View Lehigh student hot spots in the Lehigh Valley in a larger map

The map above provides ten locations often frequented by Lehigh students. Some information about when and why students can be found in these places is also provided, making the map useful to students looking for something to do, especially if they're looking for a meal. Incoming students or visitors to the area may also find this helpful as a source to discovering a few places highly regarded by those already familiar with the locations.

While each location marked can offer food of some sort, those that provide sit-down meals are indicated by a yellow marker. The Lehigh Valley Mall is distinguished by a green marker. Addresses, brief descriptions and often a photo can be found by clicking the desired location.

Pupular Places For Lehigh University Students

View Lehigh Students' Favorite Spots in a larger map


I've mapped out ten different locations where you're bound to encounter Lehigh students at some point at any given day. I gave brief descriptions of why those spots are so important and popular to Lehigh's students. I mainly mapped out restaurants and bars, which are color-coded blue. Also included are shopping centers: color-coded magenta, supermarkets: color-coded green, and libraries: color-coded yellow.

News Story #1

Our first news story posed an intitial challenge in a lack of customers, but many willing interviewees surfaced after revisiting Home & Planet at a more convenient shopping time. Our primary issue with speaking to sources was asking the right questions that would take us to concise, usable answers. We managed to find some good quotes through the editing process. Also an issue was background sound, whether from cars outside or music in the store. Jon offered to turn down the music during our fist interview, but picking a different location in the store might have solved this problem also.

This type of store with so many different products and "eclectic" pieces challenged us to get shots that weren't to cluttered and contained a clear focal point. I addressed this by just looking through the camera for a while before filming and choosing to focus on some of the more less ambiguous pieces in Home & Planet. Lighting was fairly uniform throughout the store. I just had to make sure subjects weren't directly under one of the lights because it cast shadows on their face when they moved, especially when it was darker outside. Lighting was best during the day time when natural light was in play.

I am learning more and more that I prefer to interview, rather than recite a scripted stand up. This project was a good opportunity to practice interviewing while filimg, which is new to me. I learned how people respond differently when I have a camera in my hand instead of a pencil. This was definitely a learning experience I enjoyed and expect to improve upon next time. The recited introduction in front of the camera, however, was not my forte. I gave it a few shots but could quite get it this time.

News Story #1

For our first story Jessica and I chose to interview the owner and customers of Home and Planet, an eco-friendly furniture/jewelry store. We asked the owner about what the store specializes in, what the demographics of his clientele are and how he got the idea to create the store. We included several voice overs with b-roll to better explain the story. We also included two or three soundbites that were visually appealing and fit in well with the rest of the footage. To introduce the story, we made a standup followed by a voice over to guide the viewers into the store as if they were walkin into the store themselves.

Probably the hardest things to accomplish were getting people to talk to us and being able to film the standup outside the store in E 3rd St. with all the traffic roaring by (it was both distracting and hard not to laugh).

Also, keeping the camera still seems to be a recurring problem with all all of our videos. Throughout our videos there is visual progression. We'll just keep practicing at it.

We chose this location because we had never heard about it so we thought it would be a good way to start our tv reporting skills.

Home & Planet

South Bethlehem Greenway!

Adrian and I intend to focus on the South Bethlehem Greenway that's in the works right now, and we would like to implement a "revitalizing the South Side" type of theme. I actually just finished a practicum class in which 12 students in varying fields of study created a formal proposal for the city for the most efficient use of a designated space on the greenway. A huge part of the city's objective is integrating the Lehigh and Bethlehem communities. Although it's not apparent on campus, residents, small business owners and stakeholders are really involved, or at least interested, in the project and have a lot to say. City officials and a few people on campus would really like to see the Lehigh community gain some knowledge about the project, too. I know there is quite a number of people to speak with about the project both on campus and off, and this is a pretty monumental project in Bethlehem with significant purposes.

The blog could track the progress of the construction of the greenway when it resumes during warm weather and follow the city's plans for it. We would like to relay the many reason the greenway is being created by informing our blog readers about the city of Bethlehem's plans for revitalizing the South Side. This could be achieved through research, interviews, updates and video images of the area. An objective would be to include the perspectives of everyone in the area from resident to officials to kids to Lehigh students in order to show the significance of the project the impact it could have in contributing to improving the state of living in Bethlehem.

#J198 Twitter Scavenger Hunt

1. School spirit!: I stood in the entrance lobby of Linderman Library with the hope that someone looking spirited in Lehigh garb would walk by. Luckily, Jack York walked by in an LU sweatshirt and hat, and he was very will to talk to me about Lehigh's spirit and how he shows it.
2. At my favorite spot to eat off campus: I went to my favorite spot to eat off campus, Subway, waited for a customer to finish ordering, and asked her what her favorite sandwich is and if she ever switches up her meal. (I also initially sought the "fanatic fans" answer here but only chatted with two people who haven't been following Lehigh sports this year.)
3. Professor on the street: Spoke to a female professor walking out of Drown on my way back up from a class at Linderman. She said social media is like a catalyst for social change because as soon as something alters, media like Twitter is there to make sure everyone knows it right away. Unfortunately, I can't find my notes that included her name, department and quote... So I resorted to asking my chef for her answer at the last minute just so I had a photo and quote to put up.
4. News source of a person on the street: Adrian and I went to the Goose, and I asked a cop in line to order where he gets his news and how familiar he is with some social media outlets.
5. Academic excellence: A few of my friends have done research with Lehigh. I knew Taara's opportunity in particular was interesting in that it incorporated contemporary American literature and society's perception of the environment, and she is studying for degrees in English, psych and environmental science.
6. Scenic spot: I spend a lot of my time on this balcony, and I think it and its view will leave an impression on me after college.
7. Little-known fact: This information was gathered at the same time I spoke to Jack York in Linderman. Mari offered other facts she knew through ASA, but this one was interesting and the easiest to share in 140 characters.
8. Fanatic fans: After several attempts at questioning boys both in Subway and on campus, I turned to actual athletes who were guaranteed to know about their sport at least.
9. Adrian and I in our favorite spots on campus: Adrian photographed me in Taylor Gym, where I exercise and have a work study job, both of which I enjoy. Adrian photographed himself in the theater where he performs and also spends a lot of time.
10. Extracurricular extravaganza: Lauren's involvement represents a range of opportunity at Lehigh. I intended to photograph several friends together holding skis, a stethoscope, a cheer bow, etc., all in representation of what they're involved in, but I could gather everyone, and I don't know how well that would photograph.

Yes, I did use a mobile for this project, and I borrowed three smart phones in the process. I'm admittedly not the most tech-savvy college student, but I do feel like this lab made me learn a lot about twitter and all its possibilities, in addition to the simplicity of downloading an application on a phone that let me complete most of these tweets on the move. Some of my friends were proud to see me using twitpic.

A couple of my tweets were retweeted by classmates, and my partner, Adrian, mentioned me for number 9, of course. I liked going through #J198's tweets, but I what I found more interesting was the interaction between the schools involved in this. I noticed a few #j4801 students posting and communicating more often most and wonder if any of this communication will go beyond this project.

The "Twitter Scavenger Hunt" really exemplified the networking abilities of twitter that I was unaware of before this class. It reinforced the realization that something I once thought of as just fun and pointless for people, really does have a point. People who opt to follow me have an interest in what I'm saying and create a (kind of unfamiliar) type of relationship by doing so, just as when I follow others. Also, plenty of pages take me to an individual's blog or other website that further my interest in what that person communicates or how they share information.

The thing I would have done differently, now looking back at my tweets, is to have tweeted with a little more general description so that people outside of Lehigh would have a better understanding. My twitter knowledge was definitely enhanced by this project. Right now, I think I'm still adjusting to being comfortable with twitter and really getting used to tweeting outside of class expectations.

J198 Scavenger Hunt

1.) School Spirit: I approached a freshman from Guatemala exiting Christmas Saucon.
2.) My favorite eating spot off-campus: The Goose.
3.) Ask a professor about social media: Ryan Kathleen is a statistics professor and was explaining to me the correlation between social media and social change.
4.) Person on the street: A Bethlehem police officer told me where he got his news from.
5.) Academic Excellence: John W. fulfilled his dream of getting hired by a construction company through the hard work he learned in IPD.
6.) Scenic Spot: I chose the courtyard outside Rauch and Zoellner. Shame it was covered with snow.
7.) Little-known-fact: I was walking through Zoellner and saw a plaque about Bethlehem Steel. I did some research afterwards and realized that they contributed some of their last casts for the building.
8.) Fanatic Fans: I was searching for football (excuse me, soccer) fans but didn't find any so I quoted the biggest Real Madrid fan, myself.
9.) Favorite spot on campus: I practically live in the Diamond Theater. I have great memories in that theater.
10.) Extracurricular Extravaganza: I was early for a theater rehearsal and the scene shop workers were still on the set building it, so I took a picture to show how two different organizations work together. They both belong to the theater department but one is performance-oriented while the other is hands-on craftwork-oriented.


For this scavenger hunt I limited myself exclusively to using the Twitter for iPhone app. It gave me a lot of freedom and flexibility in posting my tweets and pictures. I liked the fact that I could post a tweet as soon as I finished interviewing someone. The sense of immediacy is vital in news reporting.

Seven of my tweets were re-tweeted by class members, mostly fun facts they didn't know before or things they agreed with, such as school spirit. I also got replies from students and professors from the other universities, which was pretty cool because it showed me how easy it is to get exposed nationally just by using hash-tags and building a network. I learned a lot of interesting facts I didn't know about my campus before as well as learning the tastes and preferences of my classmates. My perception of twitter hasn't changed. It just has expanded. I always had an idea of what it was capable of, but I never really experienced the exposure as much as I did during this scavenger hunt.

I would probably tweet half as much if I didn't have a smartphone, but copying and pasting is a lot easier on a computer. That's the main issue I'm working out on my phone now.