Global Media Initiative

San Jose State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communications has their Global Media Initiative students out in the field in London and Paris for spring break ... and I'm one of them!

Three years ago the GMI was formed out of a desire to expose budding journalists to the opportunities and challenges of field reporting.

The first year, 50 SJSU students traveled to New York City for spring break and met with media outlets in the newspaper, magazine, photojournalism, advertising and PR industries. Several students made contacts at the various news organizations and from those contacts received internships and jobs.

The second year was an experiment in international multimedia production. Dubbed the "Multimedia Boot Camp," Mexico City was the destination and 15 students produced stories for the web and print. Audio, video and photography were required elements in each story. This was the beginning of our all-platform journalism obsession.

Planning London and Paris 2009 began last September. At one point, 50 students wanted to go on the trip. As departure drew closer, the total number of students was whittled down to 20 dedicated individuals. We have one week, two countries and endless opportunities.

Unlike the Mexico City trip, we have an overall lens through which all our stories will focus. The global economic crisis is effecting everything around us, so from immigration to the environment and from fashion to financial aid, we are covering it.

Megan Hamilton

Art Director

Magazine Journalism / Graphic Design
My LinkedIn. My Blog. My Portfolio.

What a difference a year makes

It's true. I have not posted in forever. One year might as well be forever in the blogosphere. Let me give you an update. Since last April I have, in chronological order ...

... Said goodbye Bath and Body Works, broke up with an incredible guy who will now forever hate me, got hired at Apple Retail, purchased an iPhone (life-changing), rendezvoused with some Brits, enjoyed beer, created a 'prototype' issue for a new magazine called Social Entrepreneur, announced and began planning the JMC's spring break trip to London and Paris, got in a car accident, designed the Spartan Daily newspaper for Fall 2008, dressed up as Stormy from Rainbow Brite for Halloween, chopped off all my hair, rocked a LOT of headbands, elected a new president, voted no on Prop 8, serenaded my co-workers at Apple Corporate on the same stage Steve Jobs does his keynotes, renamed Social Entrepreneur SHiFT, survived my first Holiday at Apple, pleaded for a new MacBook Pro (and got one!), became a gourmand for New Years Eve, decided to be happy for 2009, embarrassed myself for a boy, pledged to run a marathon for charity, redesigned the Spartan Daily for Spring, contracted pneumonia, drugged myself for three weeks, cried as apple juice was spilled on the new MacBook Pro, celebrated my 22nd birthday, suffered through eight long miles of running, iced my groin, strained my foot, hobbled about for two weeks, drafted my first Web site, beefed up my resume, published the 'beta' issue of SHiFT, dropped out of the marathon training, failed to raise funds for charity, wallowed in self-loathing and finally jet-setted for London.

Oh wait, that hasn't happened yet. Stay tuned ...