Towson junior Kevin Hess has already made several accomplishments toward his aspiring career in jounralism. He is The Towerlight's associate sports editor He has interned with his community newspaper. He is interning with Press Box Magazine. He has made strides to achieve all of these positions and has done this without letting difficulties come in his way.

Listen and watch as Hess tells his story.

Since I'm covering a residence life/student concerns style beat on this blog, it's time to contemplate some audio coverage. My goal is to cover an issue that is current and accurate to the student body. So.. the question at hand, "what are students concerned about?"

• The Student Government Association is currently in "election season" and will soon begin campaigning on multiple levels. Chalking, posters, Web sites, and verbal communication will take place by the end of the month. This may be a great topic to cover considering the importance of the next SGA executive board and how much ability they have to influence on campus.
  
• Another issue to dive into would be the ever growing popularity or social media and the digital age we are living in. I'm finding more and more that our lives - personal and professional- are being converted to digital means of communication and living. Are others realizing this? Perhaps this is something the student body might be concerned with.
• Towson is a growing campus. My goal here would be to explore different issues related to this matter. How is the community affected? Will there be enough residence halls? Will classroom sizes get bigger? Will courses have limited availability? Are students already seeing some of these impacts with a growing campus and limited budget?

Feel free to comment on this post if you feel there is anything of high importance on Towson's campus. What do students care about?

I came across a very interesting article published in the University of Minneapolis's daily newspaper. The article focused on many students having to make the decision when coming to school about whether to live on or off campus. A number of interesting sources were talked to and quoted that weigh the benefits of each option for students.

The story begins in a very interesting way, focusing in on one student and their journey with college housing. This is similar to how I plan to construct my story lead.

The story also gains validity by speaking to a faculty member in the department of residence life.

"They've lived on campus, they realize the convenience of access to their classrooms, access to all the activities and events happening on campus and just being able to keep living in the vibrant core of the University," she said. This was quoted from the assistant director of Housing and Residential Life, Susan Stubblefield.

The story also provides details of different housing availability options. each residence hall has its pros and cons and each apartment is in the same position. Everyone has their own opinion on what is best and most of the decision making is due to a case by case basis. Coming Wednesday, a full feature will be posted on this specific story topic. It is very prevalent at this time because so many students on campus are having to make this decision before there are no more available options for next year.

Here is a link to the story mentioned. Click Here to learn about housing at other colleges

"Living on campus is one of the best ways for students to make the most of their college experience."

This sentence is taken from the housing and residence life main page on www.towson.edu

Many say that the on-campus living experience is best for students and students should do all they can to stay on campus throughout college.

For others, there are many factors that play into making the best choice of where to live. On campus or off, that is the question.

Coming soon on Towson U for You, a student profile will be done to understand what some students go through to make sure they are enjoying college and finding the right experiences.

As of now, the right person to feature is still being decided but it will most likely be a second semester sophomore that is having decide what to do for their following year at Towson. It will be important to see what an individual decides to do during this pressing time for those considering moving off campus.

Article and Photo by: Daniel Gross

How certain students handle their living options throughout their college experience

__________

Students entering college are also faced with the question of how to spend their four years and where they should live to get the best experience. Many options are presented to each student.

Towson U for You will soon be posting a feature article, focusing on one student and how they plan to carry out their college experience in terms of their living arrangements.

Each student's experience is unique and hearing from a personal trail of housing in one's college life an provide insight as to what students are doing to enjoy their time spent at Towson.

Next week, Towson U for You will have picked a resident student to feature in this special Blog post.

Post by: Daniel Gross

Photo by: Barbara Haddock Taylor /Baltimore Sun

In today's issue of the Baltimore Sun, an article was published on Towson President Robert Caret. This was a traditional feature article that touched on his goals for the University and what he has done to pave the way for the University to prosper within the community.

This article is a perfect example of a Wall Street Journal formula. The article starts out using a specific example of Caret and explains something specific about his life.

It continues by writing into the nut graph where general background is noted about the Towson president. This way, readers understand who the subject is. The body of the story certainly gives a slew of information regarding Caret and his current endeavours with the University and why he might be newsworthy at a time like this.

This would be a great article to read if you are looking for a well-formed feature article.

Click here to see the story on the Baltimore Sun's Web site: Robert Caret

Here at Towson, most resident students have become very used to seeing multiple fliers posted throughout the lobby of their residence hall and sometimes even up and down the hallways. Typically, these papers are updates for meetings, new club advertisements, or upcoming events that the building staff or Housing and Residence Life wish to promote. 

Drury University in Springfield, MO, has actually banned the posting of papers within residence halls. In replace, each residence hall on their 

campus now has a built in video LCD screen to display announcements. Just as the Bursur's Office is going paperless with their bill paying system, so is this university with their methods of announcing. 

Now resident students there can view all upcoming announcements via an electronic video screen. According to the article published in The Mirror the resident assistants are actually enjoying putting together the slide shows.

As far as funding, these screens will also have advertisements implemented into their broadcast of images. There are also a number of other benefits to having these screens that University officials say will improve the campus. 

The only downside was that some students felt the money spent should have gone elsewhere. 

To view the article that was published on February 4 click here.

I thought this article was put together very well. It seemed to address all of the important issues that come along with this switch from paper to video. Drury U is not the only college that is doing this so it may have been good to look into other Universities for a comparison.