Journalism Students Build Experience from the Ground Up

Over the past few months, a team of student builders from the University of Cincinnati laid the foundation for competition in the third Solar Decathlon.

Now, as the house those students constructed in front of Braunstein Hall is reassembled on the National Mall in Washington, DC, UC journalism students continue to build on the action. Their hands-on, up-close view of the UC Solar Decathlon team's work takes readers and viewers from the house's beginnings to what's going on in the nation's capital, courtesy of a slideshow of images, podcasts, a blog and videos.

The competition, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, features 20 teams from universities around the globe, all vying to design, build and operate the best, most efficient solar-powered home. And the journalism students have covered every angle of the building of the house, designed and constructed by students and faculty from the College of Business, College of Engineering and College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.

Participating from the journalism program are: Katherine Ankrom; Terron Austin; Zachary Breedlove; Bridget Jackson; Matt Koesters; Scott McKendry; Ryan McLendon;  Lauren Pakalnis; Rachel Richardson; Emily Schneider; Blair Tobler; Jordan Waniewski; and Jamie Woods.

The students are getting invaluable experience from being part of an interdisciplinary team, said Elissa Sonnenberg, assistant professor and assistant director of the UC journalism program.

"Not only have they been able to work with architecture, engineering and business students, they have been able to share their stories with a broader audience," she said. "With this project as a real-life learning lab, the students have gained multimedia reporting experience that's tough to beat. Now they are learning what it's like to be part of an international press corps in Washington, DC."

More journalism students will head to Washington later this week to spell those who worked the first leg of the project. The whole team will be reunited there from Oct. 17-20, when the competition concludes and the winner is announced.

"I couldn't be prouder of them, and am so grateful to the Center for Community Engagement for making our piece of this project possible," Sonnenberg said.