CAP. ‘Communication Arta Brograrn Assignment/Activity Title — CAP POTUS ‘Year — Sophomore Portfolio Competency — Media and Communications Skills) — Writing, Interviews, Communications CAP POTUS was a presidential campaign simulation, devised to culminate the information that we learmed in AP Government and to close off the year with a bang, Quite honestly, it was the best project that I've ever done. It was a free-moving interdisciplinary, and although the teachers devised the assignment to begin with, they allowed the students to take complete control. Independents enced up running for president, there were allegations and claims against each news publication and campaign, and one politician even collapsed on the floor of our editing room. I was a writer for the Padmore Post, the conservative-Ieaning newspaper. Although I was originally supposed to be on the broadeast staff, I will be writing for Chips next year and wanted to join my fellow writers. Our goal was to create a fully-formed newspaper to be delivered to students outside of CAP 10 to provide them with enough information to vote for a presidential candidate. This week was full of surprises, and I enjoyed my role as an investigative reporter immensely! ‘The week began slowly and there wasn’t much to write about. We had general features om the candidates and summaries of the daily press release. With the Pete Buttigieg scandal, where the politician claimed to be receiving threats from the Elizabeth Warren campaign, Buttigieg ended up being slapped with a lawsuit from his opposition I represented him in court, which was nearly impossible, given that this assignment was a simulation and neither side had enough evidence to prove anything, Overall, the responsibility for the newspaper staff was to be the connection between the politicians and the people. Throughout the week, we used our online newspaper to publish daily articles and used our ‘Twitter to advertise and look for scoops. We had to write stries, interview the politicians and get quotes from those most relevant o the article, and communicate with those around us. Running a functioning newsroom could have become overwhelming, but our Editor in Chief was able to keep us organized and focused. I was proud of both products that we created - a comprehensive online news source that summarized the entire week, and the print newspaper, which focused on the most important events. Both were well-written, and the print newspaper included the best article that I wrote, from ‘one of the conservative events that week. Throughout POTUS, our newspaper used various strategies to find necessary information. We recorded conversations in the opposing newsroom and stole one of their lanyards to film a video that incriminated theit writers. Using information that we found, about collusion and breaking into the Warren headquarters, we were able to get their Editor-in-Chief suspended for a period of time. Throughout the process, our newspaper strived to find the most inside information about the politicians in order to provide the best communication with our audience. This project has allowed me to focus on a topic that I love: political journalism. I have so many competing interests that I worry about choosing one in college and in the future, However, Tove to write, and this project allowed me to further explore freelancing for local newspapers. I know that this is something I want to pursue in the future, C A / f A Cnibc Uc litte ‘Student Signature (Print hére: E rnil j¢ Vig ta d Date &/1Z/ Z C/iz{14 Date Teacher Signature