Article #1 Prep & Pitch

[The pitch:
1. Summarize the idea in two sentences.
2. Why is it a good fit for Capital Gains?
3. With regard to research, what two people would you talk to? What places or events could you go to? What texts or references could you use?]

Lansing City Market is open year-round as a local place for vendors to provide organic, sustainable produce as well as other specialty items. The local creative class and vendors have worked together to benefit both parties: a fun, all-inclusive, inexpensive way for people to go shopping and support local businesses, and a way for vendors to connect with their community and sell goods.

This article is a good fit for Capital Gains because it focuses on Lansing's creative class, and how Lansing City Market (LCM) impacts their shopping. LCM is a great place for families with kids to go, as the variety of items and size of the market are entertaining for children. The market is also open year-round and is inside, which makes the market available for those with busy schedules [read: the creative class].

To get more information about LCM, I could talk to vendors at the market, customers at the market, and/or Scott Keith, president and CEO of LEPFA. I could research the market prior to interviewing my sources by looking for previous articles about LCM in Capital Gains, The Lansing State Journal, and The State News. I could visit the Lansing City Market, and/or maybe the farm of a vendor.

Entry 1: College Bound Teen Pitch

[Answering the questions of (1) What is your idea? and (2) How does it directly connect to the readers and magazine?]

My idea for an article for College Bound Teen magazine is essentially explaining different ideas, tips, and suggestions of how to be successful academically in college. This connects to the magazine and readers because the audience, primarily college-bound teens and their families, are obviously concerned with the student's academic success. The fact that the student is going to college is indicative of their desire to learn and achieve good grades. That said, because collegiate academia is a radical change from high school, acquiring new learning strategies and studying techniques, along with encouraging the student's active involvement in progressing and advancing their own education are essential for academic success in college. College-bound students may or may not know how college courses differ from high school courses, and it's important to have strategies to ensure academic success before even signing up for classes, otherwise the student's first semester at college, the semester that will set the tone for the rest of their college career.

How to schedule your classes

• How many credits to take (around 15)
  
• Resources for professor reviews
• Paying attention to time between classes: time to study, eat, book it to your next class?
  
• Where are the classes? Where do you live? How far is A from B?
  
• Prerequisites
• A note on gen-ed classes and electives for major and career path exploration
  

Tips for academic success:

• Go to office hours
• Make friends in your classes
• Study groups, both with people in your class, or just getting a group of people together to study
• Review sessions
• Learning styles (auditory, visual, tactile)
• Places to study (coffee shop, dorm room, dorm study lounge, library, common areas in campus buildings)