Memo/Extended and Final One Page Paper

The class started with talking about the First Amendment and quickly progressed to the online world of journalism.  By the end of the semester we had our own news story with our own multimedia packages.  We used all the different sites we talked about in class and the high-tech flip cams to film different elements of our story.  We used Bill Blundell’s six elements to make sure we had the story part of it and a lot of patience and hard work to make sure we had the technological part of it.  If I did anything differently it would probably be just to get it down quicker so I had more time to play around with kaltura and the online world of editing, because there are so many sites out there.  I researched my community, interviewed friends and peers of the girls, teachers, and police officers.  I did a little deeper digging, got my hands dirty and learned in the process.  I learned how to get the stuff I wanted and make a story about it that would trigger emotion.  My story is an emotional story I just had to evoke it out of the audience, and have them be attached to the teenage victims in my story instead of detached.  Altogether Mo Krochmal has taught me a lot throughout the course and I am very glad this semester I have immersed myself with the ever-growing and expanding world that is now and the future, online journalism. 

My Story in print-Garden City Teen Tragedies

December 3, 2007

JRNL 80 2B

Mo Krochmal

Garden City Teen Tragedies

By Christina Pashayan

Teddy Bears, flowers, pictures, and posters adorn the three spots were the four Garden City teens lost their lives.  This December marks four years since most of the girls have tragically died.  The accidents have not only made the holidays a bitter time for many families, but have significantly changed a community. 

No one can ever forget the girls, but with the long lengths of time past it is important to remind the community of Michelle Thompson, Alison Reily, Christina Caroleo, and Jackie Vincent as well as teach the youth to always consider the consequences of their actions.

The accidents started on December 19^th, 2003 with Michelle Thompson, a Garden City High School freshman, who was killed when she got hit by a car while crossing Rockaway Avenue with friend Alyssa Parizek. Thompson and Parizek were leaving a party and were said to be intoxicated.  Thompson’s sister said, “It feels like something’s missing.  It’s going to be hard.”

Alison Reily attended the wake of Thompson and the next day was killed herself.  She got into a car accident on December 23 where the driver Omar Afzal, was under the influence of drugs.  Instead of celebrating her sweet 16, Alison Reily was buried on her birthday.  About a month later, Christina Caroleo, who was also in the car succumbed to her injuries and died on January 26, 2004. 

These accidents left a void in a community.  Principal John Okuski when asked for comment said, “When something like this happens, its tragic…I commiserate with my students.  There’s no explanation for that.  It breaks my heart because they are so young.  They had so much to live and give.”

Three years after Michelle, Alison, and Christina died; the Garden City High School lost another precious student, Jackie Vincent.  Jackie got electrocuted on June 22, 2007 while taking a deadly shortcut across the rail road tracks.  She came into contact with the third rail when she tripped and fell.  When asked Garden City High School senior if Jackie was drunk Alexandra Nicolosi’s response was, “I wasn’t there, but I can say her friends that were there that night said she was drunk.”

These deaths not only affected a few family members and friends, it affected a whole community.  Garden City is still healing emotionally from the accidents.  No one can be blamed for the deaths, not parents, not the media, or teachers, they are just tragic accidents that the police are trying to end. 

A Lieutenant from the Garden City Police Department stated, “We have aggressive programs to stop DWI and teen drinking.”  Hopefully these programs will stop the teen deaths.  Although, no matter how many programs are enforced and how effective they are they will never be able to get Michelle, Alison, Christina, and Jackie back. 

Tragedy Strikes Garden City

Michelle Thompson is hit by a car and dies

Christina Caroleo succumbed to injuries.

Afzal is sentenced at a Mineola Court with 2-6 yrs

December 19, 2003

January 26, 2004

February 23, 2005

December 23, 2003

June 29, 2004

June 22, 2007

Fatal car accident kills Ali Reilly..

Omar Syed Afzal is arrested for manslaughter

Jackie Vincent dies after taking fatal shortcut.

Difficulties

Everything with technology!  I tried to conquer Kaltura.  It was hard for me to take an emotional story to me and report on it.  These girls were not my best freinds, but I knew them well.  I have memories of jumping on my trampoline with Christina, sitting at my lunch table freshman year with Ali, and having a few conversations with Jackie when she was over hanging out with my little sister.  I had to wipe my tears and try to look at the story from a detached point of view.  When I tried interviewing my little sister, to tell me a few things about Jackie she started crying.  That’s when I put away my flip cam and was a sister, not a reporter.  I learned how hard it was to report on emotional stories, especially when they effect me.  That is why, when I did interviews I stayed clear from the parents and the siblings and tried to reach out to other members of the community. 

My Script

JRNL 80 2B

December 17, 2007

Mo Krochmal

Script

By Christina Pashayan

Edited by Jacqueline Hlavenka

Here’s my script, it starts after Michelle Thompson is shown.

Alison Reily died a few days later on December 23, the day after she went to Michelle’s wake.  Drive Omar Afzal, 18, of Mineola, crashed into her car while under the influence of drugs.  He was later arrested for manslaughter.

Christina Caroleo, 16, was in the backseat with Alison, and suffered severe injuries.  She was taken to Winthrop Hospital in Mineola. 

Jackie Vincent, 16, died three years later on June 22, 2007 after taking a fatal shortcut.  Jackie crossed the railroad tracks after a post-prom party and tripped and fell on the third rail.

These girls were not given a chance to grow up, graduate from high school or college, get married or have kids.

After, MTA officials built a fence where Jackie got electrocuted.  The Nassau County Police Department took part in aggressive programs for teen drinking. 

Stepping out of my comfort zone

The project in Journalism 80 made me step out of my comfort zone.  I am comfortable with a pen and paper, but when it came to the web I wasn’t so comfortable.  Especially with making media files, using the flip cams and different websites to turn our stories into video.

Honda goes Hydro

Like the Toyota Prius the new Honda is going green!  This car uses hydrogen and emits, not carbon dioxide and other hazardous ozone depleting gases, but water!  Currently there are 20 of these cars in the US and 7 in Japan.  Hopefully they will catch on like the prius did with celebrites, and they will be all over with numerous hydrogen refuel centers across the United States.