Journalism Week One: A Little About Me

A Little About Me

Hello my name is Robert Greco! I am currently a student at Linn Benton and this is my first term here! I'm enjoying it so far. I am also a school bus driver for Student Transportation of America, which serves Corvallis school district. On the weekends I enjoy playing and learning new songs on guitar, going and serving in my local church, and watching sports and playing video games with friends.I decided to go back to college after previously attending Oregon State University to expand my opportunities and learn more skills. I am currently a business major, and may plan to open my own business someday.

I put journalism class in my schedule because I needed to find a class that fit my busy work schedule as a bus driver, and had, had experience in high school with journalism. I thought it would be fun/interesting to dive back into reporting and writing for a paper again. In this class I hope to improve my interviewing skills, my writing style, and learn how to gain sources and connections more effectively.

Some goals I have for this term in journalism include learning how to gain and verify valid and trustworthy sources, gain more knowledge about what's happening in my community, and be more plugged in and involved with something of value to the community.

My first story for the class is going to be about the protests happening in south town Corvallis. They are protesting that drivers should slow down and be more careful when traveling near the local co-op and in south town in general, as well as urging the city/state to get a crosswalk repaired that is missing it's center lights next to the co-op. They started because of a girl who was hit by a driver on Wednesday the 8th of January. My first source for this story is Jay Thatcher who is leading the protests, and is a local bike instructor. My second source is the Corvallis Police Department, in which I will be getting the police report of the collison. My third source will either be the Corvallis city manager Mark Shepard, or the ODOT district 4 (covering Corvallis) manager Amy Ramsdell.

Questions I plan to ask them may include: What do you know about what happened the night of the 8th of January near the local co-op in south town? Has this happened before? What is your response to the recent protests? What things have you set in motion to prevent this from happening again? Who has jurisdiction over that part of the road and why?

I am really excited to be working on this story and to be part of the journalism class and The Commuter this winter term. Onward to week two!