10 Story Ideas
I started my morning today with a visit to Anytime Fitness (where I happily $40/month) and it got me thinking about how many college kids like me have gotten memberships there/other gyms because the UMD gym its at 25% capacity (Story 1, the gym revenue and what they are doing different during Covid. Story 2, the student aspect).
Also while I was at the gym, I ran into a UMD athlete that I have interviewed in the past. They no longer are an athlete at UMD, but I am really curious what the struggles are for UMD Athletes as a whole and especially freshman athletes who are having not only 1, but two major things apart of their campus life messed up because of Covid (Story 3).
From there, my mind just started to wander and was thinking about freshman at UMD just in general. I can imagine having the end of my senior year of high school messed up, then coming to college and my freshman year all messed up too(Story 4).
Another idea I had was after I got a text from one of my favorite food places in Duluth, Stir Fry Express, which is located in Miller Mall. I was just wondering how a place where their business is primarily based on foot traffic is doing during the midst of a pandemic (Story 5).
My next story is in relation to zoom because for the last couple months I’ve been hearing that some students actually like zoom more than in person classes which is something I personally disagree with but thought that could be a cool story (Story 6).
Something else I have noticed during my time in Duluth is how this will impact the housing market in Duluth, especially for college kids looking for houses. Our landlord wants a decision for next year by next week because of Covid (Story 7).
Another thing I’ve noticed this semester is how different the dating game is. As a single male that goes to UMD, you cant go up to someone and start talking to them in person like you could on campus. Plus there’s a decrease in parties/social gatherings and a decreased desire on my end to attend those things. So I think the dating game and how its changed would be really interesting to find more about from both the girl and the boy side (Story 8).
I also recently had to get a parking pass from the school because I still need one for my job. So maybe a story in the decrease in parking passes sales might be an alright piece (Story 9).
This last story is a stretch but the lack on intramural sports options the university is offering this semester is very slim. I understand why they did it though, I think I'm just salty they don't have flag football as an option (Story 10).
This assignment really forced me to think as everything happening around me as a possible news story and the effects it could potentially have. It also made me realize that the community I’m a part of as a UMD student is something that impacts me directly, but it also got me thinking about the other universities bigger and smaller than UMD and how they are dealing with this change.