The new farmer’s market that debuted on campus on May 7th, has been carefully strategized to provide students healthy, affordable food options on campus. My group and I decided to take on this project with a different approach, where we tackled the issue of food insecurity on campus while simultaneously holding on to the fun, lighthearted aspect of a farmer’s market through the video component.
Initially, we struggled to find an angle. A spot story on the farmer’s market was done by Mustang News the week before, where the basic information about the farmer’s market was given. We knew we needed a different approach if we wanted to do the story, so we began coming up with ideas as a team. We researched many stories done about the local farmer’s market, hoping to find a creative, different and engaging way to do it. At first, we wanted to do a feature on the vendors and do a behind the scene “follow the produce from farm to market.” We were not able to get in touch with Christine Nelson, the advisor and one of the founders of the market, because she was out of town until June 3rd, and therefore were not able to reach out to vendors in time. We therefore had to adjust our angle by talking to different people who were involved with the market, who started to introduce the deeper reasoning behind the market – food insecurity.
“Writing this story was definitely more of a challenge to me because there were so many different angles I wanted to take and incorporate,” journalism senior Megan Day said. “I learned a lot in interviews and I feel confident with my skills going forward post graduation.”
By tackling food insecurity, an issue that is relevant and important to many students on campus, we were able to dive deeper into the real purpose of the market. They hope to provide more healthy and affordable food options to students. Eventually, they hope to “allow students who receive federal aid from programs like SNAP at the market” and to allow “Students who quality for SNAP the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the Food Stamps Program will be able to use their aid right on campus.” (Written article)
The interactive component aimed to showcase how the prices compared to the downtown farmer’s market, as well as local grocery store’s. We wanted the article to be informational and useful to students deciding on whether or not they would like to attend.
We wanted the video to be more light-hearted and fun, to showcase the atmosphere of the market. In our video, Daniel Sanchez was out on the field doing a student vs. vendor competition to questions regarding the produce sold. We spent two hours at the market as a team gathering different points of views and interviewing the organizers and the vendors. We were all very involved and present throughout the entirety of the event, and it allowed for our final product to be cohesive and complete.
“I had a lot of fun. The vendors were all super nice and sweet and my team rocks! We were all out there learning on the fly and making adjustments and stuff,” Journalism senior Daniel Sanchez said. “My favorite group I’ve ever been a part of.”
Our team dynamic was extremely positive. We worked together effectively and helped each other out in various ways.
“This was one of my favorite stories to work on! Our group was just having such a great time together. Taking photos for stories is my favorite part , so this time around I was in my happy place,” journalism senior Summer Santangelo said.