SXTXState is comprised of graduate students in Dr. Cindy Royal’s Advanced Online Media course, as well as a few alumni friends, from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University in San Marcos. They’ll be covering the festivities at the 2010 South By Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin, TX.
Jacqueline Baylon, who is best known as “Jackie,” is a student journalist at Texas State University- San Marcos. She is pursuing a degree in electronic media with a minor in Spanish. Jacqueline first moved to San Marcos in 2007. She transferred to Texas State from the University of Texas in El Paso. As a native El Pasoan, Jacqueline grew up eating beans, rice and speaking Spanish with her mom. One of her favorite things to do is to embrace her Mexican culture and hit the piñatas at her nieces’ and nephews’ birthday parties. After taking her first Web design course, Jacqueline has become increasingly focused on developing her skills in that area. She is happy to be part of this year’s SXTXState team! You can find her on Twitter!
Dale Blasingame is a two-time Emmy award-winning television producer and current graduate student at Texas State University. He spent nine years at News 4 WOAI in San Antonio, where his newscasts were honored in 2007 and 2009. Dale was a newsroom leader in recognizing the advantages of social media for television stations. He is also the senior travel writer for The Hotel Guide, a digital travel magazine that is distributed to 2,000,000 people each year. Dale plans on pursing a PhD. and hopes to become a professor. In his free time, Dale is a huge sports fan and never misses an episode of Project Runway or Top Chef. You can find him on Twitter or read his blog!
Roberta Flores is a graduate student in the school of journalism and mass communication at Texas State University. This is her first year going to SXSW and she is excited to finally see what all the fuss is about. She grew up in the small town of Dilley, TX (population 2000) and graduated in 2008 from Texas A&M-Kingsville with an undergraduate degree in communications (emphasis in journalism) and minor in English. When she has extra time, she can spend the whole day reading a good book and/or watching cheesy soap operas. If you would like to get in touch with Roberta you can find her on Facebook and Twitter!
Trey Hatt is a graduate student at Texas State University – San Marcos studying mass communication with a new media focus. Hatt’s thesis will address the question, “How do new media affect small-town culture?”, and he plans to expand his area of study into the possible benefits of new media on journalism. He is a former community editor of the Llano County Journal and staff writer for the Highland Lakes Newspapers group, writing under the byline “George Hatt” (his un-hip, un-new media legal name). He is also a 2005 veteran of the Iraq war where yes, it really does get that get hot, and the Internet connections suck. You can find him on Twitter!
Sajen Hernandez is a senior majoring in mass communication. Though he respects and admires his major, his passion lies deeply within his minor of music. Drums are his weapon of choice, but he also plays guitar, keyboards, bass, trumpet, ocarina and a bunch of other stuff! Some of Sajen’s random likes include Indian food, cheese, candy, Nintendo, snowboarding, extreme sports, Dream Theater and the Sun-Maid Raisin girl. He thinks she’s a fox! (Have a look next time you eat some raisins.) You can find out more about Sajen at his site or find him on Twitter!
Eric Morales is currently enrolled at Texas State University within the School of Journalism & Mass Communication graduate program. Eric is currently building a portfolio of video documentary/storytelling, and trying to learn a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to new media. Eric plans to combine skills of still photography, video & sound (see It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty Tour) and knowledge of the web in aspiration of moving along with the world as it develops technologically. Projects that Eric is currently working on include an exclusive video documentary on the Austin band The Sour Notes, and an ongoing photography project on San Marcos, TX and its people and subcultures, which will be published as a book in 2011. Eric is also a licensed Kuk Sool Won instructor, and has been training for nearly 17 years. On the day to day, Eric prefers his Raleigh Clubman to his VW Jetta… and, yes, he is Mac, not a PC. You can contact Eric by email at ericmphoto@gmail.com or find him on Twitter!
Lesley Ornelas is a graduate student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State studying New Media. She received her undergraduate degree in Journalism with a minor in English from Texas State in August 2009. She grew up in Lake Jackson, TX where she spent countless days on the beach. She enjoys sleeping in late and watching television on mute when it’s been a long day. When she isn’t in classes at Texas State, she’s the marketing intern for the Alumni Association at Texas State and getting swooshed daily as a sales associate at the Nike Factory Store. She’s never attended SXSW and is excited for the experience! You can find her on Twitter!
Jesse Orona, Jr. was born in San Antonio and comes to Texas State University by way of Harlingen. He’s a graduate student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication with a concentration in new media. This will be his first time at SXSXi and, although he is excited about going, he’s feeling slightly anxious about the experience by what he has heard from those who’ve gone before. However, overall he’s getting a good vibe. He has a passion for storytelling whether through interactive internet technologies or film. His favorite director at the moment is Bernardo Bertalucci (The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky) and one of his favorite all-time films is Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. He also loves documentaries and hopes to be a part of creating them, whether through the medium of the internet, film or television. You can find him on Twitter!
Currently the host and executive producer of The Backline Show, Josh Shepherd is a music journalist based in Austin. With a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, Josh Shepherd has spent the last nine years in the television media world as an award winning reporter, anchor, producer and host. He is now currently working on a graduate degree in New Media at Texas State University – San Marcos. Along with tons of school work and preparing for his thesis, Josh Shepherd works as a music and new media consultant. If he could open a restaurant someday, that would be an amazing dream come true. You can find him on Twitter!
Carly Smith is a new media graduate student and graduate assistant for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State. She enjoys classic books, watching reruns of Friends for the hundredth time and exploring Austin. After graduation, she isn’t positive what she’d like to do, but knows it will involve creative web design, social media and public relations. She is also interested in nonprofit organizations, and companies that give back to the community. Oh, and she’s a lefty. You can follow Carly on her blog Oh, hello dear, a collection of musings about everyday life or on Twitter.
Theodore Cullen Sprencel is a Mass Communication graduate student, avid writer and shaving lotion enthusiast. Having received his bachelor’s degree in English (professional writing emphasis), Theodore is well-versed in obscure literature, esoteric grammatical rules, and pretending to be well-versed. His non-academic interests include food, ’80s music, arranging information in list format, whiskey, seeing how long his Mustang will run with a completely shot transmission, being a warmhearted smartass, and retroactively admiring his baseball card collection. Theodore is a ravenous South Park fan, and he quotes and references the show way too much. 2010 will be Theodore’s first year to attend SxSWi, and he looks forward to meeting people who will probably be condescending to him because of his lack of tech knowledge. Check him out on Facebook, Twitter and Suite101.
Scott Thomas is a journalism undergraduate at Texas State University who comes from dusty West Texas. After spending eighteen years out West he got to Central Texas as quickly as possible. It was while living in San Marcos that Scott often wondered what he’d do with his life, thinking about picking majors ranging anywhere from Physics to English. He decided he wanted to be a journalist because of a friend of his brother’s who was a photographer. She had gone to South America and met with guerilla revolutionaries and after listening to her tales Scott was hooked. Now he’s just as excited about the expanding Web opportunities as he is about the possibility of traveling to exotic lands. He loves video, social media, photography, writing and the convergence of them all. His favorite movie is Dr. Strangelove. You can find him on Twitter!
Andrew Waldrup is a student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication where he is earning a bachelor’s degree in public relations with a minor in philosophy. He transferred from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. He has five years of wireless experience with T-Mobile which has allowed him to fully explore his fascination with mobile technology. Andrew has also worked with peers in proposing action plans for Scott & White Healing Garden in Round Rock and the annual wine tasting benefiting education for The Rotary Club of San Marcos. He enjoys attending numerous networking events including Austin Social Media Club and Austin’s chapter of AWC. You can find him on Twitter or at andrewwaldrup.com!
Cindy Royal is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University in San Marcos where she teaches online and social media topics. She hosts a music blog and Web talk show at onthatnote.com, a tech blog at cindytech.wordpress.com and a social network for her former students at webpubnet.ning.com. She also writes for Texas Music Magazine. Prior to doctoral studies at The University of Texas, Cindy had a career in Marketing at Compaq Computer (now part of Hewlett Packard) in Houston, TX and NCR Corporation in Dayton, OH. Additional detail regarding her research, education and experience can be found at cindyroyal.com. You can also find her on Twitter.
Photos by Eric Morales.
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I am so proud of our graduate students!! What a fantastic job!
Kudos to Dr. Royal for providing them with such a fine, cutting-edge opportunity!
More from this presentation on the South by Southwest official youtube channel.
[...] of social media use in the classroom. I was thrilled to hear he was part of the group of Texas State students who covered the SXSW conference live this past March. I personally sat in the same panels as some of these students and was very impressed at their [...]