HomeNEWSStudent Journalists Present Pine Hills Blog to Neighborhood Association

Student Journalists Present Pine Hills Blog to Neighborhood Association

By JONAS MILLER
Co-Executive Editor

College of Saint Rose students presented a summary of seven years of journalistic work to the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association during their meeting on Thursday evening.

During the meeting, the class of 14 students gave the audience a taste of work that’s been done over the years, along with statistics for the site such as views per day, and all time views for the blog which exceeds 110,000. After the presentation, the students fielded questions from the members of the association and other Pine Hills residents in attendance.

Since 2010, journalism students at the College have shed light on neighborhood happenings through the Pine Hills blog. The blog operates through the Times Union website but is run entirely by students at Saint Rose.

“It’s a great service for the neighborhood,” said Virginia Hammer, president of the neighborhood association while introducing and welcoming the class.
Since the blog’s beginning, students have covered topics ranging from graffiti removal to music teachers, bringing to light the successes and issues that exist in the Pine Hills neighborhood.

The blog was founded seven years ago when the Times Union approached Journalism professor and Pine Hills resident Cailin Brown about a possible collaboration between the local newspaper and her students.

During the fall and spring semesters, Brown said her classes post three to six stories per week, with production slowing down during the summer months when the students are on vacation.

Members of the association gave ample feedback to Brown and her students, suggesting future stories and showing appreciation for what the blog has done for the neighborhood.

When asked by hammer how students identify stories, junior student Joshua Heller responded by saying “Facebook is a wonderful tool.” Heller said he found several recent stories simply by googling organizations and businesses in the neighborhood.

“It was really interesting to hear about the different types of stories,” Hammer said. “It motivates me to go back and read some of the other ones on the archive. I don’t want to miss out on all of the interesting stuff going on around the neighborhood.”

Brown explained how stories are posted to the blog’s page.

“I review everything that goes up,” Brown said. “Spell check, fact checking, we do real news.”

Students who cover neighborhood events often do so as breaking news stories. Once the event is over, the journalists in training write up a draft and send it to Brown for feedback and corrections. Eventually, a final copy is posted to the blog for Brown’s approval.

All stories posted on the blog are required to have three to five sources depending on the class the student is enrolled in. Brown encourages her students to do plenty of research to help present full, detailed stories.

“Document based work is more believable,” Brown said. She mentioned that her class is currently working on stories involving the city’s assessment rolls as well as the City’s vacant property list.

After the presentation by Brown and her students concluded, Jordan Carleo-Evangelist, director of community relations at SUNY Albany, also presented at the meeting. He updated the association on major renovations being done to the old Albany High school building on Western Avenue. The property, known as the Schuyler building, is being outfitted to hold SUNY Albany’s newly founded Engineering school.

Carleo-Evangelist said that pending state funding, students could be able to use the building as early as 2020.

“Our goal is to put the entire school in the Schuyler building,” Carleo-Evangelist said. “We want to get students down there. We want them to live there and go to school there.”

He addressed issues such as parking and handicap accessibility, but said that everything is dependant on funding.

Between Brown and her class, Carleo-Evangelist, and the usual agenda items the association goes through, the meeting lasted around two hours.

Police Officer Joe Acquaviva loved hearing about the students work with the blog and expressed appreciation for the work being done by Brown and her classes.

As a part of the Neighborhood Engagement Unit, Acquaviva knows the Pine Hills neighborhood better than most.

“I like how the blog highlights all of the things going on in the neighborhood,” Acquaviva said. “There’s a lot of good things going on here.

For more information on the association and everything going on in the neighborhood,

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