Scoring an Education

Families relying more on the talent of their children to fund a four-year degree

by: Racquel Asa (Reporter, Videographer)
Ben Gellman-Chompsky (Videographer)


(NCC NEWS) – The economic downturn and climbing costs of college tuition is placing a greater reliance on students who have the talent to score an athletic scholarship.

With unemployment in Central New York is at its highest since 1992 at 8.3 percent and an average college education at a private university exceeding $100,000, it’s no secret why even middle class families are struggling to fund a four year degree.

“It’s not even a socioeconomic thing even with the costs of education right now even people you would consider are middle class people are struggling to send their children to college, even the good colleges,” said Buddy Weklinsky, the athletic director at Christian Brothers Academy. “They just don’t have the finances to do it. The money just isn’t available.”

A Free Shot at College

Kayla Stroman is one of those lucky enough to land a golden ticket to college. The 18-year-old has played the sport since she was six and for the past four years has played on the CBA girl’s varsity basketball team.

Next fall, Kayla will play for the women’s basketball team at Niagara University on a free ride.

“Probably without a full scholarship, I wouldn’t be able to go,” said Kayla. It’s a big relief for Kayla’s mom, Katherine, who already works two jobs seven days a week. “We would have definitely had to settle probably for a two year community college,” said Katherine Terry, Kayla’s mom.

An Added Pressure

With the free ride, Kayla and her mom don’t have to settle for something less. Now her mom can now cut back on her work hours and go down to one job.

But that adds a certain layer of pressure on Kayla. She knows without such an opportunity, her dream of being the first in her family to get a degree wouldn’t be possible, making keeping it that much more difficult.

“I think it is a big pressure cause I have to keep focused on the court and off the court to maintain the scholarship,” said Kayla.

Buddy Weklinsky says it maybe a free ride, but there is nothing easy about it.

“Now they are forced to perform and forced to go through this rigorous training session to get them to stay through college and get their degree,” said Weklinsky.

Fewer Volunteer Firefighters

Community fire departments struggle with dropping ranks

by: Racquel Asa (Reporter/Photographer)

(NCC News)-- Volunteer fire departments across the country are feeling the pinch as fewer and fewer people are finding time to volunteer. That creates a big problem for communities since three in every four firefighters are volunteers.

Central New York is no exception and neither is the DeWitt Fire Department. DeWitt used to solely rely on volunteers until the 70’s when volunteer levels dropped so low they had to hire several career firefighters to fill the gap.

Over the years, the levels have continued to drop and taxpayers may have to foot the bill for more firefighters if volunteer levels don’t pick up.

“Ultimately it's going to make many of these areas decide that they are going to have to pay for this service because there will be no one there,” said DeWitt Fire Chief Jeffrey Cardinali.

Living Double Lives

The department is relying on people who don’t mind living double lives, who work their normal jobs during the day and volunteer firefighter by night. But the price of volunteering comes with a price and sacrifice.

It's a job that requires more than a 100 hours of training, puts you on call and away from your family all for no pay.

For those who take on the commitment, it’s worth it.

“I guess not to sound corny,” said volunteer Scott Peterson, “but on a spiritual level, it's that satisfaction knowing that I've done something.”

“For me it's just rewarding. I enjoy giving back,” said volunteer Jeoff Ristau. “I enjoy service. It's just what I do."

"In my opinion, I would rather live very dangerously than be afraid or timid about what could exists,” said volunteer Adam Thimmig.

Retention is the problem

But it’s volunteers for more than five years that is proving to be another challenge for fire departments. The average career life for a volunteer firefighter is only five years and the younger generations are not as drawn to the profession.

Now, older generations continue to keep the ranks staffed at minimal levels.

"I'm not the youngest guy in the department, but I'm not too old yet, you know,” said five-year volunteer Bill Morris. “So I can hang on.”

“At some point I'm going to have to decide enough is enough,” said Fire Chief Cardinali. “The problem is when we look behind us to see who is coming there is no one there."

One of Those Hard Days at Work

They say that you can never go wrong with doing a story on dogs or kids. People love both of them because they are drawn in by the cuteness factor. The problem is when the kid becomes an innocent victim.

Last night I covered a story about Imani Jennings. Imani was 20 months old and Friday late afternoon police found her dead in her apartment. As we learned more about the story, police told us that the mother's boyfriend (who by the way is 15) beat the child with a metal rod, cable wire and a metal spring then left to go to school.

When the couple got home from school, the child was lifeless in their apartment. Apparently police say the couple routinely left the child home alone with nothing but chicken nuggets and milk.

While the due process of law presumes everyone is innocent until proven guilty, if you have a heart, you can't help but be bothered by the fact that a 20 month old child was left to fend for herself.

As if the story can't get more twisted, I spoked to the biological father and grandmother and they were in the process of filing for custody after they say the mom denied the dad visitation at least five times.

Here's the story:

Pedaling to Albany

When it comes to reporting, you have to go into a story anticipating what will be at the location for your shoot. For example, knowing who's going to be there, what can I get video of and who will I be able to interview. This a classic example of NOTHING going as anticipated (as with anything in news).

Here's the Background:
I was going to cover an event where a 'group' of people were supposed to be pedaling into town on bicycles from Buffalo as they were making their way down to Albany. They wanted to send a message of green energy in light of the elections.

But, I emphasize the word 'group' because a 'group' was NOT what I was greeted with I arrived at the location for my shoot.

When I drove up to an empty parking lot in Dewitt, I noticed a van with a bike parked up against it and a guy wearing a shirt promoting the event.

First thought, 'hey I made in time to get all the bikers pedaling in. Great.'

So, I rolled down my window and asked the guy wearing the bright yellow shirt when the bikers would be rolling in and he said, "We just got here."

Second thought, "you have got to be kidding me, where is everyone?"

Turns out the 'group' biking from Buffalo to Albany was ONE GUY. That's right. One Guy. And if there was one guy I would have pegged as the guy biking hundreds of miles from Buffalo to Albany it would not be this guy in the front giving a thumbs up.

Reporting Approach:

Adjust to what you're given. So what, a group of bikers turned into one guy. I focused my whole story around this one guy. I let him tell the story and tried to relay the message that if this guy can do it, ANYONE CAN.

I tried to get video, natural sound and capture everything that was atypical about this guy biking to Albany. For example, his 'bike's dashboard' and his pseudo sound system.

I Met 'Joe the Mason'

Now here's a guy that you call "a gold mine" when you go out to cover a story by yourself.


Here's the background:
For class, I was told I needed to go out and cover something about Election Day on Election Day. It could have been anything (of course with the approval of my professor). So , I decided to do something on early voters for the election. Were people jumping hurdles, or in this case jumping out of bed early, to make sure their vote was counted.

Turns out the polls opened at 6:00AM election day, which made for a very early morning and a VERY LONG DAY.

When I got to one of the polling locations (in the pitch black of the early morning), I noticed a lonely red van sitting in the parking lot with a man sitting in it. The light from inside the cabin of his van drew me to him like a mosquito who can't resist the florescent glow from the bug light zapper.

When I approached him and started talking to him, I knew I had hit a gold mine. Turned out he jokingly referred to himself as "Joe the Mason."

Reporting Approach:
I tried something different with this piece. I only had five minutes of video to work with (three minutes of which was the interview). I timed my voice tracks out just right so that I could slip them into a 0:30 second continuous clip of uncut video.

I did this so that I could get the natural sound of the van door closing and him taking a drag of his cigarette. Made for easy video editing, but really hard writing.