By Elizabeth Scalzo
Editor-in-Chief
The second week of The Equinox internship experience started off the same as any other week, with a planning meeting. As quickly as news broke last week, the pace quickened as the week unspooled.
Advisor Professor Mo Krochmal and I were Zooming about the logistics of the week — including our new Roundtable series — when all of a sudden a bee was buzzing around my room. Living in central Pennsylvania, this is a normal occurrence. But my mom and I are both allergic and were the only ones home. Lucky for me, my mom saved the day with a hand towel to remove the pest.
Then we resumed discussing the logistics of Week Two of our program, focusing on the Roundtable. We are introducing this video series where we will be reporting on the process of FDU reopening for the fall semester.
We settled on five core topics to cover — health and safety, dining, residence life, financials and academics. With Managing Editor Amaya Morales joining the meeting, we were ready to get our plan into action.
At the general meeting Monday afternoons, stories and Roundtable topics are assigned for the week. We make sure the staff is ready to tackle the week and plan for the next meeting, Tuesday evening, to organize the Roundtable.
Tuesday morning, I woke up to my mom asking me why her Instagram was not loading. Confused, I grabbed my phone and looked at Instagram and found my entire feed filled with #blackouttuesday posts.
It wasn’t just filled with individuals posting, but FDU clubs and organizations postings as well. I knew this needed to be a story. I shared a document with Professor Krochmal and started messaging everyone possible for quotes. This story needed to happen, and I was making sure of that. After just two hours of writing and editing, the story was published.
That evening, the staff working the Roundtable met on Zoom and planned in detail. Wednesday came and the realization hit that we were not ready to record the program. We needed to work out some kinks before recording to help it go as smoothly as possible. We needed more time, so we rescheduled the recording session for Thursday and decided to just take a breather.
Thursday was now our first Roundtable recording session and our first training workshop.
Amaya and I taught the first workshop on story illustration using the online software Canva, a great tool to create website art and graphics. Equinox alumna Samantha Hart sat in on the workshop to share and expand her skills.
Our reporting didn’t stop. Friday at 3 p.m. the Student Government Association and Black Student Union sponsored an online event via Instagram for the FDU community. The event brought together students, faculty and staff to truly represent that FDU is standing together during times of need.
Other stories that were posted throughout our second week include:
- “Should Tuition be Reduced for the Fall Semester?” by Entertainment Editor Nancy Sanchez-Diaz,
- “Internship Cancellations NOT End of Summer Learning Plans” by Staff Writer Sonal Tulsyani
- “Explaining FDU’s Re-Opening Task Forces” by News Editor Jhoana T. Merino-Martinez.
Throughout the week, The Equinox also started introducing the ‘20-’21 editorial board on Instagram.
Now, we embark on Week Three with two training workshops and even more coverage on the future at FDU.
The Equinox is ready to continue learning and reporting important news affecting the FDU Metropolitan campus.
Graphic By Elizabeth Scalzo
The Equinox continues to running all summer long.
