Part 1:

My name is Kayla Nunez and I am from Hot Springs, Arkansas.  I moved to Fayetteville in the spring of 2016 and began studying at the University of Arkansas.

After several tries, I finally found a major I loved and wanted to stick with.  When I first came to the U of A, I was a history major, then it switched to American Studies.  I finally decided that even though I loved history, it wasn’t the field I wanted to work in once I graduated.

My brother is a journalism major here at the U of A and he told me he thought I’d really enjoy journalism.  I had always been interested in the profession but I had never considered it something I would be good at.

After giving it some thought, I decided that journalism would be perfect for me.  I switched my major to journalism and I’m so glad I did.

I am a senior and I am so excited to be part of this year’s Lemke Digital Media Lab.

I have many hobbies but my favorites include traveling, hiking, listening to music, going to concerts and taking photos of nature.  I also really enjoy Netflix, but who doesn’t?

The only journalism experience I have so far is taking journalism classes.  I’m looking forward to the opportunities presented through the Lemke Digital Media Lab.

I have zero data experience.  Excel is frightening.  Hopefully this semester will help me get over my fear of Excel.

The best story I’ve ever written was my Enterprise Story from News Reporting I.  I wrote a story about vinyl records becoming popular among millennials.  I had so much fun researching and reporting that story.

Part 2:

It was interesting seeing how data is used in the media today.  It’s important that journalists know how to incorporate the data that has been collected into their stories.  Graphs can be made into some pretty cool visuals.