My Reflection on my Valentine’s Day story

Out of all of the assignments that I’ve covered so far for this class, this one was my favorite to report on.  It was just a very nice feel-good type of story that I believe people would enjoy hearing amidst all of the sad stories we have out tin the media today. Once in a while it is nice to hear of stories like this one that can lift your spirits.

I reported on the Valentine’s Day event at the Carter Burden/ Leonard Covello Senior Center, where a group of kindergartners from a school nearby visited the center and handed out their handmade cards to the seniors. It was nice to see the kindergartners from St. Ann school arrive at the senior center, and the looks on the seniors’ faces as they came in. I can tell that they were very happy to see the kids come in and see them for Valentine’s Day. It was so adorable the kids started out by reciting a poem to the seniors, asking if they would like to be their Valentine’s.

I think I did well on this story with what I had to work with. It was especially helpful to have a public relations person at the event; she was able to give me a press release of the event so that helped me get a little more background on the event and what was happening. One thing I should’ve add to my story is of course a quote from a senior. I was able to talk with a teacher so that was nice. I also spoke to the director of volunteer services, Holly Hedemark, of the Carter Burden Network. She was responsible for putting this event together. I was surprised to not see this story on the website; I thought it would be a nice story to have up on there.

I know for a fact that at least one news outlet covered this story as channel WABC 7 was present, with reporter Kimberly Richardson. It was cool to see her in person as I watch that channel frequently. I was able to see it on the television later. However, I couldn’t seem to find any other articles about it online.

For the ABC news story, the differences I saw in comparison to my reporting  is that their piece reached out to the kids and seniors more; there was a lot more interaction with the kids and seniors as opposed to the director or other staff at the senior center. I can see that was the main focus of their segment.