Pitch for Multiplatform Feature Story

JOUR 4090: THE PITCH

YOUR NAME:  Henley Tullos

HEADLINE:

A woman endured one of the greatest tragedies in losing her daughter to cancer and overcame it by redirecting her focus and energy to helping students in need.

PART 1: THE STORY

LEDE:

Dr. Roberts is sitting on a couch in the safe room watching students shuffle in and out of the doorway.  Students come and sit by her on the purple and green couches with mesmerized looks.  She leans over to each of them and asks how they’re doing; not how they are generally, but how they’re really doing.  Students take turns answering her inquiry as some who didn’t have room on the couch sit on the floor and play with the relaxing sand.  Water sprinkles in the background and peace has fallen over the room as the bell rings and students are quietly where they’re supposed to be.

Dr. Roberts is a former teacher at Marietta High School.  She taught IB Psychology and U.S. History to juniors and seniors.  As a teacher, Dr. Roberts was awarded Teacher of the Year for several years.  Dr. Roberts is the current director of the Marietta Student Life (Success) Center.  She was chosen for this role by the original founder, Mrs. Colburn, last year.

She plans events each week for the students and performs tours of the Student Success Center throughout the year, open to anyone.  She hopes to bring the SSC to many schools around the city to offer a new wave counseling and advising center for students in need.  “The concept is like Mellow Mushroom where each restaurant reflects the culture of the surrounding neighborhood, but the good pizza is the same.”

“Time is definitely a concept experienced by all organisms – yet differently. For me, five years is a heartbeat ago.”  In 2013, Dr. Roberts lost her only daughter to leukemia.  Leah Marie was 7 years old when she lost her long battle with cancer.  Dr. Roberts lived in an Atlanta children’s hospital for seven months.  “[Living through this experience] taught me resiliency,” said Dr. Roberts.  “You never overcome something like that, but you learn how to cope, which is what many of our students have to do,” she told the Marietta Daily Journal.  “God gave me one child, but he sends me a couple hundred more each year.”

“Children are one of the greatest lessons in happiness,”  said Dr. Roberts on a Facebook post for the anniversary of her daughter’s passing.  Dr.  Roberts is a powerful woman who shares her happiness with the students she encounters each day.  She lives a life founded on tragedy but redirects her focus and energy to other children in need.  She directs a program that offers social and emotional help for students that deal with their own tragedies, such as teen dating violence, teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse, poverty, and hunger.

CHARACTERS:

My main character is Dr. Roberts (Rona Roberts).  She is my former IB Psychology teacher, and is currently the Director of the Marietta Student Life (Success) Center.  She will be interviewed on video.  Dr. Roberts will give a tour of the SSC which will be filmed for potential use.  She will appear as the director, in her profession.  She will also appear as a mother, a mentor and a friend.

Along with Dr. Roberts, I will have secondary characters.  These characters will be students of the SSC and they will appear as students that utilize the SSC.  Further, I will follow a student around the SSC, as well as interview them, in their daily experience there.  I will get footage of a student interacting with Dr. Roberts on several accounts.  These students will be an integral part of telling this story.  They will show the interactions of Dr. Roberts and her students, and the perspective of students who interact with her and her SSC.

Lastly, I will make an appearance in this story on either the audio or video platform, as well as some of my former classmates and her former students who shared similar experiences to me.  I have a very intimate relationship with Dr. Roberts and feel that my own perspective will add a personal, primary aspect to the story.

STORY STRUCTURE:

My narrative for this story will be a five part structure.  I hope to start out this final written piece by showing a present, pivotal scene.  This will most likely be an interaction between Dr. Roberts and a student at the SSC.  Next, I will go to the past.  I will feature myself, or other former students of hers that speak highly to her character, her methods and her influence on each of them and their experiences at the high school.  This will introduce secondary characters and give background to the story.  The next scene will be present again, giving examples of her current work and experiences with students that relates to those spoken of in part two.  Next, the story will go back to the past and expose her tragedy and her experiences in her life that have brought her to her current position.  This tragedy being the loss of her daughter to cancer 5 years ago.  Lastly, the final scene will be present and how she has used her tragedy to refocus her energy to helping other students and how she did that as a teacher and how she does it now as a director of a program for students in need.

SOURCES AND RESEARCH:

My expert is obviously going to be Dr. Roberts.  She is the director, she puts together the events and takes care of maintenance around the SSC and also interacts with students throughout each day.  I have contacted the school of education to see if they have done research on any new wave counseling, such as the SSC, at high schools around the state and beyond.  My secondary sources will be either former students of Dr. Roberts or current students that interact with her and frequently utilize the SSC.

PART 2: THE ELEMENTS

MAIN:

My story will obviously have audio, video, social, and photo platforms, but my final piece will be written.  I believe this story will be most powerful in words, and will be naturally structured for print.  This will follow the five-part structure that goes from present, to past, to present, to past, to present.

SOCIAL:

For the social portion of my story, I will use a collection of photo and video clips to create an Instagram story that will promote the story and the SSC.  Additionally, I will produce a string of tweets during my visits there and during my editing process to share with people what’s happening during the times I am visiting and what to look forward to with the final project.

VIDEO:

For the video portion of my story, I hope to follow a student through the SSC.  I want to show a part of this story from the perspective of someone who has daily or frequent experiences at the SSC and with Dr. Roberts.  I feel that this will give the story validity and truth.  I will either follow a student with the video camera, or use pictures to show scenes throughout a video interview of the student.

PHOTO:

For the photo portion of my story, I hope to cover an event.  There will be several events, such as a tour given by Dr. Roberts, teen dating violence assembly, another teen dating violence theatrical performance, etc.  I hope to get stunning pictures that show emotions of students, of advisers, and of the work Dr. Roberts has accomplished in directing the SSC.  Each room in the Center is different and has different purposes so I hope to use this part of the project to highlight and show off such purposes.

AUDIO:

For the audio portion of my story, I hope to speak throughout the two minutes.  I want to share my experience at the SSC as a third party, as someone looking from the outside in.  I want to share a perspective of this SSC having already known Dr. Roberts.  I want the world to know how it makes me feel, being a former student of hers, to see these amazing things that she has done and continues to do.  I want this to be like me looking back to the past and seeing what’s happened since I’ve been gone.  I want to go into the different rooms of the SSC and capture natural sounds of the student café and “safe/quiet room.”  I may end up having interactions with students during my self-tour.  This will be documentary style.