Hey guys! This is Lauren. Kendra has been trying to get me to blog for about a month now and I've ever-so-cleverly always found a way out of it :) I finally agreed to go ahead and blog today when Kendra asked me to write something.  I guess I'll start by talking about what I do for Media Strategies. I am one of the three photography interns for MST. As photography interns we basically take pictures of various SNU events that happen throughout the semester. I've shot events such as Powder Puff, an SNU football game, and Twirp. Our job as MST interns is to tell stories and more specifically tell the stories that are taking place at SNU. As you could have probably guessed, we use various types of media to tell those stories.
I have really enjoyed being apart of this new department. I have learned quite a bit about the composition of a good picture and how to use my camera (a necessity, right?). What is awesome is that I have learned these things by trial and error. I have already seen an amazing difference between the pictures that I had taken before I started my internship and the pictures that I have taken during my internship. If you're an aspiring photographer my suggestion to you is to just get out there and take pictures. Don't ever pass up an opportunity to shoot something. The more you play with your camera the better you will become! Here are two of my favorite shots from this semester.

If you're thinking about being an intern for Media Strategies next semester I would strongly encourage you to go for it! You don't have to be an expert. MST is a learning internship - a place to make mistakes and learn from them. You get to hang out with some awesome people too :) Keep your eyes open for the opportunity to apply for this sweet internship (more info on that coming soon!)
Well, I think that's all I have to say today. If you're reading this, I hope you have a great rest of the week! Peace.

Lauren Glidden
Photography Intern

     Good morning! As I walked to the office listening to the lovely sounds of Sea Wolf on my iPod, I decided that today was ideal for blogging. I hope everyone had an excellent weekend. I know mine was fantastic. Our calendars here at Media Strategies have been packed to the brim with SNU events and happenings! It's been a bit chaotic, but the fun that we're having outweighs all of the craziness. Can you say best internship ever?

     This weekend was hectic for those of us assigned to shoot events. Due to all of the rain we got last week, the legendary SNU Powderpuff game, as well as iceblocking were both rescheduled for later dates. To most of my peers I know rescheduling is a bummer, but it all worked out for the best. Powderpuff was played this past Monday night and the weather was absolutely perfect. I myself played in the game, but I saw my fellow photography intern, Lauren Glidden, getting some excellent shots amongst the crowd and inside the team huddles. Excellent work, Lauren! Austin Patterson, video intern, got some really great action shots as well. Our interns aren't afraid to get in the mix, that's for sure.

     On a little side adventure, myself and the rest of the intern team went downtown on Sunday afternoon for a makeshift photo shoot. I took them to some of my favorite spots and we all got some practice at something--whether that be taking photos or modeling. Our other video intern, Brian Lawes, is a natural. You may have seen him in our SNULU promotional videos and photos. He's just so photogenic, its unnatural really. You can be the judge.

Anyway, that's the scoop for this weekend! Have a lovely week, everyone.

Chris McGrady, MST intern [photography]

What's up everyone? You might be wondering what these blogs are about, and I'm here to tell you about it. These blogs are written by the interns (the people with the funny mustaches seen above) here at the Media Strategies Team (MST) office and are designed to inform the readers(that's you!) exactly what we are do on a day to day basis. It just lets you know that we actually work occasionally but we always have fun. I'm one of two video interns here at MST. My focus is just that, videos. The video interns constantly work on and off the camera. Sometimes we're the ones holding the camera or we might be the ones in front of the camera. Anytime you see a video on SNULU.COM, we had something to do with it.

Well, I hope everyone had an awesome Labor Day weekend, because I know I did. I kicked my weekend off on Friday by heading down to NAZ NITE at Six Flags Over Texas! The MST video crew and others headed down to Six Flags to capture the fun filled/exciting/ridiculously awesome event that is called Naz Nite. Naz Nite is a night at Six Flags where all Nazarenes (and friends) come together to ride some rides, eat some funnel cake, and just have fun.  The video crew's, or SNULU Crew as I like to call it, main job was to capture the festivities so that others can see just how much fun it truly is. We decided we needed a host for Naz Nite and I was lucky enough to play the part. I tried my best to live up to the great Conan O'brien's hosting ability and we'll see how well I did when we finish editing the footage. I don't want to give to much information away about the footage we've captured, but just know it will be very entertaining. The video will be posted shortly on SNULU.COM, so don't forget to check it out. Go ahead and check out our video website because it is fantastical. And yes that is a word.

Peace Out

Austin Patterson - MST Intern [Video]

What exactly does it mean to be a Media Strategies Team(MST) intern? I was asking myself the same question all summer leading up to this semester, along with everyone else who asked about my job plans for the upcoming semester. When I applied for the internship, I was hoping to gain some extra experience outside of the classroom. I had heard great things about the MST staff and plans they had for the next year. However, I was not sure how our team of seven interns would fit into that. All I knew to tell people was that we were going to be the storytellers of SNU.

Some of my favorite memories growing up were reading stories before bed. I had my favorite stories by my bed that I read over and over again. Why not? These stories came to life when I read them.  The pictures and words were just as captivating the tenth time I saw them as they were the first. Growing up, I still enjoyed reading, but school, friends, sports, and other activities became the realities in my life. What I may have failed to realize then was that stories were and still are all around me. Each person I pass, whether on campus or off, has a story to tell. Who is going to know that story unless someone takes the time to tell it?

That’s what we, the Media Strategies Team, are responsible for doing. We are telling the story of our university, our home. I am one of the writing interns, but that is only one small component of what makes up our team. Photography, video, graphic design, social networking, and writing are all pieces fitting together to accomplish our goal. Everyone working in this office is full of talent and passion for what they do. However, together we become a team, and our talents come together to help form a story. That’s what I love about this office. Our talents all compliment each other, allowing us to work together and have a great time while doing it.

Kelly Hall

Media Strategies Team (MST) Writing Intern