MU Ag Journalism is 90!

Has it been three weeks already? Hard to believe it's true!

This weekend I helped celebrate the Agricultural Journalism program's 90th birthday! Corner Post, the online publication the intro class works on, also had a birthday. It turned ten this year. The site has recently been remodeled, but you can see the old content by clicking the "Original Corner Post site" link. Next week the current intro class will turn in their first rough drafts, so keep checking back!

The Corner Post Reunion took place in the Orr Street Studios. Marilyn, the woman I worked for this summer, has her own art studio there. I'd heard a lot about her art and studio, so I was glad to finally see it for myself.

Orr Street Studios was more than I imagined. The building was an older warehouse type place renovated to make it "artsy." Huge sliding doors separate the common areas from studios, and on those doors are beautiful sculptures. An artist took old scraps, such as wire and scrap metal, and created beautiful abstract images.

After Marilyn gave us a tour, we ate cake (yum!) and watched a video two students created. The first was full of great information about the history of our progarm. The second, my personal favorite, was of bloopers from student interviews. Several of the students graduated last year and the video fully embodied each of their personalities, so I enjoyed that a lot.

Friday evening we headed to Boonville to the reception hosted by the Missouri Life magazine. It was great to see the number of alumni who came back. Our program may be small (though Sharon mentioned a recruitment effort in development) but we have a lot of support from alumni and the college. The agricultural communications community is a family, and the Mizzou Ag Journalism community is like a family within the family.

Saturday the group had different tours scheduled, but I needed to work on some homework. Oh the joys of a student's life. My newest multimedia post is published now. It talks about my adventures in photography.

Kathryn and I took a homework break in the afternoon to take my Chinese friends to Walmart. It was a tight fit getting everyone and their purchases into my car, but we made it!

This week should be interesting. Coming up is a presentation on the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow club to Student Council, helping out at a CAFNR Alumni function and my first video interview with the Cheavens. I'm staying busy!