The Impact of COVID-19

Featured / Jackson Hallauer / Leave a comment

Whether it’s high school seniors, graduating college students, or people forced into unemployment, COVID-19 has impacted the lives of millions of people around the world.

There is not a single person in my life who has not been impacted by COVID-19 in some way. I decided I wanted to have the people close to me share their stories about how their lives changed so suddenly.

Lauren Brown, Central Michigan University student, was a member of the Disney College Program in Orlando, Florida when the virus spread began in the United States. She was prematurely let go by Disney along with all of the other College Program employees. Brown is now back home in Michigan and collecting unemployment because of this situation.

Julie Hallauer, Warranty Manager at LG Chem, is back to work after working from home for a few weeks. She was one of the lucky people who were able to continue working during this pandemic.

Sandy Persia, Process Server, is yet another person who could not work during the Coronavirus pandemic because of the high levels of in-person interaction she has at work each day. She has not lost her job, however, she cannot go back to work until her company gives her the go-ahead. Because of this, she had to file for unemployment.

Music used:

Don’t Look Back by Jonny Easton Link: https://youtu.be/HRAMvb71I8g Check out his channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/jonnyeaston

Test video: multiple different camera shots

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I have experience with video so to challenge myself, I decided to try a new editing software. I shot the video on my personal Sony A7Sii and edited the entire video on my iPad Pro.

The only difficulties I encountered were shooting in the bright sun without a ND filter, which caused many of my shots to be over exposed, and I did not notice a speck on my lens while shooting.

Michigan is one of the most infected states with over 25,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases

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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Michigan has increased exponentially since the first confirmed cases on March 1, 2020.

As of April 12th, there are over 25,000 cases in the state. A majority of the cases are in south-eastern Michigan.

Interactive chart: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/hvEEI/3/
Interactive chart: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/VwbDo/3/

Coronavirus: a different way of life

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COVID-19 has changed the way most Americans live. We have been told to self-quarantine, socially-distance and work from home. While some people have the luxury of being able to work from home, millions have lost their jobs because of this virus.

My mother, Sandra Persia can no longer do her job as a Process Server. However, my mother, Julie Hallauer is in a position where she can still work while “non-essential businesses” are closed. They are both dealing with these changes in different ways.

The empty toilet paper isle at my local Target store.
Packs of toilet paper that my family managed to find in stores in case we are to go into a full lockdown per government order.
Julie Hallauer is a Warranty Manager at LG Chem. She has been ordered to work from home since her job is not an “essential service.”
Sandra Persia cleans the house as she is unable to go out and work as a Process Server.
Sandra cleans as Julie finishes her work day.
Julie’s work supplied their employees with N95 masks before the Michigan Governor ordered all “non-essential businesses” to work from home or close.

CMU students create podcast ‘Get a Taste of This’ about eating habits and budgeting to help other students

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“Get a Taste of This” is a podcast designed to inform CMU students how to eat mindfully on a college budget with a college schedule in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. We want to expose students to grocery store hacks, different diets, how to save money shopping for food, and how to eat healthy while doing it. The first episode “Get a Taste of This: Time to Veg Out” focuses specifically on vegetarianism and veganism in Mount Pleasant.

Podcast by Jackson Hallauer and Sydney Hutchison

Music:

Broken Veins by jlsmrl | @jlsmrl
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

CMU student finds his way after doing a career-defining internship

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My first day at Autoline in one of the test cars.

Coming to CMU I only had a rough idea of what I wanted to do when I graduated. However, I knew that whatever it was, it had to involve using a camera, editing, and writing.

Originally I signed a major in Integrative Public Relations. After realizing I didn’t want to be stuck in an office building for the rest of my professional career, I signed a Journalism major.

I later discovered that I wanted to focus more on video production than writing only. Because of this, I finally signed a Broadcast and Cinematic Arts major with a minor in Journalism.

Over the summer of my junior year, I did a multimedia internship at an automotive journalism company located in Farmington Hills, Michigan called Autoline. 

While I was at Autoline, they sent me on two out of state events and I went to multiple in-state events that were hosted by big automotive companies. The crazy part is, they sent me, an intern, to all of these events ALONE.

While I was at these events, I was in charge of interviewing with lead designers, company presidents, and engineers of the vehicles the event was for.

This was the definition of “on-the-job training.” I had limited knowledge of how to produce video content and conduct interviews from my classes at CMU. However, the real learning happened at this internship.

My internship at Autoline is the reason I want my career to be in the video production and media industry. 

This blog is for my Journalism 340 class. I will be posting the projects I create in this class here. I will use the skills and techniques that I acquired at Autoline, as well as my CMU classes to create high-quality projects for Journalism 340.

TEST STORY: Carey Hall is closed for the 2019-2020 academic year due to low enrollment

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By Jackson Hallauer

Central Michigan University has been experiencing a decline in enrollment which has led to the closure of Carey Hall in the Towers residential complex until Fall of 2020.

Last year, CMU announced that enrollment had declined by over 2,000 students from the fall of 2017. Fall 2019 enrollment numbers have not yet been published by the university.

“We did our room sign up in May for incoming students, and we realized that there were only 60 people or less who signed up to live in Carey Hall,” said Assistant Director of Residence Life Kim Voisin.

The shutdown came as a surprise to Voisin and the ResLife staff. In spring, the Office of Residence Life knew there would be fewer students, so they planned to adjust the buildings to accommodate. At first, they planned to close the eighth floor and terrace of multiple towers complexes, however, come May, they realized that simply closing a few floors would not be enough.

“We could’ve opened Carey, but you can’t really build a great community if you only have 12 people living on each floor,” said she.

The closing of Carey Hall has not only made students who signed up to live there have to relocate, but it has also led to a restructuring of ResLife staff in the Towers. Former Residents Hall Director of Carey Hall Bill O’Dell had been in the position for over 5 years.

“My first thought was sadness. I had been a hall director at CMU for 17 years. To know that a decision was being made to temporarily close down one of our buildings, it was hard not to take that personally,” said he.

O’Dell has since left his position at CMU to pursue a career in the Detroit area. He believes that the Carey Hall closure was the perfect point for him to leave his position at CMU without causing much disruption.

Jordan Menard, Residents Assitant, Senior, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was assigned to Carey Hall. She was relocated to Beddow Hall after she had already been moved into Carey.

“My first reaction was panic. I didn’t know if I was going to have a job and I didn’t want to get placed with an RHD or in a community that I didn’t like,” said she.

While Carey Hall is closed, the building will be undergoing renovations. Having the entire academic year to renovate the hall allows the entire building to be repainted, floors retiled, and other improvements to be made without the interference of students.