The International Students

The University of Nebraska Omaha has been welcoming more than 1,700 students over the past 40 years. These students represent 131 countries from different continents around the world including Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and South America.These students are here to pursue a higher education and improve their english skills. With international students population growing, many may wonder what the locals students thoughts and opinions are.

Shay Murph, UNO Sophomore Broadcasting Major students shares her thoughts on International Students. Murph said that she loves seeing international students around campus. Not only that, she also enjoys being around them. Murph feels that you can learn a lot from them through their physical aspect and behaviour. She feels that it is fascinating to see students from around the world practice their culture here in Omaha. She also said that International Student makes people become more open minded.

Overall, International Students from around the globe brings diverse thoughts and cultural aspect to the UNO campus, creating opportunities for meaningful international exchanges and experiences right here in Omaha.

For the UNO School of Communication I’m Benjamin Housh.

Photo Credits: UNO International Students Page on FaceBook, Google Images and Some Taken By Me.

On Monday April 8, 2013, Megan Hunt of Hello Holiday and Princess Lasertron, visited Media Story Telling Class to share about her successful journey of owning a business online.

Hunt started her first own website in her early teen years. Her father brought her and her brother a web space as a gift. This here has sparked Hunt’s interest in learning more on how to run a website.

As time progress, In the year 2005, Hunt developed an online bridal shop called “Princess Lasertron”.  Hunt said that this was her first online business and that she runs her business through doing lot’s of blogging to get people to notice and see what she is doing. The reason that she runs this business through blogging is because she has no budget for advertisements. She also adds that blogging helps her build trust between her and her clients.

Hunt not only developed an online bridal shop, but she also runs another online clothing store known as “Hello Holiday”. “Hello Holiday” was founded last year with her partner Sarah. This was a business that was started by her willingness to take the challenge in running another business. At this online clothing store you can expect to find clothes from many different emerging designers all over the place!! Not only that, “Hello Holiday” also offers things like accessories, purses, and handbags. The profits also goes in to supporting the emerging designers.

Hunt ends by offer tips and advice to students who want or are interested in running a business online in the future. Her first advice is that she encourages students to find their passion and obsession. Having passion and obsession empowers your choice of having a business and owning one. Second is to not lose sight of yourself as you develop your brand, make friends to build connection and overall, find yourself within your success. Lastly, is the importance of building a community and supporting a business that your interested in. She adds that it’s the quality put in to the work that matters, not the quantity of work.

Overall, it was a pleasure and very interesting to listen to someone like Megan Hunt who have lot’s of experience in the online business fields.

You can follow Megan Hunt at:

https://www.facebook.com/ShopHelloHoliday

http://princesslasertron.com/

The closest thing to home for international students studying in the United States is being able to make and eat their favorite food back at home here. Like Samuel Housh, a former UNL student from Thailand, who will be showing how to make his favorite Thai Beef Curry Dish known in Thai as “Massaman Neua”.

When Sam was back in college a couple of years ago, he said that this was one of the dishes that he cooked the most to remind himself of his home and makes him feel a little closer to home. However, the version of this Thai Beef Curry that he cooks, is easier than the traditional version that his mom cooks back at home. The traditional version of making Thai Beef Curry requires a lot of prep time. The curry paste used needs to be made from scratch, which means that the herbs and spice is manually grind in a Mortar and Pestles. The curry paste that Sam will use in this cooking demonstration is pre-made packaged curry paste purchased from the Asian Market.

Being a full time college student did not allow Sam as much time to cook. However, with Asian market available in Omaha, Sam was able to cook his favorite dish easily. The ingredients include 1 can of coconut milk, 1 package of stew meat, chopped onions, potatoes, fish sauce, and a pack of pre-made Massaman curry paste.

The steps in making this dish is very simple and quick. First heat up the pot with 1 can of coconut milk. After the coconut milk starts to boil, add the curry paste into the boiling coconut milk and make sure that the curry paste is completely dissolve in with the coconut milk. Then add about 2 cups of water (Depending on how creamy you want the curry to be, if you want it creamy add more coconut milk, but if you want it less creamy add water). After that just add in the beef and let it cook half way through. Then add in the potatoes, onions and sprinkle fish sauce to the saltiness you want it to be and add some sugar to balance out the flavors. Finally cover the lid on the pot and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. After it’s done simmering, serve with rice and a side of cucumber salad. Enjoy!!

On Monday, March 25 2013, Kyle Benecke of The Omaha World Herald visits media story telling class. On this visit, Benecke shares his experience as a videographer and also offers tips and advice on making a good video story.

Benecke, was a former UNO student who graduated with a degree in broadcasting. His first job was in a television studio at channel 6, where he worked as a person who runs the tape behind the scenes. 

After working for channel 6, Benecke advanced his career by working at Fox 42 for about three years. At Fox 42, Benecke learned a lot on how to make video packages, shoot live, and edit videos. It was here at Fox 42 where he understood the real world of broadcasting. 

Benecke now currently works as a videographer for The Omaha World Herald. Benecke’s job is to post videos up on the Omaha World Herald about events, news, or something that is interesting and people wants to know about. To Benecke, the sooner the video is post, the better as people want to see the news right away and go to the source that has the news up first. 

Benecke was also kind enough to show a couple of videos that he has published on The Omaha World Herald. The most interesting one was about a man who biked to work after the big snow storm in Omaha. Benecke said that he chose to do a story about this man biking to work after a blizzard is because the last thing he wants to shoot a video on is about someone shoveling the snow or who is plowing the snow. To him these stories are boring and is probably covered by most other news agency. Benecke believe that you should try to make a boring topic of story turn in to something interesting. Other video stories that he shared include kids sleighing, house fire and a story about storage wars. 

Benecke then ends by offering some tips and advice. Benecke encourages students and new videographers to learn every aspect of filming, editing and promoting. He believes that understanding these aspects will students and new videographers become success in the media field. 

He also advised that “Natural Sounds” should be included in the video story. The “Natural Sounds” not only enhances the video, but also makes the video not sound so staged or scripted. 

Overall, it was great getting to listen to Benecke share his experiences as a videographer as well as the tips and advice that he has offered. 

On Monday, March 25, 2013, LeAnne Morman of WOWT Channel 6 News, visited Media Story Telling class to offer her tips and advices on making a good video story.

LeAnne Morman is originally from Omaha and has always been interested in news and current events. With Morman’s interest in news and current events, she landed herself in the broadcast field. Her broadcast experience began when she was 16 where she hosted a morning newscast at her High School at Omaha Northwest High School.

After High School, Morman then attended the University of Nebraska At Omaha and graduated in 2006 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

Morman’s professional career in broadcast begin shortly after she graduated from UNO. Morman began working as a photojournalist in the Omaha area.

By 2007, Morman was then hired by WOWT Channel 6 News to work as a backpack journalist. However, as years progress her career advanced and now works as the assignment editor and assistant news director for WOWT Channel 6 News.

In this 50 minute section, Morman highlighted a couple important components in making a good video story. She first highlighted the term “Package”, which is all the important components of making a good story. The “Package” includes the interview (The questions and The answers), track (Voice Over), and the B-Roll (Picture/Voice Over).

Morman then describes that B-Roll is important because it consist of three shots that tells the story, which includes wide, medium and tight. It is also important to take as many picture as possible in order to be able to pick out the best ones. She also further adds that when you film something you should move around, immerse yourself in to the crowd, and most importantly keep your subject in the film/video as natural as possible. She advises that you do not want to have someone looking straight directly at the camera as it can make that person look “creepy”.

Besides mentioning the “package” and the “B-Roll”, Morman also offer tips in the areas of lighting, audio, and organization when making a video story. In terms of lighting, Morman said that lights should be shining on your subject not from behind them. As for audio, having some sort of a natural sound under your story will give viewers/listener the sense of being there in that certain places. Morman believe that this will take a story to the next level. Lastly, organization. Morman suggest to start off a tory with a headline and use a storyboard to tell the story. A good story must have a logically process of beginning, middle and end.

Overall, Morman’s tips and advice were very useful and can definitely help guide students to making a good first video story assignment.

Follow LeAnne Morman on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/LeAnneMorman6

Narrator: (Benjamin Housh) As the international population of students is growing here in Omaha, teachers become more interested in teaching the international students. Like Sharon Ewin, an elementary teacher at Boyd Elementary School, said that she would love to teach the international students for three reasons. One that it’s challenging, two she would love to learn about the different cultures, and three she loves to see local students in a diverse environment.

Sharon Ewin: I’ve been teaching for 41 years and I’ve never really been exposed to teaching International Students. I love learning different things about different cultures and most importantly, I love to see the local students here in Omaha, become more exposed to different and diverse environment. With that said, I really am up to the challenge of teaching International Students. Sounds like fun!!

Narrator: (Benjamin Housh) Ewin further said that although teaching international students may mean dealing with the challenge of language barrier, seeing a student progress trough out  the time is exciting. Not only that, Ewin also feels that as a teacher, she could learn a lot from the students that comes from a different background. And most importantly, she feels that local students can benefit from cultural diversity. Ewin hopes that some day she’ll be able to experience teaching a class full of international students or at least have some international students mixed in with her local students class.

For the UNO School of Communication, I’m Benjamin Housh.

On Monday March 11, 2013, Matt and Ben Tompkins of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment visited Media Story Telling Class. The brothers came to share about their experiences in the radio production as well as offering tips and advice on getting a career in the radio and other media production related fields.

Matt and Ben Tompkins are brothers who both got a degree from UNO. They both are currently working for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. Besides working for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, the brothers also, at the same time, works as an imaging director and imaging editor.

The Tompkins brothers, also host their very own afternoon radio show call “The Matt and Ben Show”. The show is aired from Monday through Friday, 3-8PM, on 93.3FM Twister in Omaha, NE. The Tompkins brothers live radio show is filled with their original songs and skits made by them.

The brothers talked a lot about the things that students should do to be able to get a job offer in the field of media production including radio and t.v.. The most important thing that the brother seem to stress is having a variety of experiences and skills. They believe that in this type of field of career, no one is going to hand you the opportunity. You as a students, have to show these entertainment or production company that you have the skills and lots of experience before hand for them to consider employing you.

The brothers then end by suggesting to us that it is best to start early in building connections and networks through internships. The brothers believe that internships looks great on the resume and will definitely give you the advantages when it comes to acquiring a job in this field. The brothers also said that you should keep all the works the you have done throughout your college years that’s related to this field of career. These works can include writings from journalism classes, projects from T.V./Radio production classes as well as the blogs created in Media Story Telling class. All of these work are great stuff to show to the future employers.

Overall, it was really fun and interesting to listen to what the brothers have to say. They also gave us students great tips and advice on successfully getting a job in the media production fields.

Visit them on Myspace or follow them on Twitter!!

http://www.myspace.com/mattandbenshow

Narrator (Benjamin Housh): Many may wonder what it is and why is it that out of all the States in America, Some International Students chooses to come to Nebraska for college. Wether it’s at UNL or here at UNO. Many would think that International Students would prefer to go somewhere a little more exciting like California, Texas, Florida, or New York City.  No offense to Nebraska, but most International Students who are here, likely comes across the question Where is Nebraska and Why Nebraska? from their families and friends when they’re back in their home country. Like Samuel Joseph Housh, a Thai-American International student from Bangkok, Thailand.

Samuel Joseph Housh: Well first of all, one of the reason why I’ve chosen to come to Nebraska and attend UNL is because my dad is an alumni there. However, I do agree that when my friends and families back in Thailand ask me where I’m going to college and I tell them Lincoln, Nebraska, They’ll have no Idea where that is. Whereas, if I tell them, say like I was going to college in New York City or California they would know right away where that is. And I think the reason for that is because from my past experience of being in an International School back in Thailand, most students would choose to go to a college in a well-known area like in the West Coast or East Coast, but not so much in the Midwest area.

Narrator (Benjamin Housh): Housh further said that Although Nebraska is not as well-known as other states, he feels that Nebraska is a good starting place for people who’ve never attended college in the United States before. The reason he says that is because to him, Nebraska is a very laid back place, people are really nice and is not as hectic as other places. This was also why Housh chose to start off his college career here in Nebraska besides the fact that his Father was a alumni at UNL. He also believes that Nebraska is a good transitioning place for International Students to experience before they decided to move to another states with a bigger city feel. Likewise, Housh was one of those students who attended UNL for a year, but then moved to New York City for the rest of his college years. Housh ends by advising that, those International Students who likes to be in a place with a laid back feel, not as hectic, and likes to be in a suburb type of place, then Nebraska is great place for college.

Narrator (Benjamin Housh): For the UNO School of Communication, I’m Benjamin Housh.

On Monday, March 4, 2013, Ben Bohall from KVNO News visited Media Story Telling Class to share his experience of working in the radio production. Bohall, in this 50 minute section also provides tips and advice on developing a good audio story.

Ben Bohall’s career in radio production started back when he was in HighSchool, where he became a host for a school show call “Jazz in Studio One.” It was this that has sparked his interest and enjoyment in radio production. However, when it was time for him to go to college, Bohall didn’t want to major in radio for the reason that people told him that he won’t make as much money for a living in this field of study.

When Bohall was in college, he needed an internship to fulfill his requirements. He then found himself interning for KVNO Radio. When Bohall got this internship, he was assigned to do news.   On his first day of the job, Bohall went live on the radio. This was the day that everything went wrong for him. Bohall had no clue what to do or how to get things right on the first day that he went on live. He said that he wanted to cry and never come back again. Although he felt like giving up at first, Bohall came back because he didn’t want to throw away the chance that his boss gave him. Bohall, then worked his way up from there.

After college, Bohall got himself a job at NETV. At this job, Bohall’s first assigned story that he had to cover was about domestic violence. To him this was the most challenging type of story to cover. However, Bohall went in and give a shot. The first story he covered regarding domestic violence topic, was about a women facing domestic violence who needed help. Bohall, further said that his goal for this story was to help other women out there who are facing a similar situations.

Another story that Bohall covered, was about “Eco-Conscious Burials”, which is a story about burying dead bodies naturally without cremation.

Bohall then ends by offering advice on how to write scripts for radio production. Bohall said that when writing a script, you should get straight to the point. When it comes to sound bites, your writing should be understandable and a good sound bite can be rely on the quality of sound. The key rule that Bohall talked about was that in radio news writing, you should write it so that an 8th grader can understand it.

When it comes to interviewing a person, Bohall said that you should do some research on the topic and know what you’re talking about. This will help the person you’re interviewing become and feel more comfortable. This will also make the person that you are interviewing feel that you really want to hear about what they have to say.

Lastly, Bohall said you don’t need a fancy equipment to get good sound quality. The most important thing is to play around with your equipment and get use to it. He further said that you should use an equipment that you feel most comfortable with.

Overall it was really great to hear about Ben Bohall’s career in radio production, as well as his tips and advice on writing a good radio news script and developing a good radio story.

The UNO Omaha International Cultural Fair is an event organize by The International Student Services department and the Director, Natalie Hatfield.  This event took place on Thursday, February 28, 2013 at the Milo Bail Student Center, Nebraska Room. The event started at 11:00Am and ended around  2:00Pm. This event is not only for International students, but all students at UNO are encourage and are more than welcome to attend. Free food and drinks was also provided as well as door prizes. In this event, International Students from all over the world gets the chance to share to other people about their country and cultural backgrounds. Some of the country’s that set up a booth in this event included India, Yemen, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Oman, Mongolia, Spain, France, Ecuador, Brazil, Iran, China, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. In each of these booth, students representing each country brings all kinds of souvenirs, pamphlets, brochures, and items that represent their country. Some booths even brought traditional snacks and food for guess to sample. Not only that, each students are also dressed up in their country’s traditional clothing, which was really fun and interesting to watch. Through this photo story, you’ll see a variety of  different nationality of students from all over the world that has been attending UNO.

Welcome to UNO’s Omaha International Cultural Fair 2013.

The first booth is India!! All the Indian students representing their booth are dressed up in their traditional clothes. They also have different examples of different types of clothe that they wear back in India. Very interesting!!

This booth is the country Yemen. The student representing the booth is also in his country’s traditional clothes. In this booth, additional sorts of souvenirs that represented the country were shown. Not only that, there were posters and video documentary on the laptop for guest to look at and learn about Yemen.

This is the Afghanistan booth. Again the student representing this booth was in her country’s traditional clothing. The booth provided guess with different Items that represented their country. It was also interesting to find out that this girl, representing the booth has lived in Omaha since 1990!!

This booth represents Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. This booth was one if the booth that provided the most variety souvenirs and items that represented their country including their currency, clothes, and their country’s brochure.

Now this booth represents Oman. In this booth, like others, provided different types of souvenirs and items that represented their country.

This booth was very interesting and it represented the country Mongolia. Who would’ve of thought that someone from Mongolia would come all the way to Omaha for college!! This booth provided guess with lost of informative pictures and brochures about their country as well souvenirs from their country.

This booth represented Spain!! As can be seen this booth also provided guess with lots of items and souvenirs that represented their country.

This booth was one of the popular booth and it represented France. The two French girls brought samples of snacks that represented their country for guess to sample, which included sweet and savory snacks.

This booth represented Ecuador. This booth provided with lots of books, pamphlets, magazines/newspapers and postcards from Ecuador for guess to have a look at.

These are some more of the booth that was in the event, which included Brazil, Iran, and China.

Here is also some more of the booth that was in the invent, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Korea (In the South Korean booth, if you wanted to know how to write your name or anything in Korean, the host of the booth will show you!! Which was really interesting.)

UNO Omaha International Community has surely grown!!

UNO Omaha’s International Cultural Fair has shown that the International Community here at UNO has been growing. More and more students from all over the world are choosing to attend UNO for college, which is a great thing because International Students brings cultural diversity to the college. With this, UNO Omaha, one day, will surely become well-known internationally.

If you are interested in attending events like this, Log on to UNO’s International Studies website to find out more about the upcoming International Events.

http://world.unomaha.edu/