ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECTS
SEMESTER 6
My favorite semester yet! I felt like this semester had the perfect combination of analytic thinking, writing, and examination of social issues. I took courses about SQL, data privacy and ethics, intermediate microeconomic theory, sports media, and audience analytics. I felt passionate about all of my courses and realized that I would like to pursue a career in research.
SEMESTER 5
My first semester working towards a journalism/social data science double degree!
This was probably my most challenging semester. After not taking any math classes since high school, I was suddenly taking calculus, economic statistics, and a Python programming course! I also took a journalism course about business data gathering and analysis as well as a photography class. I entered this semester with a lot of self-doubt about whether I could handle so much academic rigor. However, I ultimately proved to myself that I belong in this new major after all! This experience was challenging but overall a huge confidence booster, and I'm grateful for it.
Semester 4 was focused mainly on building journalism skills. I learned to create animated stories using Adobe After Effects and how to program in HTML/CSS in a web design journalism course. I also learned how to find stories of good news value and report on them under short deadlines through an intensive reporting class. This semester was important in building my ability to find and share significant stories in clear, concise, and creative ways. However, this semester also led me to realize that I wanted to focus more on data and analytics, prompting me to add a brand new major at UMD: Social Data Science.
SEMESTER 3
This semester was a lot more journalism-intensive than my previous semesters. Here, I've linked my final projects from my two upper-level journalism courses. I really enjoyed both of these classes; the real-world experiences they offered brought me valuable insight into the data-gathering process.
PIA REQUEST FINAL MEMO: HANCOCK POLICE DEPARTMENT RECORDS
JOUR402 (Journalism Law and Ethics), Professor Sandy Banisky
The following is a memo that I wrote detailing my experience in working to gain documents regarding citizen complaints from the Hancock Police Department in Maryland. I used Maryland laws to rewrite the letter originally sent to the department.
FINAL MEMO: COLLEGIATE BASKETBALL FUNDING DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN GENDERS
JOUR479D (Special Topics in Data Gathering and Analysis), Professor Deborah Nelson
This is a memo I researched and wrote about a topic of my choice: the disparities between the University of Maryland's funding for the men's basketball team versus the women's basketball team. Specifically, I was interested in the impacts of discrepancies between scholarship and recruitment spending for men’s and women’s basketball teams.
SEMESTER 2
Spring 2021
MEDIA OUTREACH PROJECT
For this project, I created a website aimed at informing the audience about conspiracy theories --- what they are, their impacts on society, how to spot a conspiracy theory, what sources are reliable, and what we can do to help stop the spread of a conspiracy theory. I also included an interactive survey at the end for viewers to respond regarding what they learned and how they plan to take action against this phenomenon in the future.
PORTFOLIO OF WORK: SEMESTER 1
The following is a collection of some of my favorite projects from my first semester at the University of Maryland. Each represents a different aspect of my academic interests. Feel free to reach out to me with any comments or questions!
PROPOSAL FOR MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES IN THE NCAA
November 2020 - COMM200
For this assignment, I was asked to speak on a policy proposal that I created on a topic that I care about. I chose to speak about how the NCAA should mandate that DIÂ schools provide specific mental health resources to student athletes.
MARY MARVIN BRECKINRIDGE: A LIFE OF BREAKING BARRIERS
December 2020 - JOUR200
For this project, I chose to research Marvin Breckinridge because she was one of the first women of broadcast journalism. I felt that presenting my research documentary-style would best reflect Breckinridge's work, although there were some issues with image quality. My bibliography is included in the link in the video's description.
A HYPOTHETICALÂ LETTER TO PRESIDENTÂ BIDEN REGARDINGÂ STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
December 2020 - GVPT201
For this "letter", I used R Studio to analyze data from a real large-scale political survey. I picked a few topics of interest to me and "presented" my conclusions to Biden with graphs, tables, and recommendations.