Finals week is one of the most stressful times for college students. At the University of Denver, students are studying for exams, finishing projects, and trying to complete all of their assignments before the end of the quarter. Because of this, many students feel overwhelmed and stressed. To learn more about what students experience during finals week, we asked two questions: What’s the most stressful part of finals week for you? And how do you manage that stress?
Continue readingThe realities of DU dating.
Dating in college. Often portrayed as exciting and full of possibilities in popular media. The reality for many students at the University of Denver is more complicated. Our interviews with DU students reveal a dating culture shaped by busy schedules and uncertainty about what people are truly looking for in relationships.
Sophomore Leo described the dating scene at DU as challenging. He said that many students appear isolated and reluctant to put themselves out there.
“I feel like everyone’s a little hidden and closed off.”
Continue readingAI on campus: innovation or overreach?
This past month, an Arizona college skipped or mispronounced hundreds of students’ names at their graduation due to an AI software glitch from a system that the school incorporated. Additionally, this graduation season many commencement speakers have been referencing AI in their speeches.
Both these instances have caused an uproar amongst students sharing their opinions on AI. What does this mean for how much we’ve been incorporating AI into our daily life? What does it mean for the future of AI use in universities?
The question arises – what do students at the University of Denver think about this AI use?
Continue readingThe Asia Center and its uncertain future
The Denver Asia Center has long served as more than just a physical space on campus at the University of Denver. For many Asian American students, it functions as a cultural anchor, a place of familiarity, and a point of connection to heritage, identity, and community. In moments of uncertainty, it becomes a reminder of belonging within a broader university environment.
Recent discussions surrounding the Asia Center created concern across both campus and the surrounding community. However, the center is no longer at immediate risk, as earlier plans for reconstruction or removal have been withdrawn. Despite this, the long-term future of the space remains uncertain, leaving students and business owners still reflecting on its importance and stability.
Continue readingDU Coffee Club talks about leadership change
Passing the Mug: Coffee Club Leadership Brews a New Chapter at DU
For many students, coffee is simply a way to wake up before class. For members of the University of Denver’s Coffee Club, however, it is much more than that. Coffee has become a way to build friendships, create community, and connect with other students who share a common interest.
Continue readingHall Council holds their annual “Puppy Petting Pen” event
This slideshow is about the Hall Council’s annual “Puppy Petting Pen” event hosted on campus, and I wanted to show the actual event itself juxtaposed against the planning of the event talked about over the voiceover. It is almost a narrative arc that pans from the collective atmosphere of the event, showcasing how students engaged with the event in such a positive way, to lots of pictures of the puppies interacting with the people themselves. By adding in an interview with Shelby Crowe, the President of the Hall Council, the story is a lot more holistic and tells the viewer just how much effort and time goes into planning an event, and how much it can mean for the people putting it on. Crowe was very happy to talk about the event via an interview while it was happening.
I chose to photograph the event from a variety of perspectives to provide a total look at the environment (in wider shots that establish the setting and close-ups that show the joy on people’s faces). The slides are ordered roughly to transition from the general scene to the specific; this starting with a wide shot of multiple people to establish the large crowd, then narrowing down through the interactive shots like the puppies play-fighting and the people interacting with the puppies through the pen fence, and ends with settling on the quiet moments like the puppies sitting on people’s shoulders/laps. My chosen pacing allows the viewer to be drawn into the event as a whole, the “big picture,” before finding the individual experiences of students within it. I experimented with video in this audio slideshow as well because I wanted to capture how crazy the experience was within the pen for anyone who did not go. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to bring my tripod into the pen due to safety concerns with the puppies, but I opted to bring just my camera in for a more casual video shot. Regarding audio and text, I integrated Shelby Crowe’s interview to act as the narrative’s backbone and I tried to match the photos to what she was saying when I could. As mentioned, I wanted the audio to feel like a behind-the-scenes look into how the people made the event as special as it was, and to tell students that they too could be involved with curating special college memories like that.
Continue readingJoe’s tik tok
/https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTBam1fX3/
My creative process behind this was rather simple actually. You see I had the genius concept I call “forgetting my final project until the day before”, this technique allowed me to create a fun narrative of a college student who has left his assignment to the very last minute. This also saved me the struggle of having to search through thousands of topics. Overall however I was able to have a ton of fun with this project. The second part being filmed on vertical was something I forget to change so you’ll have to excuse that aspect I tried to change it after the fact and it wasn’t the best result and it ended up looking really bad trying to change it into a horizontal view. The other challenge was making that room as messy and as trashy as it was. I was able to ask my friends to trash the general room and we had a blast making a mess to create a sense of ungodly amounts of disorganization. The last bit was adding in the it’s always sunny in Philadelphia intro music as it seemed like a more tame less degenerate it’s always sunny bit. Overall this was a fun project and I had a blast making it.
Packing up to go home as a DU student
This TikTok follows my move out day at DU as I get ready to head home for the summer. The video reveals everything from doing laundry and packing my room to spending time with friends, moving my belongings into storage, and saying goodbye to campus before driving home.
I created this video because I wanted to reveal what it is like packing up and going home as a DU student at the end of the school year. The idea came from my own move out experience and everything that goes into leaving campus for the summer. I planned the video by thinking about the main parts of my day that I wanted to capture. I filmed myself doing laundry, packing my room, getting brunch with friends, moving my stuff into storage, and driving home. I enjoyed filming the specific parts of my day and what it would look like from an outside perspective. My favorite part was looking back on my last day at DU and saying goodbye to all my friends and roommates until next year!!
DU TikTok
This TikTok shows what the University of Denver campus looks like during June. While the weather is beautiful, flowers are blooming, and the campus is at its greenest, finals week brings a different reality for students. The video highlights the contrast between a thriving campus and stressed students.
I was inspired to create this video because I noticed how beautiful DU’s campus looks during June. The flowers are blooming, the trees are green, and the weather is warm, but at the same time students are dealing with finals week and end-of-quarter stress. I wanted to capture that contrast in a short and relatable way. To create the video, I filmed different areas of campus and edited the clips together using TikTok’s editing tools. My favorite part of the process was finding shots that matched the captions. I enjoyed turning an everyday college experience into something entertaining and creative.
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