Final: Lead In - Nadege Jorda

When David Minnihan first came to Norman, there were no serious tennis facilities for the community. The Westwood Tennis center featured only eight courts, two of which were unplayable. Since then with Minnihan's help, Westwood now has 12 outdoor courts and a 2,300 sq. ft. clubhouse. The tennis center won the 2007 National Facility of the Year award. Westwood partners with the University of Oklahoma to use OU's indoor courts for patrons and players to train year round.

"I think the Norman community is real proud of this facility," Minnihan said. "It's one of the nicer parks in the city. It's not only state recognized, but nationally recognized."

While the center's success is admirable, Minnihan enjoys another aspect of his job at Westwood.

"My passion is junior development," Minnihan said.

One special junior player in particular is Nadege Jorda. At 14, she is working towards her goal of playing professional tennis.

"He's really supportive. He helps me a lot with my tennis," Jorda said of Minnihan.

At 12, she walked into Westwood. Now she is turning heads by winning tournaments.

"She's won a ton of tournaments," Minnihan said.

Jorda has achieved the number one ranking for her age group in the state of Oklahoma. She has now moved on to playing older competitors.

By: Kelley Jones and Zack Hedrick

Runtime: 1:34

Final Project Video - Nadege Jorda

Pi Beta Phi House

The Pi Phi house at The University of Oklahoma

Many greek houses on the University of Oklahoma campus rival multi-million dollar homes. Just down the street from Barry Switzer's impressive residence, is the Pi Beta Phi sorority house.

Sororities for Dummies sat down with Samantha Herbie, an advertising sophomore, Emily Johnson, an energy management sophomore and Megan Kinnie, a history sophomore to talk about the Pi Beta Phi house. The house is used for many functions throughout the course of the year. WIth the crunch time of finals over all students, most of the girls in Pi Phi are

using the house as a meeting place for study sessions.

Whenever the pressure of finals are not over the members of Pi Phi, the house is mainly used as a meeting place for social parties and headquarters for philanthropy service events. Johnson stated that numerous service events are held through the house during the course of the semester.

One unique aspect for the house at Pi Phi is that unlike other houses, it features individual living spaces. Other sorority houses have community style living with multiple girls sharing bedrooms and closet space.

"Every girl here has her own room and her stuff is in her room," Johnson said.

All three girls commented on the value of having their own individual rooms.

In addition, the house has the capacity to fit all the girls in the chapter in the house dining hall at one time.

"91 girls," Herbie said.

The three Pi Phi members stated that this was a big recruitment tool whenever new rush classes are going through the selection process.

The sorority itself is celebrating its centennial year. Pi Phi held a ball the first weekend of November and invited back alumni to visit the house and current members.

The plaque commemorating the sorority's centennial celebration on the front of the house.

Serving and Sociable

Sisters of TBS load food and other necessities into a truck for the canned food drive they held prior to the holiday season.

Members of Tau Beta Sigma (TBS), the national band sorority, have a lot to handle as members of a sorority and Pride of Oklahoma. In addition to all their responsibilities of being at rehearsals, gamedays and pep bands, TBS members also help carry out tasks that otherwise would not get done.
"Tau Beta Sigma is based on an action.We exist to serve the band," Alex Valiton, Vice President of Service, said. Valiton also commented on the unique traits that are shown throughout the nation in all TBS chapters.

The band sorority has the same national song throughout the nation, which creates a camaraderie between schools that usually would not take place.
"It's kinda cool because we can put away the rivalries that happen between our two schools and just be sisters," said treasurer Shanna Hestilow.

While they TBS is centered around service, they also hold social events as well. The sisters of TBS also get to throw social events and date parties like any other social sorority.

Members of TBS celebrate

the engagement of fellow TBS

member Jessie Stecker

For the upcoming bowl trip, Valiton said that TBS and Kappa Kappa Psi, the national band fraternity, have already contacted the same organizations from the University of Connecticut to meet up at the bowl game in Glendale, Ariz. when the two football teams meet for the Fiesta Bowl.
Next semester the joint chapters of TBS and Kappa Kappa Psi will host District Convention. The convention is an event where all active chapters from New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma will meet outside of a band or football game setting and share ides and build up relations between chapters.
The District Convention is set for April 8-10, 2011.

Members of TBS held an alumni reception during homecoming weekend.

In Depth with Nantz

Since he was 11 years old growing up in Colts Neck, N.J., Jim Nantz wanted to broadcast for CBS. At 26, he found himself broadcasting live for CBS Sports and 25 years later he is the pinnacle of sports broadcasting. He is living what he calls a wonderful life and is grateful for the opportunities that CBS has given him over his career, in lieu of being a sports anchor with highlight packages.

"It's [sports anchoring] not like being able to call a Super Bowl or The Masters. One guy gets to call that," Nantz said.

Nantz got his start in broadcasting through radio. He called basketball games at the University of Houston when he was a student there. Nantz says that his start in radio was crucial to his success.

"Radio training was very viable to my career in getting started and getting comfortable with the pacing and rhythm of calling games," Nantz said.

Now the lead play-by-play broadcaster for CBS, Nantz appreciates the subtleties between radio and television mediums. While admitting it took a certain talent to do radio play-by-play, he prefers the visual partnership television offers.There is a fine line between saying too much to the point of insulting the viewer or being to spare and not providing enough information he said.

However, Nantz stressed that when you do talk, journalists must make their words count. Nantz even related this to writing in print.

"If you have a chance to say it succinctly, those words that you have say it with tremendous punch," the Emmy-winning broadcaster said.

Nantz believes that some announcers have their judgment clouded during games and try to utilize the game as a stage to show off their humor or sense of recall. It is Nantz's belief that it is his job to not just make the viewing experience more pleasurable for the guy on the couch, but to observe and inform what is going on at the sporting event.

In addition, he also has the ability to put a headline on the game so the viewer comes away with more than just the final score. Nantz set up a situation where the New England Patriots beat the San Diego Chargers.

Nantz said he only scratches the surface of all the information he compiles from players to present as stories during the course of a game. However, the news he gathers he stores away and uses it like a database for later games when "stories find their home."

Live television is arguably the hardest medium to perform in the field of journalism. But Nantz makes it look effortless every Sunday during the NFL regular season, during the highs and lows of the NCAA March Madness tournament and The Masters.

"It's really gratifying when you walk out of the booth and you know that everyone felt like they did their best," Nantz said.

Cameraman Talks to Students

Ray Bribiesca talks to students in the Hall of Fame Room in Gaylord Hall on Nov. 1

Ray Bribiesca, an award-winning photojournalist for "60 Minutes," spoke to students at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication Monday, Nov. 1 about his extensive career in news and documentary reporting.

More than 46 years of television news, production and photojournalism has taken Bribiesca on a "great, great ride": He has won several Emmys for his work and was recently awarded the Peabody Award for "significant and meritorious achievement in electronic media." In his spare time, Bribiesca says he likes shooting wildlife photography.

Bribiesca has been shooting combat for all 46 years of his career and has worked with CBS for more than three decades. Ever since Bribiesca enlisted with the U.S. Marine Corps for the Vietnam war, he has had a camera on and the film rolling. To this day, his camera is always on hand.

"My camera is in the car," he said. "I never go anywhere without it."

He described combat as a chaotic and difficult setting. To capture it on video without getting seriously injured is perhaps even more difficult.

"The tension is building, building, building, and you're just waiting for it," correspondent Lara Logan, who most recently worked with Bribiesca on his latest "60 Minutes" segment, in a video interview on CBS.com.

Bribiesca himself defines some of the shots he gets during combat as "crazy shots." He admits that when his family, relatives and close friends see them during production of his stories, they think "crazy shots." On the contrary, audiences are captivated by the footage captured by Bribiesca. His shots are not stock, over-the-shoulder combat sequences the public usually sees during a war package. His rare shots show soldiers positioning and their faces during combat, capturing often unseen human emotions.

"Those [the crazy shots] are the shots that when I see combat I always say, 'What does the face look like?'" Bribiesca said. He said shoots while keeping a mental clock counting in his head until he can answer the question "Do I have it?"

These shots obviously put Bribiesca in harm's way, but he attributes his vault of combat knowledge to put himself in places that provide him the best location to shoot the footage and not recklessly get himself shot.

Lara Logan said she admires Bribiesca for his commitment to his work and his self-control when the shooting commences through the battle, sometimes for more than 30 minutes at a time.

"Ray was just standing there...calmly filming everything," Logan said. "He wasn't reckless, he wasn't stupid, he just wasn't afraid."

Bribiesca said that he does not plan what he wants to shoot before the action happens. He also says that he is not looking for one particular shot. He is actively documenting the battle.

"You just react," he simply said. "I'm literally taking positions of soldiers in the field."

Bribiesca's "great, great ride" is soon reaching its end. Bribiesca is currently filming his last story for "60 Minutes" in Yemen. While this is his last story for CBS, this will not be the last assignment he will ever work on.

"I'll still be out there," he said.

At the completion of this last assignment for CBS, Bribiesca will begin working for National Geographic in search for the nature shots he is still pursuing in his free time.

Ray Bribiesca talks to students about his experiences shooting combat

PHOTOS: ZACK HEDRICK

More Bob Barry

If you need more, here's a link to a feature that I did for The Oklahoma Daily.

Enjoy

http://oudaily.com/news/2010/oct/14/sooner-broadcaster-reflects-50-year-career/

Midterm Preface - Bob Barry

His career spans 55 years of Oklahoma radio play-by-play history. He has narrated many of the great OU plays of the last several decades with his unique play-by-play style, adding in a dash of Oklahoma charm.

Bob Barry is putting the finishing touches on his 50th season of broadcasting play-by-play football, but he began way before that when an incident left him confined to his bed to recover from his injuries.

In 1961, OU Coach Bud Wilkinson picked him out of 13 other contenders to be the play-by-play man for Sooner football and basketball. He then left the friendly confines of the Sooner broadcasting booth to call games for the University of Tulsa for a season (1972-1973) and broadcasted for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 1974-1990. Barry then rejoined the Sooner family for the 1991 season and has been a Sooner treasure ever since.

Beginning in 1966, when he was not behind the microphone at a football game, Barry was anchoring for KFOR News Channel 4. In 1970, he was named the station's sports director, a position he held until 1997. He continued with KFOR as a sports anchor until Dec. 2008, marking the end of his television broadcasting career.

With his extensive career, Barry has learned a thing or two. Here he has some advice for upcoming journalists

Midterm Project - Bob Barry

Slideshow

Big/Little Terminology

Here's a little "Big and Little" Terminology:

Big - an older sorority sister who has chosen you to be her little

Little - a sorority sister that has a Big sorority sister

Twins - sorority Littles that have the same Big sister

Grand-Big - the Big sister of a Little's Big sister

Temp - a temporary Big or Little sister. Term is used during the selection process so the sisters involved can find out more about each other

Preffing - selection process where girls list who they want to be their Big/Little in order of preference.

Sisters...Big and Little

Sisterhood is a big part of the sorority experience. This sisterhood element is even more evident for those who have a "Big" or "Little" sister in their sorority. Bigs and Littles are deeper, more personal relationships with specific girls inside a sorority.

The selection for "Big and Little" can happen a number of ways. Initially, girls are paired based on common interests. A girl can connect with another right away and know that they will be paired. Other ways of matching "Big and Little" include going out to social events with "Temp" (temporary) big or littles to get to know each other and get a better feeling if they are compatible. Another option is "Preffing" where big and little candidates write down their preferences of who they want to be their respective big or little on a sheet of paper in order of inclination. Depending on the order of preference of what the girls have written down, will determine how the Big and Littles are matched. According to sorority member Erin McColm, this process is not always smooth, though, and can at times be intense.

The Big/Little relationship does not just make one pair of girls exclusive to each other. McColm, a member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, said the process sororities go through is a great way for every girl in the house to meet the newcomers and learn about present members.

"A person you get to know and click with best out of the new pledge class," English junior McColm said about the selection process. "You just there to get used to college and get through stuff. Your big is the person you call if you have a bad break-up." Outside of just helping each other with relationships, Big sisters will help Little sisters adjust to overall college life, like getting through exam weeks and being a source of confidence, motivation and support. The Big/Little bond does not just stop at the end of the participant's college careers. McColm said alumni return to visit their Little sisters to check how they are doing, even participating in each others' weddings.

"You've been picked by that person — That person wanted you," McColm said. "So it's something really cool, and the also it's something you feel loyalty to."

Delta Gamma house at the University of Oklahoma. Delta Gamma is one of many sororities at the university that use the Big/Little system that brings members together.

Audio Test

Touchdown Oklahoma!

So Many Reasons...

Sororities for Dummies conducted a survey last week concerning the reasons why girls decided to join a sorority. The survey yielded unsurprising results to most. However, some feedback from young women in sororities at The University of Oklahoma informed that the

survey could have been more specific.

Results from the survey showed that sororities are not all about social events, parties and such. If it did the unanimous answer to the survey would have been social aspects. But respectable percentages answered that girls joined for community service and philanthropy as well as alumni or continuing legacy (when the mother of the girl is in the same sorority the girl is in now).

Ashlan Barta, a member of the Sigma Phi Lambda sorority, joined for other reasons than those listed in the survey.

However, the answers from the survey were not deemed specific enough for the survey to be answered. Sororities for Dummies spoke to experts in the field of psychology and sociology to explore other reasons why girls join sororities.

Some additional reasons offered by the professors were reasoned and thoughtful. "A basic human need of belongingness," Dr. Nicole Campbell, professor of psychology at the University of Oklahoma said. "Sororities help to make a smaller community within a large campus. I can see how women who did not have sisters in the home would be drawn to that, but I can also see how women who did have sisters in the home would as well." Others were comical. "Because they like boys," Dr. Jennifer Hackney, professor of sociology, said. The reasons girls join sororities are varied and many. Each young woman would provide a unique reason as to why they individually joined.

The process to join a sorority is made out to be a difficult, exhausting and sometimes degrading process. The Rush is a very anticipated event here at the University of Oklahoma and undoubtedly across many universities across the country. Sororities for Dummies explores the process, what goes on during Rush and finds out what does it take to make the sorority.

Riddle Me This: Why Join a Sorority?

The News

This post is one of many, and the first as I start my journey into Sorority Land. If you haven’t guessed, dear Reader, by the blog header, this blog is for those who know nothing and want to find out more about the intriguing social network that is called a sorority. This blog will also venture into debunking the typical National Lampoon stereotypes surrounding these organizations and shed light on the other aspects that make up sorority life (but we’ll cover the parts you know about already too, we all need some fun). For this inaugural post, I conducted a survey as to why girls at the University of Oklahoma decided to join a sorority. My gut instinct told me that the most common answer I would receive was for the social characteristic of the sororities: parties, sisterhood, inter-Greek activities, etc.

The Impact

Through hard work, sweat and a lot of copies, I created a survey that I thought would put some statistical value on the reasons why girls would join a sorority. A copy of the survey is shown below.

Please write in your sorority name here _______________________________

Of the reasons listed, please choose the one that was the most significant for why you joined a sorority.

a) for community service/philanthropy

b) for social aspects

c) academics

d) alumni/legacy

I made 500. My reasoning behind this number was 500 would be enough to provide for a diverse amount of answers from numerous sororities on campus. Out of 380 handed out, only 135 came back completed. 170 were not answered and 75 are MIA. But the results I received from those that answered have some interesting results. 10 sororities total competed in the survey: 40 Kappa Alpha Theta, 30 Pi Beta Phi, 23 Tau Beta Sigma, 16 Delta Delta Delta, 15 Delta Gamma, five Kappa Kappa Gamma, three Alpha Chi Omega and one each from Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Gamma Delta and Alpha Omicron Pi. Out of 135, 68 answered for social aspects, 36 for community service and philanthropy, seven for academics and 18 for alumni/legacy.

Note: Six of the 135 answered surveys featured multiple answers. These were left out of the graph.

The Context

The University of Oklahoma features a large sorority life population. “The freshman female pledge class that comes in, about 40 percent of them go through our recruitment process,” said assistant director of student life Jill Tran. Last year 42 percent (808) of the freshman female class went through the recruitment process for all sororities. In 2008, 44 percent (908) went through the process and in 2007, 40 percent (828). Tran said the typical turnout is around 40 percent of the freshman female class. Institutional Research is still determining the number for this year’s recruitment process; Tran said that this number could be available as early as mid-October. It will be interesting to see if this number increase from last year or stays the same or decreases. A possible follow up survey with just freshman participating on why they joined a sorority could be in the works.

A greek house on The University of Oklahoma campus at night.

The Human Dimension

Sororities are a concoction of girls, Nike shorts, rain boots, bows and flowers, other fashion trends, parties, date parties, rallies, get-togethers, study hours, community service events, philanthropy, social networks, alumni, classes, meetings and a house all rolled into one complete with being on or near campus. It is a very daunting thing (and confusing) if you have no previous experience or knowledge before hand (Count me in this group for now, we’ll see where I am at in the end). As shown by the results of the survey, this could be a tricky subject (not to mention indecisive since six who answered couldn’t make up their minds on a very straightforward survey).

One note of significance: While handing out the surveys, the most common question I fielded was, “Are you going to make us look bad/write bad things concerning us?” It is my intention to show that sororities are something other than what is preconceived about them. However, as a journalist, if something happens that is deemed to me as newsworthy, it will be reported and covered to the best of my ability.

What’s Next?

In review of this survey, I was not surprised at the results. I figured (and was told when handing out the survey) that most would answer B. That aside, some possibly were not being honest in answering their surveys. However, there was a considerable amount of those that answered A for community service and philanthropy. Are those stereotypes and preconceptions starting to rattle around a little bit? For next week’s focus I will look into the psychological reasoning behind the reasons why girls join sororities and get expert analysis on this survey.

ZH

Here are some quick fun facts on the sororities here at OU

http://studentlife.ou.edu/content/view/68/

Journalists and The Social Media

“Just stop trying to be objective. I think this is the point of blogging: That you get online and you share with the world how you feel.”

Not quite the words you would expect to hear from a prestigious, award-winning journalist to a young, aspiring journalist. But that was the advice I received from Mona Eltahawy, activist in residence at The University of Oklahoma.

With all the talk of the emergence of citizen journalism, coupled with advancing technology and information available at someone’s fingertips on one’s mobile phone, social media and blogging have more functions than their original intentions.

“You need to start thinking about Facebook as something more than meeting high school friends, planning parties and putting pictures up because as useful as Facebook is for all of that, and Facebook can be fun, in many parts of the world Facebook has become an essential tool… because it connects internationally,” says Eltahawy.

These social medias have already been utilized in the mainstream media today. Professional journalists from Katie Couric to your local news anchor have integrated these social media sites to further their reach in the journalistic world. Is our society already seeing a revolution in the way we view and utilize Twitter?

In my personal experience (and I am justifying this by the opening quote), I am very new to the social media scene. I do not have a Facebook and just recently I activated a Twitter account. Twitter I find to be very useful, in the way of it being a “one-stop shop” to read up and get a basic gist of what is happening in the world around me.

For future journalists and aspiring ones, the challenge is to harness these social tools and utilize them to better serve our audiences in the passage of information, communication and criticism.

Asked if upcoming journalists should be required to have the social media tools of Twitter, Facebook and blogs, Eltahawy's response: “Absolutely.”