Introducing: Paula Ninataype

Hello fellow classmates and Professor Josephson,

I am so excited to be a part of this class with all of you this semester. My name is Paula Ninataype. This is my senior year at Weber State, if all goes as planned I'll be finishing up in Spring 2018. I am currently a double major in Public Relations & Advertising as well as in Spanish. I am hoping that once I am a professional in my fiel I will be able to help Latin American businesses strengthen their image in United States as they grow their business. This idea came from a short visit with a PR professional I met when I was in Washington D.C. this summer.

This summer I had the privilege of going to Washington D.C. for the National Association of Black Journalist & National Association of Hispanic Journalist National Convention. At the convention we got news that the new NAHJ student chapter at Weber had been approved. It actually is now the first NAHJ chapter in all of Utah. I was elected to be the first NAHJ president of this new chapter on campus. I am super excited for this new responsibility. For the past two semesters I have also been the Spanish section editor for The Signpost which has been a lot of fun.

My passion for Communications is pretty recent. When I first started at Weber State I was a declared a Psychology major, I had always had a passion for helping people and wanted to see what I could do to help people who were troubled in some way. At that time I was working at a law firm and chose to change my major to Political Science. I remained a Political Science major for the next 4 semesters.

In December 2012 I left school to serve an LDS mission for 18 months in Texas. I learned a lot during those 18 months and with my continued desire to help people I realized the value of communications. I returned home in June 2014 to find myself taking all Communications courses and finally switching my major. Honestly, I feel that majoring in communications was one of the best decisions I've made.

I have a lot of passion still for helping others. It's a characteristic my parents taught me. My parents are both from Peru and they are always finding opportunities to help others. Though we don't have much monetarily there is a lot more to give than that. I am grateful that they taught me that since I was really young. My mom and dad always taught my three siblings and I to give what we had to those in need.

Since the time I was 18 I was a volunteer cub scout leader. I did that up until I was 21. No one forced me to continue I just chose to do so. To help the kids in my Ogden community was enough of a reward for me. Now, years later I see the kids I taught as cub scouts and it is amazing to see how much they have grown, not just grown in age or size but in character also, that is my reward.

Now living in Syracuse I have had an opportunity to work closely with young women ages 12 to 18 at my church. I have been able to teach them in a religious way but because I am closer to their age than the other leaders I have been able to talk to them about the importance of a college education and much more. The rewards of helping others don't always come in a material way. Most often they come after time.

Introduction: John Keeffer

Introduction: John Keeffer

Hello Everyone!
My name is John Keeffer and I am a Junior at Weber State University. When I first started at Weber I knew that I wanted to go into Secondary Education to teach High School, and the subject I had always wanted to teach was English. Once I started taking the English classes, I realized pretty quickly that that wasn't what I wanted. English was always my favorite submit growing up, but what I really enjoyed was the writing. Specifically writing my own thoughts and opinions. With that being the case I was encouraged to get into Communication Teaching with an emphasis in Journalism. So far, I have not regretted it.
My main dream in life would be to get into Sports Journalism. I love all things sports. Especially basketball and football. My whole life I dreamed of making it to the NBA, but like most 5'10 white guys, that plan didn't exactly pan out. While I still love playing, I found that I also love writing about sports and sharing my takes and views on certain aspects of the game. Last year I started a sports blog where I focus primarily on writing about the NBA, the Utah Jazz, and Fantasy Football.
I was born in Martinsburg, WV, because my Dad was in the Air Force, but have lived in Utah ever since I was seven when her retired. I am the youngest of eight kids and love coming from a big family. I served a two year LDS Mission in the Washington DC South Mission when I was 19, and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Pretty soon after returning home I might my now wife, Courtney. We were both singing in the Institute Choir and were running track for Weber State. We live in North Ogden with our nine month old puppy Sherlock, and have our first baby coming early December.

Introduction:  Rachel Ploharz

Hello everyone,

My name is Rachel Ploharz. I am a senior at Weber State pursing a degree in English Teaching, minoring in Multimedia Journalism Teaching.  I aspire to be the fun, yet strict, high school English teacher every student hates, but secretly thanks every time they are required to write anything later on in life. In high school, I was an editor for our literature magazine titled, “unlocked” and enjoyed my time there immensely, which is why I chose to minor in Communications.

I have always wanted to become a teacher, in fact, I can’t remember a time I didn’t want to teach. When I was five years old, my parents gave me a rubber stamp collection, which I promptly used to assign all my stuffed toys, siblings and the family dog writing assignments which I could stamp my approval on.

In addition to being a full time student at WSU this semester, I am also planning my wedding, which will take place this upcoming spring. I have wonderful 8-year-old step son named Keagan, whom I am in the process of legally adopting as my own. We have a dog named Chester, who is entirely too smart for his own good. In fact, this summer my fiancé, Greg, and I built a tree house for Keagan to play in, and Chester was so jealous that in one day he taught himself to climb the 10 ft. ladder so he could join in the fun. However, both my son and the dog, have yet to figure out how to get the dog down of the tree house once he is up there.

As a family we enjoy traveling and camping. I guess I should say glamping, or glamour-camping, as we have a pop-up camper with solar powered lights, heaters, air conditioning, water heater, and pump that we take on every adventure. This summer we went every other weekend, and explored a lot of Utah’s national forests and parks. My favorite trip this summer involved a snow ball fight on the fourth of July. We traveled far enough into the Unitas that we were able to find a few patches of snow. 

This semester I am taking quite a few communication classes that will push me out of my comfort zone, such as News Reporting, and Digital Media that requires a lot of talking with strangers and heavy AP styled editing. As an English Major I am very familiar with MLA style, but AP still feels a little foreign to write in. So I am looking forward to struggling through the style change and improving my writing this semester through this class; although I must confess I am very grateful I can do it from inside my comfort zone, here in my bed while Chester snores at my feet and Keagan and Greg outside unpacking the trailer from last weeks adventure.

Welcome to Comm. 3220 Editing

I hope this class will help you become the best writer and editor you can be whether your writing will appear online, on paper or on the air. As the textbook points out, it is more important than ever to know how to communicate crisply, clearly and powerfully in the dynamic, evolving, cross-platform, multimedia environment in which today's writers function.  

In this class, we will review some of the basics, plus focus on grammar and style rules you may have never understood or even thought about. I know you'll be a better writer and editor at the end if you put some time and attention toward this class. I promise a fun and educational experience.

To help you through the class, I will post modules complete with a weekly to-do list every Monday at 8 a.m. You will have until midnight Sunday to complete your work for the week. I have supplemented materials with narrated PowerPoint slides. I hope you will listen and learn. I also commit to three in-person test reviews so mark your calendars and try to attend. It's not required, but you'll likely do better on the tests if you attend. 

Even though this is an online class, I am also willing to answer your questions in person. As you may know, I am chair of the Department of Communication at Weber State so I am in my office Monday through Thursday and often on Fridays. The best way to reach me is through email. Occasionally, I take a weekend off from email so make sure you get your questions answered by Friday afternoon. 

If you encounter any issues with something in Canvas, please let me know right away so I can fix the problem for everyone, but I am usually pretty careful. Read the syllabus carefully so that you understand the plan for the semester. Take a look at how I have things organized in Canvas, but your best bet is to use Modules so you can see the weekly to-do list. Items are generally located in multiple places. 

Thank you for taking my class and here's a little about me.

Before coming to teach at Weber State University 22 years ago, I worked for 18 years as a print journalist. I worked for three daily newspapers—the Standard-Examiner, The Herald Journal and the Colorado Springs Sun—two different times each. A few of the job titles I held were reporter, news editor, assistant city editor, graphics editor and weekend editor. I also taught briefly at the University of Utah and in Westminster College’s graduate program. At WSU, I primarily teach classes required in the journalism and public relations concentrations. I also teach in the Honors Department and advised the student newspaper, The Signpost, for six years. I served as the first director of the new Master of Professional Communication program for two years. Two years ago I was named chair of the Department of Communication. Since becoming a college professor, I have taken frequent jobs as a freelance editor. I have published one book (“Visualizing Web Design”), edited a book about Hot Rod Hundley, numerous websites for high-tech clients, news releases and media packets for public relations firms, and print advertisements. A part of my life is also spent as a communication researcher. I have published a number of academic journal articles and book chapters since coming to WSU. I consider editing my strength and am always excited to teach this class.