30 Second Pitch

What am I doing?
The 6-8 page spread will take you on a journey through the life of a full-time student that has a job. As you go through the pages, it will be a timeline of the students activities and responsibilities on a daily or weekly basis. Also incorporating photos throughout of the student holding a sign that states the time of the day or activity they look forward to out of their responsibilities or during their free time (if they get any). .. might juxtapose this with them holding a sign stating what time of the day they hate. These would be positioned in accordance to the timeline.


Why is this important?
1. There are more students than you think that are struggling with financial struggles to stay in school and maintain a healthy living in addition to the usual college student stresses and responsibilities.
2. Sometimes having to work a job makes it extremely difficult to maintain a good academic standing.
3. Financial struggles consumes time and creates stress, whether its planning out budgets or working a part/full-time job, which hinders a student emotionally and physically. Sometimes leaving them no choice but do drop out of school.

BECOME AWARE OF THIS INJUSTICE TO BRING ABOUT A CHANGE. 

Student debt, rising tuition, more students working. Will it ever end?

Something I found on the noodle website I posted the link to earlier. Very informative and clear data about student debt, tuition, and related topics.

I added this image to show the gradual increase of students working. I'm not quite sure for what reasons these students were working but it could be that they need the money to pay and stay in college.

A Link for Less Struggle

http://www.noodle.org/noodlings

Great website for the issue I am trying to tackle and inform others of. Financial struggles among college students is prominent and this website provides some help and solutions!

Exploring Layout Designs

http://beingwellcenter.wordpress.com/tag/academic-struggles/

This design interested me. I might want to incorporate something like this and tweak it to fit my issue better.

Prof. Ross liked my first spread was a great start. He suggested that now I focus in and get more specific with the topic.

I'm not sure how many pages our spread is supposed to be but if its more than two pages I'm thinking of incorporating a series of photos where I ask several different financially struggling college students to write on a poster board either what part of the day they or activity they wait for, what part of the day or a task in the day they hate doing the most. They would hold this sign in a relevant area that the sign is talking about... or maybe I should do this with a white backdrop and just use the lighting studio instead?

What do you guys think?

https://www.facebook.com/FiresCenterofExcellence?hc_location=timeline

Roughly, maybe something along the lines of this image.

Layout Draft

These photos are in fisheye format to sort of imply that you are looking at, or through, the lens (eyes) of a struggling college student. The photos take you through their day and the usual things they have to do on a daily to monthly basis. Please feel free to give any feedback, comments, questions, critique, anything.

Manifesto: What Grinds My Gears

photo taken from:
http://thecommittedindian.com/grinds-my-gears-121/

You know what really grinds my gears?! .. I’ll tell you. Living in Isla Vista, one becomes aware of the diversity, whether its diversity between race, gender, sexuality, nationality, majors, interests, etc. The range of difference between people range from similar to completely different people. The spectrum has a large extent to it and experiencing both the opposite ends of the spectrum brings about the radical comparison between the two, which also leads to recognizing things that are different that shouldn’t necessarily have to. There are college students that are doing just fine in school, getting good grades, dont need a job, financial aid and/or parents can pay for their education, food, supplies, etc. and so all they have to worry about it studying. Great! College is hard sometimes and to get the best out of it a student should try their best at all times, maybe involve themselves in a sport or organization, perhaps an internship to gain more experience and become involved...

But what about those college students that dont have time to get involved because they have to work to make money to pay for their tuition in order to even stay in school? What about those college students stressing over where they are going to eat for dinner and where they are going to sleep that night? What about those college students that are getting into debt more and more every year because of loans? What about those college students that are missing out on a social life because they are too busy with work, internship, class and homework? When do they have time to finally take a breath and relieve some stress? What about those college students that are about to give up on their education because they have no other choice?

THIS IS WHAT GRINDS MY GEARS.

Is there a solution to getting those struggling college students to having their main worry be getting good grades? ... yes, no, I dont know?... We can make one! Raise awareness of this problem. Let us share ideas to develop a resolution that will work and execute it. The college experience for any incoming student should have the same and equal set of opportunities no matter their family income, where they come from, social or economic status, etc. From there, the student can determine the way the rest of their college experience will go without unnecessary stresses and troublesome situations going on in their lives.