New Opportunities with the Gladeo League

Today I had the pleasure of attending orientation for an internship I’m taking part of over the summer with Gladeo, a non-profit organization that is putting together a database of career profiles and highlights meant to help high school and college-age students figure out what they want to do for a living and what the path might be to get there. Got to spend the day in Little Tokyo over by the Japanese American National Museum, so I certainly can’t complain about that.

Beyond just getting to spend the day in a nice place, however, I also had quite a nice time at the orientation itself. I had the pleasure of hearing from Jo Kwon, who has worked doing just about everything one can do in the field of Journalism, including print writing, broadcast, radio, social media, podcasting and more. As she is one of the advisors for Gladeo, I’ll likely be working with her and others more going forward, which I believe will really help me improve my writing repertoire.

Speaking of, the opportunity isn’t just a way to spend my free time over the next couple of months (though not sitting around is quite the draw). As a reporter for the organization, I’ll have the chance to spread my wings a little further than the hard news I tend to focus on. Instead I’ll be focusing more on feature-y business profiles, though still with a more informative edge. I’m looking forward to it, and next Friday is about when we’re really going to start kicking things off.

Throughout the summer I’m going to try and update my blog here with the stories I’m going to write for Gladeo. I would probably expect some rearranging of menus and such in the next couple of weeks so I can post more about my experience outside of the Daily Titan as well, like how I added more when I updated this place with all of my articles from the High Tide back in January.

So, keep your eyes open for more coming down the pipeline in the near future. Between the internship and my extra free time to play games, I’m sure there should be plenty of things to write up.

The 2016 AAJA Trivia Bowl

Had an absolutely wonderful time tonight yesterday at the Asian American Journalists Association Los Angeles Branch‘s 21st annual Trivia Bowl representing the Daily Titan and Cal State Fullerton.

The event was held at the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple in Downtown Los Angeles, and though we didn’t get to explore much of the grounds it was still a beautiful venue to be at.  Plus, being just about right in the middle of the city, there was a nice view all around when we were there!

Admittedly, getting to the event just reminded me of how wonderful it can be to live around Los Angeles… Two and a half hours or so to get to the temple, while the same drive took about 25 minutes to get back home. Thanks Dodgers.  That endless drive didn’t take away from the experience of being there however, as I had a great time with my coworkers, the Daily Titan’s Managing Editor, Copy Editor, Copy Assistant and Arts & Entertainment Assistant.

From left to right: Me, A&E Assistant Kyle Bender, Managing Editor Brandon Ross and Copy Editor Aaron Valdez.  Our Copy Assistant, Sule Recinos, left early.

Because half of the newsroom is off at a conference in Washington DC, we only had five people compared to the average number, 10 or so, but even with that handicap we did pretty well, I’d say.  We tied with USC as the third best college team that was there at the end!

Now, for context, the Trivia Bowl had four rounds, each with 20 questions asked.  The categories for the rounds included Current Events and History; Geography, Literature and Science; Pop Culture and Sports and California.  So… While we only got 17 points out of 80, it should also be showing that the winning team, one of the representative groups from the LA Times, only got about 39.  They were pretty hard questions.

This is the second year I’ve gone to the Trivia Bowl, as I went to the one held at the DreamWorks Animation studio in Glendale, CA last year.  Both times I’ve gone have been really fun, and I’m looking forward to getting to go with my fellow Titans in the future!