Pitch One: SJU social justice advocacy campaign 

St. Joseph’s University (SJU) follows the Jesuit mission of “magis” meaning greater. It emphasizes the idea of living greater and advocating for others.  Having written different articles for The Hawk Newspaper regarding organizations on campus that emphasize this message, my goal would be to create an advocacy campaign and catalog showcasing different social advocacy organizations.

I would incorporate some of my previous written articles, such as “Student-led initiative fights for employment rights” and “Spreading hope with SJU HOPE.” Conversations about topics such as advocacy for equal rights, social justice and mental health have always been something I am passionate about and would like to spread more awareness about. I think tying together the Jesuit mission and making a campaign that goes back to these topics would be something that not only interests me, but also stands for something greater than myself.

I will continue to build off of these topics by reaching out to other organizations on campus and conduct interviews, such as the Winter Immersion Program (WIP), BeCivil campaign and the Appalachian Experience (APEX). I would take some of my own photos on a DSLR camera, using my knowledge from a photojournalism class I took sophomore year. Lastly, I will compile all of my content in an InDesign file, where I can put all of my writings, photography and any graphics I design in Canva together, creating a finalized catalog  that can be printed.

While my catalog will be more person/organization focused, this magazine that SJU published during their search for the 28th president, serves as a visual example of what I am aiming to create. 

Here is a link to the Design Book I created in 2021: Final Design Book

Pitch two: Magazine surrounding songs of protest

Music has always been my passion, despite not being musically inclined in the slightest. The art and the message behind music has always piqued my interest and I would use this creative outlet to create a magazine highlighting songs of protest. 

During my senior year of high school I conducted a research paper regarding songs of protest during the Vietnam War era. When I took Civic Media fall of my junior year, I conducted another research paper called “Protest Music through Movements: Music as a form of Civic Media” where I analyzed scholarly articles and drew a connection between the work and a call to action through a civic media lens.

In terms of creating a magazine, I would angle my data and research around different movements (for example the Civil Rights movement) leading up to current day music. I think incorporating my journalism skills and reaching out to some local artists who produce protest music and conducting interviews would be an additional component to add.

Ultimately, the primary goal will be to create a collection of different songs, eras and artists highlighting different time periods and the effect their music had at the time and still today.

Although there will be writing involved, I would use visual components instead of just writing a research paper. I would create my own graphics and layer text and visuals through photoshop. Some inspiration of layout ideas come from  “Culture Vault: Behind the Zine” by Makiah Stephens ’22.

Another example of the visual components I would incorporate into my final product is below: 

An example of how I would visually display words and content within my magazine.

Pitch three: Photo collection of local Philadelphia artists

During my sophomore year, I took photojournalism where we learned about the art of storytelling through a lens, specifically a Canon DSLR camera lens. For this photo collection, I would code a website using my knowledge from Web Design and software like FileZilla 2 and Brackets, as well as using Adobe products to help with photo editing (like Photoshop and Illustrator).

When I took photojournalism, I had the opportunity to go out and take various pictures, establish a portfolio for myself and eventually compose a photo essay of “The Story,” a coffee shop in Ardmore, which I put together in a slideshow presentation.

My favorite story I have ever published was “Hawk Spotlight on: Jazlyne Sabree.” This article was special for me because I loved what Sabree stood for and how her art work, which focused on social justice advocacy, reflected real world events through a creative medium. The subjects of my photography would be other Philadelphia artists similar to Sabree. I would aim to reach out to 10 different artists, go visit them in their work space, talk about their art and take live action shots of them while they work. Since I have a passion for writing, I will conduct and add in an interview with each artist I talk to. People will be able to access the transcript to the interview by clicking on the images of that artist and it will lead them to a sub page.  

Colin M. Lenton Photography website does a good job with visual displays and putting the photographs at the center of everything, I will take inspiration from formats like this.