Job shadow gives behind-the-scenes look at jobs in journalism

By STACI GOHL

WEST VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL
Beginning sophomore year, students are bombarded with stories about the infamous “senior project.”
These are long-term, very involved projects that students must complete in order to graduate.
And now, for my class, the Class of 2009, it’s our turn to grapple with them.
This column is part of my project.
I chose to do an extended job shadow at the Yakima Herald-Republic with Adriana Janovich, reporter and Unleashed coordinator.
To be honest, I really didn’t know what to do, so I kind of just chose something. I knew I was a decent writer, so I just went with it, and in the end I learned more than I ever thought I would.
The following is a journal of the 20 hours I logged.
• Oct. 10, 2008 — This was my first meeting with my mentor. When I arrived, she briefed me on the code of ethics from the Society of Professional Journalists and how the newspaper and her job work in general.
We talked about the First Amendment and what it means to a journalist. She showed me around the newsroom and then we set out on my first interview. I didn’t really know what to expect at all.
We pulled up to Yakima New Hope Community Church of the Nazarene in Terrace Heights and walked in.
Adriana proceeded to interview the pastor and church secretary who were both organizing an outreach program to feed the homeless and hungry in Yakima. I got my first taste of reporting. This was an easy transition into something I’d never done before.
• Oct. 18, 2008 — During this meeting, Adriana and I went to the fourth annual Wapato Tamale Festival, where she interviewed some of the vendors, coordinators and others participating in the event.
This was decidedly more fun than our previous meeting. The people were friendly and the conversation was a little more light-hearted. Once we arrived back at the newspaper, she began writing the piece for the next day’s newspaper. She had me copy the tamale recipe for the newspaper’s Web site, and we did some obituary writing as well. This was really my first view into the process of how an interview becomes a story and the craft that is present behind it.
• Oct. 23, 2008 — This interview was especially entertaining. We went to the Yakima’s Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie No. 289 to do an interview and tour the building. The people we interviewed were eager to talk to us and show us around. It showed the kind of people you might meet while working in this profession, which could really be just about anyone.
• Nov. 11, 2008 — This time I met Adriana at West Valley Church of the Nazarene. She was interviewing a pastor who was retiring from his church to go do other things. This was another in-depth look at how to properly interview someone and the kinds of questions to ask. This interview was a bit long — an hour and a half — but it was a good learning experience.
• Nov. 19, 2008 — I went to an Unleashed meeting where I got a behind-the-scenes look at the newspaper’s teen program. Herald-Republic city editor Craig Troianello talked to us about his job and what he does. I sat through the meeting just like any member of the Unleashed team would, and I got to be around some other high school kids who are interested in journalism.
• Dec. 17, 2008 — Today was another Unleashed meeting. This time, I saw a presentation on photojournalism and learned a bit more about it and how it can be done. Sara Gettys, a Herald-Republic photographer and the Unleashed photo mentor, explained the importance of multi-media in the changing times and how newspapers must stay relevant by utilizing this trend.
This was a very sobering experience because most of the media she showed us was actually very heavy and depressing. She showed us photo projects on a dying man, the mentally ill in prison, and residents of a mobile home park that was going to be developed. At the end of her presentation, everyone was quiet and no one was quick to break the blanket of silence that lay over the room.
• Dec. 29, 2008 — Closing in on the end of my project, this was one of my last meetings with Adriana. I talked with Herald-Republic photographer Kris Holland and watched him upload the pictures he just captured in the field. The top story was the weather, and he showed me photos of a man shoveling snow and kids jumping into snow piles. I also watched him choose one and pull up an archive photo for another story on a wrecking yard in the Lower Valley.
At 2:45 p.m., I sat through the daily budget meeting, where I got to see how editors choose stories for the daily paper. They talked a lot about story and photo placement.
The rest of my time was spent in front of a computer writing this column.
Overall, as far as I can tell, the whole senior project hype is just that, hype. I don’t know about other students, but I found out that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it really has been a stretch in learning, which is the purpose of the cumulative project.
Looking back, I’ve gained some experiences I would have probably never had. I’m going to get to see my writing in print. I’ve been forced to go out and talk to people I would have never dreamed of talking to. Even though I don’t really see myself with a burning passion to pursue this profession as a career, I would definitely say I’m satisfied with my project and have enjoyed the ride.

— Staci Gohl is a senior at West Valley High School. She is completing a job shadow at the Yakima Herald-Republic for her senior project.

Behind the scenes at the drive-through nativity

By COLLEEN FONTANA
UNLEASHED STAFF
“Are you all ready?” came the voice over the walkie talkie.
With these words, children and teens grabbed their hats and pulled them onto their heads. Adults helped younger kids wrestle costumes over winter coats and drape shawls over their hats. They also pulled on gloves with hand warmers stuffed inside, preparing themselves for another bone-chilling night.
In the weeks preceding Christmas, members of the West Valley Church of the Nazarene were decking their halls — make that their parking lot — with a different sort of decoration.
Strewn across parking spaces were piles of burlap, wooden structures, including crosses, and farm animals, like goats and donkeys, on loan from local farmers. As vehicles filled with passengers wound through the seven stations, church members acted out stages in Jesus’s life.
“This is the reason for the season,” said Teri Fleming, a church member who has participated in the drive-through nativity for the past 10 years. To pull it off, “There is so much that needs to happen.”
Her husband, 52-year-old Rockie Fleming, and their three children also help. In all, more than 100 people are needed to stage the drive-through nativity.
“Sometimes, people come to help expecting it to be a party,” Rockie Fleming said. “But when it’s not, they realize that they can still have fun without drugs and alcohol.”
He said he’s inspired by the way the living nativity inspires children. And he looks forward to the event every year: “I have a long-standing relationship with Jesus Christ, and I want to share that with others.”
So does Jason Johnston. “It’s a tradition,” said the church’s 31-year-old youth pastor. He’s been directing the drive-through nativity for the past five years, but it has been happening for the past 24.
“I grew up participating in the nativity, and now I’m directing it,” Johnston said.
For 18-year-old Isaac Bass, a senior at Riverside Christian School, the drive-through nativity is a way for people to “get a glimpse of Jesus’s life.
“It’s an opportunity to learn and a great outreach for us,” said Bass, who’s been participating in the event for as long as he can remember. “I was the boy Jesus when I was 5,” he said, adding that now he would rather “be a Roman soldier so I can stand by the fire.”
Each scene tells a story and is accompanied by a Bible verse. In some cases, live sheep and goats are used. There are difficulties to using live animals, though.
“One year a goat died,” said 18-year-old Chris Danielson, a student at Yakima Valley Community College.
Another year, there was a glove-eating donkey.
The actors have had their share of mishaps, too. Kids have fallen off crosses. Others have gotten a little too close to the fire; one boy found that the fingers on his gloves had melted away.
In order to make sure the animals stay in line and the kids stay safe, parents and other adults work endlessly behind the scenes. Volunteers do everything from preparing food and helping with costumes to regulating actor rotations and shoving hand warmers into gloves. Night temperatures can dip into the single digits.
“It’s fun, even though it’s cold,” said 11-year-old Rachel Bass, a homeschooled sixth-grader.
Good thing, Rockie Fleming said, “Costumes are big enough for clothes to be worn under them.”
“We’re basically in clothes you would wear to Alaska,” said 18-year-old Emi Berglane, another YVCC student.
The church hosts the drive-through nativity as a community service, and members are eager to continue the tradition.
“Sometimes, people don’t want to believe, but actual history validates what the Bible said,” Rockie Fleming said. “I want them to come to the nativity and begin to think of the truth.”

— Photos and story by Colleen Fontana. Colleen Fontana is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Davis High School.