About: The students covering #NLAinNOLA
About this project:
Our team is a select group of Ball State University journalism students, led by Professor Juli Metzger. This is the seventh consecutive year Ball State students have traveled to cover the News Leadership Conference, receiving experience and mentorship while reporting the conference highlights.
All the content in this blog can also be found at https://newsleadersnola2019.wordpress.com/
Juli Metzger, Juli Metzger is an Associate Lecturer with the Department of Journalism and teaches courses ranging from the Introduction to Storytelling to Feature Writing, Opinion Writing and Entrepreneurial Media, as well as the department’s capstone course, Advanced Writing and Reporting. Over a 25-year career with the Gannett Company, she was editor of three newspapers and publisher of three others. She has worked in nine newsrooms in four states. She is a former Gannett Editor of the Year and formerly was the Executive Editor for Digital at the Indianapolis Star. Metzger is board vice president of Project Leadership, a mentoring nonprofit that gets students to and through college or onto other post-secondary education and serves on the board of the Indiana Youth Institute. She served on the the national Associated Press Media Editors Board of Directors. She formerly is a Fellow for the Entrepreneurial Institute at Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. In 2017, she was awarded Ball State's Immersive Learning Faculty Award for her work with students on "Unmasked: The Stigma of meth," a multimedia, multiplatform immersion class examining drug addiction in Delaware County. The work went on to win the Innovation of the Year award from the Associated Press Media Editors. Metzger is the 2019 Hoosier State Press Association Mentor of the Eugene S. Pulliam Interns. You can reach Juli at jmetzger@bsu.edu.
Bailey Cline is a senior journalism and telecommunications major with a minor in creative writing at Ball State University. This spring, she took photos and wrote the lead story for the Unmasked: Recovery and Redemption magazine, a publication created to bring awareness to the addiction and recovery community. Bailey has worked as a stringer reporter for a few of her hometown newspapers in Blackford County, Indiana, and she previously worked for the Bloomington Indiana Daily Student in fall 2016 as the administration and technology beat reporter. When she is not working, Bailey enjoys playing games and spending time with her family, dog and significant other. You can reach Bailey on Twitter @BaileyCline or via email at bacline@bsu.edu.
Mary Eber is a senior majoring in journalism and telecommunications and minoring in travel and tourism at Ball State University. She’s a reporter and producer for NewsLink Indiana, Ball State’s student ran broadcast news organization. Mary’s also a videographer for the Ball State Daily News and Lowery’s Home Made Candies in Muncie, Indiana. She served as the secretary of the Society of Professional Journalists and helped with an outreach program to educate grade school kids on media literacy. Mary’s also served as the event coordinator of the Frog Baby Film Festival for the past three years. Over the summer, she worked as a videographer and ran social media for The City of Fort Wayne’s Open Streets event. She’s also a former reporting intern at WANE-15 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. You can reach Mary on Twitter @maryebernews or via email maryebernews@gmail.com.
Annelise Hanshaw is a senior studying magazine journalism with a minor in interior design. She enjoys writing news features as well as exploring niche subjects. Early this year, Annelise wrote about interior design, local events, trends and product picks during her internship with Greenspring Media in Minneapolis. She braved the Minnesota winter and is ready to head South for the NLA Conference. Her work at Ball State includes writing for the Ball State Daily News as well as Ball Bearings Magazine. Annelise held the position as art director for Ball Bearings her sophomore and junior year. She has received many awards for her designs and was a finalist for the Associated Collegiate Press’s 2018 Design of the Year. Now, she is the lifestyle editor for Ball Bearings. You can reach her at AnneliseHanshaw@gmail.com or visit her website, joyrnalism.com.
Eric Pritchett is a senior a photojournalism major and scuba minor at Ball State University. Throughout his time at BSU Eric has been a part of student media and is the Photo Editor for the Ball State Daily News. His is an active member of the National Press Photographers Association holding a role as president and vice-president of the Ball State Chapter in the last two years. Eric is also on the new national student board of NPPA. He was a director of photography for a documentary covering the merger between Ball State and the local school system that can be found at http://munciewhyitmatters.com/. You can reach Eric at empritchett@bsu.edu or on his website http://ericpritchett.com/.
Rohith Rao is a senior journalism major with a minor in French at Ball State University. Rohith enjoys writing news and feature stories. Rohith has previously served as the summer editor-in-chief for The Ball State Daily News and currently serves as its news editor. He was also a reporter and junior executive board member of Ball Bearings magazine. In 2019, Rohith founded the Ball State chapter for the Asian American Journalists Association. You can reach Rohith on Twitter @RaoReports or via email at rprao@bsu.edu.
