Basic HTML Version
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Campus Review
February 13, 2012
Campus Review
February 13, 2012
Editor:
John Shiffert
Writers:
Erin Fender
Ciji Fox
Lauren Graves
Layout:
Lauren Graves
Photography: Erin Fender
Ciji Fox
Graphic Design: Lauren Graves
CMS Students Produce Laker Zone
Video for New Athletics Website
by Ciji Fox, University Relations
Clayton State University students Brian
Roberts and Jenny Dreasler are a couple
of Communication and Media Studies
(CMS) majors who are also the driving
force behind the Laker Zone video seg-
ments which appear on the new Clayton
State Athletics page.
“I was approached by (now-retired
Athletic Director) Mason Barfield on
behalf of the Athletics Department to help
with his vision to improve the department
through creating updated media,” Roberts
says. “His vision was to keep current pho-
tographs of each of the sports, improve
the live internet feed of the home games,
and to create a video segment to inform
the campus and fans of news within
Clayton State Athletics. I currently work
on all three of these projects.”
Dreasler, a Clayton State soccer player
who expects to graduate in May 2012,
gained hands on experience in television
reporting during the summer of 2011
while interning with the NBC affiliate
WGEM in Quincy.
“I got a lot of on-air time with them, and
really enjoyed it, so they asked me to
come back and help out over Christmas
break while their full time employees
were on vacation,” Dreasler says. “That
was my first paid experience as a TV
reporter. I told Brian about what I was
doing and the on-camera experience I was
getting.
As a four-year Clayton State soccer play-
er, Dreasler has seen other schools do
sports casts that drum up the media cover-
age for those teams.
“I spoke with Brian at a basketball game
before Christmas break and expressed to
him what a great thing it would be to have
our own show, to do something that no
one at Clayton State had done before,” she
says. “I also really wanted to bring atten-
tion to the athletic program at Clayton
State, especially after the women's basket-
ball team won the national championship.
“He had the camera/film experience, and I
had the on-air experience, and was about
to get more. So we decided we would
make the perfect team. It really has been a
two-man show. He sets up the lighting and
the camera, and I am the on-air host.
When it comes to editing, I have the expe-
rience there from doing my own editing at
the NBC affiliate I worked for back home,
and he is the go-to guy for all the graphics
we need for the show. It really just
works.”
The pair admits that there have been some
challenges.
“At first the biggest problem was improv-
ing the video stream for the basketball
games with the existing equipment within
the Athletics Department,” Robert says.
2012 Clayton State Women’s Tennis Preview
by Lee Wright, Sports Information
Le’Trone Mason could not have asked for
or dreamed about the situation he inherit-
ed last season when he took over as the
women’s head coach tennis coach at
Clayton State.
Like the stars aligning in the sky, Mason
was given a talented team to begin with,
and all he did was make the Lakers even
better. The result was an 18-8 overall
record and the team advancing to the
NCAA Division II “Final Four” for the
first time in program history. It was a sea-
son that Mason will not soon forget in his
young coaching career at Clayton State.
“Words really cannot explain it,” said
Mason. “I was so happy for the girls,
especially the seniors. Whenever a new
coach comes in, it’s always that touchy-
feely area where are they going to accept
what you say or go against the grain.
“But from the beginning, they believed in
what I was preaching and bought into the
system and it worked very well.”
With that magical first season behind him,
Mason has all the ingredients for another
impressive run for Clayton State in the
2012 season. The Lakers return five top-
quality players from last season, and have
added two key recruits that will blend in
nicely in the lineup.
ClaytonState starts the season ranked seventh in
the nation in Division II – its highest preseason
national ranking in program history.
“The expectations are still extremely
high,” Mason said. “All the girls that
Tennis, cont’d., p. 13
Website Video, cont’d., p. 14
Sports...