Nadirah Livingston

Loren Perry interviewing Governor  John Carney

As the spring semester winds down, students in Professor Renee Marine’s producing class were given an assignment of producing a five-minute magazine style video. The goal of the project was to give students a real-life experience when it comes to creating and producing a full segment.

Out of all the topics given to choose from, my group and I decided to go with Governor Carney’s new initiative.  The new initiative is called Opportunity Funding Initiative for Disadvantage Students, this new program will allow the state of Delaware to direct 60 million dollars over the next three years to districts and charter schools. We knew we had to get an interview with the direct source, so Governor Carney was the first person we contacted for an interview.

Group photo with Govenor Carney ( From left to right: Nadirah Livingston, Loren Perry, Jorydn Batch, GraceAnn Thompson, Darren Moore Jr. and Dominique Drewery)

We were lucky enough to get an interview. I and five other students from the Mass Communications Department took a trip to Governor John Carney’s Dover office to get more information on the new program.

Students setting up equipment

The experience felt very surreal. The interview took place inside the Governor’s office, where he treated us as if we were a real news team. A camera man even recorded us as we set up to get some behind the scene footage.

We were required to set up cameras, lights, and microphone while our journalist, Loren Perry, conducted the interview. Darren More Jr. and Dominique Drewery accompanied us as our camera men. I, GraceAnn Thompson, and Jordyn Batch were the producers, in charge of taking notes and making sure everything came out just right.

Some students even got the chance to be interviewed by the Communications Director, John Starkey, who wanted to get more information about the assignment and future goals of DSU students.

In all this experience was a great one; it allowed us to get a glimpse of what our future jobs in television will be like. What started off as just an assignment turned into an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my career.

Darren Moore Jr. and Dominique Drewery being interviewed by Communications Director Jonathan Starkey