Our Dreams Are Different

After countless hours, lots of coffee, and very little sleep, Soul of Athens 2011 is here! In just ten weeks, a team of students managed to put together audio, video and photographic content, unique design elements, multimedia packages, and complex graphics into a cohesive website and iPad app. Everyone involved had a common goal which was to create pieces and platforms that would best tell the stories of people around the region who are re-defining their personal changing American Dreams. And now, all of the many hours spent on Soul of Athens 2011 are worth it!! We can’t forget a special shout out to the web team who haven’t slept in the past few days! Congratulations everyone and check out the amazing content at: www.soulofathens.com

The web design team works late into the night rolling toward a midnight launch of this year’s Soul of Athens project.

School of Visual Communication interactive design majors Matt Spolar, right, and Aaron Wentt, go over source code minutes before launching Soul of Athens 2011.

Kiersten Bonifant, Ian McNair, Midori Sakurai, and John Koches work over the site minutes before launch.

Dania Maxwell

daniapatricia@gmail.com

2^nd Year Grad Student in Photojournalism

Is this the first time you participated in Soul of Athens? If not, how many years have you been involved?

This is my second year in SoA.

Give a short description of your project for Soul of Athens.

This year I participated as a senior producer.

Tell us about your experience working on Soul of Athens this year.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect both with myself and the stories in my group. Both aspects definitely surprised me. The stories in my group really amazed me, and I’m excited to see them out in the world.

Looking back, what would you have done differently?

It’s hard to tell. Some people want more help and others want less. I was coming in on the producer side for the first time, so it was all new to me. If I were to do it again, I’d have a lot more experience to help me.

While spending long hours working on Soul of Athens, what was your food of choice?

Turkey Havarti sandwich from Pharmacy & Annie’s Mac and Cheese. Does coffee count?