GOSHEN — Like many of her classmates in Goshen College’s communication department, Maria Bischoff has put in long hours for little pay.
She’s spent more days and nights in the 91.1 The Globe’s radio studio than she can count and endless hours editing photos for the college’s newspaper, The Record.
“There’s a lot that goes into all of this,” Bischoff said of the college’s communications department and the four extracurricular opportunities for students interested in newspaper, video production, radio or television media. “I think it’s a well-rounded program and students have a chance to dabble in every kind of media imaginable.”
On Saturday, Bischoff will graduate from Goshen College with a degree in broadcast and communication.
In recent years, with the addition of video production company FiveCore Media and the expansion of existing media programs, Goshen College students and staff have created a media education niche typically reserved for larger colleges and universities.
The communication department, which includes courses such as introduction to radio, digital media production, animation and digital design as well as media law and ethics and writing, has long been a core program at Goshen College, officials said.
In 1938, the speech department was first listed separately from the English department in the Goshen College catalog, according to Joe Springer, curator of the Mennonite Historical Library at the college.
The speech department was renamed the communication department in the fall of 1972, Springer said.
Today’s enrollment in the communication department includes approximately 50 to 60 students, but more than 100 others contribute to one of the department’s media enterprises — The Record, The Globe, The Correspondent and FiveCore Media — said Professor of Communication and The Record adviser Duane Stoltzfus.
Students are encouraged to participate in a blend of radio, broadcasting, film and writing to help determine which form of media best meets their interests, he said.
“The success of our program is dependent on students whose default response to life’s opportunities is ‘yes,’” Stoltzfus said.
Media evolution
Course offerings and extracurricular opportunities for Goshen College students have changed over time as the media landscape continues to evolve, Stoltzfus said.
“After decades of publishing a yearbook, we recently put our Goshen College annual, the Maple Leaf, to rest,” Stoltzfus said. “... At the same time, sensing a growing interest in visual communication, we added a film production major and a video production unit, FiveCore Media, which has been much in demand.”
FiveCore Media was created in 2011 as a way to offer visual media and film students an outlet to practice what they were learning in the classroom, said Kyle Hufford, assistant professor of communication and FiveCore Media general manager.
“Just like the radio station is an avenue for radio students to practice and get that hands-on experience, FiveCore is that for our video production and film students,” Hufford explained.
In the five years since its inception, FiveCore has created projects for clients such as the Good of Goshen, IU Health Goshen College, United Way of Elkhart County, the Boys and Girls Club of Elkhart County, Horizon Education Alliance and the Goshen Parks and Recreation Department, Hufford said.
Working with real, paying clients helps get students off campus and yanks them from their comfort zone, he added.
“Over the course of their years here, you really do see them become more comfortable working with clients,” Hufford said. “They’re learning not only the technical production side of things, but also how to deal with clients, how to plan for a job, how to quite a job and how to deal with forks in the road when things fall through.”
The radio aspect of Goshen’s communication department has also continued to grow, said Jason Samuel, assistant professor of communication and The Globe general manager.
Samuel, a graduate of Goshen College, spent 10 years in commercial radio before returning to his alma mater in 2003 to teach.
When he returned, 91.1 The Globe was playing classical music and the format needed an update, Samuel explained.
“We made some significant changes,” he said. “We wanted a format and a culture of excellence that mimicked the commercial standards as they relate to what students would face in the job market.”
Samuel said he wanted to provide a program that would teach students what they need to be a resource during internships and not a burden, and where the community would think of Goshen College media students as a commodity.
Today, 91.1 The Globe varies year to year depending on students’ interest and strengths, Samuel said.
“It’s student ideas, a student initiative, student talent and student creativity,” he said.
'Real World' work
For students like junior Dalton Shetler, having access to a variety of “real world” opportunities while still in college is invaluable.
“I think one of the great things about the college is the ability to play around with different types of media and experiment to find your passion,” Shelter said.
Shelter entered the department with an interest in sports that lead to his current role as the sports director for 91.1 The Globe and sports producer and anchor for The Correspondent, also called GCTV. He recently received a first place award for radio sportcast from the Indiana Association of School Broadcasters.
Shetler’s classmate Jordan Waidelich said she also appreciates the opportunity she’s been given to spread her wings.
Waidelich, a junior, serves on The Record’s staff as the perspectives page editor and staff writer. In the fall, she’ll take on the newspaper’s lead responsibility as editor-in-chief.
“I think part of the success we’ve had is because of the high expectations everyone has for us. The Record has been winning awards for years and there’s a lot of pride in that. You don’t want to be the one to mess it up,” she said.
Senior Victor Garcia currently serves as the student station manager for The Globe and has worked as an on-air personality and host of the show “Afternoon Drive” for several years.
He recently received first place for radio news report, second place for radio imaging and radio newscast and third place for radio in-depth during the 2016 Indiana Association of School Broadcasters’ college competition.
While he’s proud of those accomplishments, and the many others his classmates and the college’s communication program have received, Garcia said he’s also thankful for the exposure he’s had as a student.
“The college has done a great job of supporting us, but also creating opportunities for us to go out into the community and get that experience,” he said.
Accolades & Awards
Their hard work has not gone unnoticed.
In recent years, the media programs have earned high marks at state and national competitions where students’ work stood out among their peers from other colleges and universities as well as professional media groups.
“They are students, but the work they are doing is not only winning student awards, but also professional awards,” Hufford said. “They’re in competition not only against their peers, but also veterans who have been seasoned in the industry for a while.”
Last week, The Record was named 2016 Newspaper of the Year by the Indiana Collegiate Press Association and in March, The Globe was nominated for 12 national awards including Best College Station in the Nation by the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System.
The Globe has been named Best College Station in the Nation twice — the first time in 2011 and again in 2013. The Globe also recently received the 2016 Indiana Radio School of the Year award from the Indiana Association of School Broadcasters for the fourth time in five years.
The combined efforts of FiveCore Media and The Correspondent resulted in Goshen College being named the 2016 runner up for the Indiana Television School of the Year, a title students have won four times in six years.
Over the course of the last few years, The Correspondent and FiveCore Media have also received nine bronze Telly Awards and one silver Telly Award. The silver Telly is the highest distinction for the national competition designed to honor commercials, video, film productions and work created for the web by professional advertising companies.
FiveCore Media also received a bronze ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation of Michiana for their worth with the Good of Goshen campaign.
Students involved with the four media production groups have also won a slew of individual awards at the state and national level, Stoltzfus said.
For these awards, students are often competing against their peers from Indiana college and universities — such as Ball State University, Butler University, the University of Indianapolis, Indiana Wesleyan University and Taylor University — with much larger broadcasting programs, Stoltzfus explained.
“Winning never gets old, but it never gets easy either,” Samuel said. “We have a formula that helps to foster and breed this success and when students are recognized for their achievements, it reinforces the culture that’s been established here.”
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