Campus media is one of the most important parts in a school as it is responsible for propagandizing the school via newspaper or video. At Wenzhou-Kean University, KIWI News Campus Media (KIWI) plays this role since it was founded in fall of 2013 and is the only campus media organization on campus.
KIWI is the first organization at Wenzhou-Kean University to be created by students. As of now, there are only nine members. Some of the members do not have experience, leaving them to explore the field themselves. “I learned a lot through exploring new things with a good team, and I am so proud every time we do something,” said Ken Lin, junior computer science major and the former vice-president of KIWI.
Few know that KIWI only had some departments in the beginning and underwent a major revolution the second year. This semester, KIWI had yet another big revision, altering the structure once more. Qiyao Wang, sophomore finance major, who is the current president, shared his thoughts on why KIWI was reformed. “I think [KIWI] has limitation[s] for the development in the future, and people will lose passion and energy if we don’t do something…We need to try our best to…give KIWI a bright future,” Wang said. The managements of KIWI have several meetings, resulting in a new structure coming into existence. This new structure has a main principal instead of president and vice-president. There are two big departments—video and paperwork—and three functional departments—public, product, and human resources. Currently, there are two shows produced by the video department, which are by directed and managed by two individuals. For each show, there are 4 sub-departments making the videos: shooting, reporting, editing, and advertising. For the paperwork department, it further separates into six branches, which are fashion, news, travel, interview, study abroad, and official website editing, each part containing a specialized writer and a typesetting staff. “As journalists, what we do is not just make videos, take pictures, or write papers,” Wang continued, “We need to build our own shows and newspapers that [are] worth being spread.”
Working at KIWI can be a challenge for a student. As a KIWI member, a student should be ready to start work whenever the organization needs them. KIWI’s service target is students. Therefore, people can always see KIWI members at large activities on campus, such as the Christmas party, Thanksgiving party, freshman welcome party, etc. Being that all members are students, the most important thing for them is studying, so it is so estimable that they are capable of doing a good job on both sides. Dawei Zheng, sophomore computer science major, said, “KIWI is an organization that has lots of challenges and surprises. I can find a new world and renew myself in KIWI.” KIWI is an amazing place that attracts more and more students to join it, and struggle for to gain membership.
In the past three years, as the only campus media organization, KIWI has grown with Wenzhou-Kean University, and it uses the sight of students to record everything happen on campus. After these events, more things are waiting for them. After shooting department gives the material to editing department, they need to discuss how to edit video together, and after next few days, a new video will be finished. These videos will be showed on televisions around campus, and it will also push notifications to people following the KIWI public account, allowing them to watch on their phones.
KIWI is a unity group, and every member is an indispensable part of the group. In KIWI members’ eyes, the studio is more than a room, it is more like home. “KIWI is a platform of showing ourselves, we can find many friends who have [the] same faith[s] and dream[s], and the feeling of working with them is great,” Fan Gao, a sophomore finance major, said. Through all the members’ hard work and dedication, KIWI received the title “Wenzhou Excellent Organization” in 2014. “KIWI is the first organization [to be] found by students, and it also create [a] campus media society,” Geqiong Wang, the advisor of KIWI, commented. “They use their special sight to discover news on the campus, and experience the different culture of Chinese and American. It is very estimable for a students’ society,” Wang continued.
There is no doubt that with the group of members it has, KIWI will flourish in the future.
