One thousand dollars may not seem like much compensation for an entire summer of work, but that money made summer journalism work possible for three Cavalier Daily staffers. Citing everything from the importance of patience to realizing what role a newspaper should play in its community of readers, these three staffers will return to the newspaper this fall full of ideas on how to improve the final product.

Pierson Scholarship for Photography
CD Photo Editor Tengku Bahar worked as The Cavalier Daily’s summer photo editor and on an independent project. He had planned to string for Charlottesville’s Daily Progress, but the newspaper was overstaffed and did not have assignments for him.

As summer photo editor, Bahar learned how to use photo’s new Mac G3 computer so that he could then teach the rest of the department this fall. His independent project—shooting pictures of Central Grounds focusing on architectural forms and nature—was the result of a personal challenge: Photograph his own, non-cliched shot of the Rotunda. Bahar remembers one day in particular as being significant.

"There was a very heavy thunderstorm. When the storm cleared, I went outside. It was dusk. Beautiful, clear skies. So I got my gear and took photos on Grounds."

After nearly three hours of looking for the perfect shot and coming up short, Bahar was about to head home when he noticed the full moon.

"I spent another hour finding a good vantage point to get the moon in, but no luck. As I was packing my gear to go home, I saw one of the U.Va. housing technicians reading a book at the door in one of the Lawn rooms. The moon was almost directly overhead the Lawn room, and the columns and trees were perfect.

"I put my Nikon back on the tripod, fired off three frames, and then he moved. It was over. I developed the roll, and of the three shots only one turned out.

"That single one was perfect."

Bahar said he averaged one publishable shot for every 36 exposures, which contributed to his realization of the most important factor in photography: patience.

"Sometimes our photographers—including myself—show up to shoot an assignment, and seeing that whatever needs to be photographed is going very slow, the photographer just shoots generic ‘insurance shots’ and then leaves to get the roll developed. Sometimes having the patience to hang around, having your camera always ready on hand, can bring back really awesome shots."

Herring Scholarship
CD Sports Editor John Moorehouse returned to spend his second summer in Tennessee with the Kingsport Times-News sports department, covering everything from the Kingsport Mets, a minor league baseball team, to little league baseball to writing a feature on kids who were going to the Junior Olympics for taekwondo.

While Moorehouse is not bringing back a distinct lesson to the newspaper, he did say he learned one very important thing this summer: how to work well under pressure.

"I learned a lot this year, but one of the most important things was how to write quickly under deadline. Part of my duties involved covering the Kingsport Mets. Many times, the game would end 15 or 20 minutes before my story was due."

As a sports editor who often has game stories coming in at the last minute and five managing board members looking over his shoulder waiting for him to finish editing, Moorehouse said working well under pressure is vital to doing a good job.

Moorehouse also feels that he is returning to the CD this fall a much better writer than when he left.

"A lot of that improvement has to do with the willingness to dig for information both in features and game stories. Hopefully, I can instill the same work ethic in my staff in the coming year."

CDAA Scholarship
Steve Argeris, CD sports editor, spent his summer at The Daily Progress doing rim work and features and covering minor local sports. He said one thing he learned was the role of a newspaper within a community.

"People should not want to read a newspaper every day; they should feel they have to, in order to be a part of their community," he said. "I think students often read the CD because of its monopoly, not because of its relevance. Most of the stuff we currently emphasize could be made more relevant; the UJC, Honor and Student Council mumbo jumbo doesn’t seem to affect students the way it is presented, when it in fact can affect them very much.

"This summer I learned just how many people read your work, and how easy it is to satisfy readers who complain about lack of coverage on a given issue. Something doesn’t have to be Pulitzer material for it to have value for the community."

Being at the Progress showed Argeris where the CD sports department has met expectations and where it hasn’t.