he
                                                        “Everyone at the time        talked about how you don’t neces-
                                                        was saying that journal-     sarily have to be the best writer or
                                                        ism was never going to       best photographer or best whatev-
                                                        survive because anyone       er-it-is you do, you just have to be
                                                        with a blog could be a       willing to outwork everyone around
                                                        reporter. Then I met real    you,” Walters said. “And it’s true.
                                                        reporters at NEWSPA          That means putting in long hours,
                                                        and saw what it actually     sacrificing some weekends and
                                                        took to be a journalist.”    always being on the lookout for
                                                          Walters will be speak-     your next story. Your first, second,
                                                        ing about alternative        third jobs are probably not going to
                                                        story formats at the con-    be your dream jobs, but as long
                                                        ference and said they’re     as you keep working, even when
                                                        important to be familiar     you don’t feel like it, you’ll get your
                    Photo courtesy of: NEWSPA Archives
                                                        with because not every       dream job.”
Haley Walters (left) working at the NEWSPA story is best told using                      Walters’ session begins at 9:20
conference when she attended UW Oshkosh.                the traditional inverted     a.m. in Reeve 210.

NEWSPA 2018
                                                            14
Getting an internship may be easier than you think
   Lindsey Frieler
   Journalism Student

  A
           cquiring two or more in-
           ternships while in college
           may sound daunting, but
it’s entirely possible. Just ask UW
Oshkosh students Kaitlin Biersach
and Laura Dickinson.
    Biersach is currently a public
relations intern for The Herd, Os-
                                                 Kaitlin Biersach                          Laura Dickinson
hkosh’s G League affiliate for the
Milwaukee Bucks, and previously
                                         home can seem really scary, but           extremely important to success,”
worked for the TV Academy as
                                         she said: “I would do it all over         she said, noting that her internship
a public relations/publicity intern.
                                         again. Getting an out-of-state in-        with the Herd was helped by the
Dickinson is now interning as a
                                         ternship experience gives you a           connections she had with an em-
marketing/public relations intern
                                         different perspective not only on         ployee for the Bucks.
at the Wisconsin Family Business
                                         your area of study, but sometimes             In addition to adding to your net-
Forum, but previously worked as
                                         on life, too.”                            work, internships also help with
an editorial intern with Milwaukee
                                             By applying for internships           your skill set. Dickinson said that
Magazine.
                                         throughout the country, you open          working at Milwaukee Magazine
    Every internship is different, in-
                                         yourself up to new and exciting           improved her editing, feature writ-
cluding the application process.
                                         opportunities that may not be             ing and interviewing skills. Now that
Dickinson said the application for
                                         available close to home. Dickin-          she is working at Wisconsin Family
Milwaukee Magazine was online
                                         son said that pushing yourself out        Business Forum, she is “learning
and required published clips of
                                         of your comfort zone “forces you          how to write for a company and
her work. The application proce-
                                         to adapt and to learn about differ-       how to market it effectively.” She
dure for the TV Academy, howev-
                                         ent places.” If moving across the         is writing pieces that directly reflect
er, was more extensive, Biersach
                                         country seems too scary, try mov-         the company and said that it is im-
said. “I had an electronic applica-
                                         ing to a new city not too far from        portant to represent the company
tion including a statement, cover
                                         home because that can be a good           the way that the company wants
letter, resume and letters of rec-
                                         change and offer valuable experi-         to be represented.
ommendation,” she said. “Once
                                         ences.                                        Biersach said her internships
I made it through the preliminary
                                             Networking is another major           have helped her to expand her
round, I had to submit a video of
                                         benefit of having multiple intern-        public relations skills, improving
myself answering multiple ques-
                                         ships. Dickinson said she would           existing skills while developing new
tions regarding my interest in the
                                         not have gotten her internship at         ones. “I’ve learned the most about
entertainment industry.” Both said
                                         Wisconsin Family Business Forum           event execution because that’s not
it is beneficial to have experiences
                                         if it weren’t for networking. She talk-   something you learn in the class-
from clubs and organizations on
                                         ed with friends who were familiar         room,” she said. “You don’t know
your resume.
                                         with the Business Success Cen-            how to troubleshoot certain issues
    One nice thing about internships
                                         ter and from there she was able to        until you’re in the situation.” Intern-
is that they are offered all over the
                                         land the internship. Biersach also        ships are also an excellent way to
country. While interning for the
                                         said that networking is a big deal        learn about a career path and see
TV Academy, Biersach moved to
                                         when it comes to acquiring intern-        if it is or is not for you, they said.
Los Angeles, California, for the
                                         ships. “Networking has been cru-              Their presentation begins at
summer. Moving so far away from
                                         cial in securing internships and is       8:30 a.m. in Reeve 221.
                                                          15
NEWSPA 2018
2017-18 Board Members
Jeff Carter, President (2020)                       Beth Plankey (2020)
The Hartford Chronicle (newspaper)                  The Satellite (Online Newspaper)
Hartford High School                                Neenah High School
805 Cedar St., Hartford, WI 53027                   1275 Tullar Road, Neenah, WI
262-670-3272                                        920-751-6900, ext. 16228
jeff.carter@huhs.org                                bplankey@neenah.k12.wi.us

Susan Carlson (2018)                                Aaron Ramponi (2020)
The Hi-Light (newspaper)                            Noctiluca (newspaper)
Green Bay East High School                          Appleton North High School
1415 E. Walnut St., Green Bay, WI 54301-4305        5000 N. Ballard Road, Appleton, WI 54913-8942
920-448-2090                                        920-832-4300
scarlson@greenbay.k12.wi.us                         ramponiaaron@aasd.k12.wi.us

Lucas Cleary (2018)                                 Matt Smith (2019)
Hi-Lights (newspaper)                               Cardinal Columns (newspaper)
Plymouth High School                                Fond Du Lac High School
125 S. Highland Ave., Plymouth, WI 53073-2599       801 Campus Drive, Fond du Lac, WI 54935
920-893-6911, ext. 1538                             920-238-9255
lcleary@plymouth.k12.wi.us                          smithm@fonddulac.k12.wi.us

Jason Cummings (2018)                               Heather Vande Sande (2019)
North Star (newspaper)                              Common Sense (newspaper)
Oshkosh North High School                           Cedarburg High School
1100 W. Smith Ave., Oshkosh, WI 54901-1896          W68 N611 Evergreen Boulevard
920-424-4020, ext. 682                              Cedarburg, WI 53012
jason.cummings@oshkosh.k12.wi.us                    262-376-6330
                                                    hjohnson@cedarburg.wi.us
Michele Gaestel (2020)                              Contacts at UW-Oshkosh
The Hi-Light (newspaper)
Green Bay East High School                          Mailing Address:     NEWSPA
1415 E. Walnut St., Green Bay, WI 54301                                  Department of Journalism
(920)-448-2090                                                           UW-Oshkosh
mlfarnsworth@gbaps.org                                                   800 Algoma Blvd.
                                                                         Oshkosh, WI 54901-8696
Amy Karoses (2019)                                  Barbara Benish, Executive Secretary
Notebook (yearbook)                                 920-424-7145     Fax: 920-424-7146       benish@uwosh.edu
Oshkosh West High School
375 N. Eagle St., Oshkosh, WI 54902-4294            Taylore Radtke, PR Assistant
920-424-4092; fax: 920-424-4950                     262-353-8720     Fax: 920-424-7146       radtkt11@uwosh.edu
amy.karoses@oshkosh.k12.wi.us
                                                    Nikki Brahm, PR Assistant
Shannon Kuehmichel (2018)                           262-844-0697    Fax: 920-424-7146        brahmn31@uwosh.edu
Red ‘n’ Green (newspaper)
Berlin High School                                  Cindy Schultz, Academic Program Associate
222 Memorial Dr., Berlin, WI 54923-1252             920-424-1042     Fax: 920-424-7146    schultzc@uwosh.edu
920-361-2000, ext. 1815
                                                    Website: http://journalism.uwosh.edu/northeastern-wisconsin-scholas-
skuehmichel@berlin.k12.wi.us                        tic-press-association-newspa/
Sara Klein (2019)
Reflectioins (yearbook)                                      https://www.facebook.com/pages/Northeastern-Wisconsin-Scho-
Oshkosh North High School                                    lastic-Press-Association-NEWSPA/571474942866234
1100 W. Smith Ave., Oshkosh, WI 54901-1896
920-424-4020, ext.
sara.marquardt@oshkosh.k12.wi.usa                            https://www.Twitter.com/NEWSPA
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