Day 5: Restaurant Review

Review of The Mixx
by Catherine

When you walk into The Mixx, you see eight green chars sitting on the black-and-white tile. On every table there is a small plant and salt and pepper shakers. It's a very modern restaurant; all of the tables and chairs are white. The noise level is good until about 11:45 a.m., and then it gets louder as more people come in.

I ordered a "Create Your Own Sandwich," with a French baguette, smoked ham, pepper jack cheese, cucumbers, and chips. This sandwich reminded me of food I've had at Panera Bread; the sandwiches at Panera are warmed up, though. The sandwich I ordered was pretty good, although I would have liked it to be warmed up. There was also lots of ham in my sandwich and only two cucumbers. The chips were crunchy and had a good amount of sea salt. The sandwiches also had sharp wooden skewers going through them.

Other options at The Mixx include salads, sandwiches, soups, sides, snacks, and wraps. There is also a kids' menu and half sandwich combos. Every meal is under $15, which I think is a fair price. It took a little while for the food to arrive, though, especially compared to the fast service at other sandwich places like Subway or Jimmy John's.

My friend ordered the Pretzel Chicken Sando. She said that she had tasted better foods, but it was good. She also liked the cheese. Another friend made a "Create Your Own Sandwich" and chose smoked ham, American cheese, and French baguette for bread. Brianna thought it was good but cold.

Service:⭐️⭐️

Food:⭐️⭐️⭐️

Atmosphere:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Star code:⭐️Fair,⭐️⭐️good,⭐️⭐️⭐️Excellent,⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Extraordinary

Day 4: KCUR

Teacher’s note: On Thursday, students listened to podcasts and discussed the attributes that make professional podcasts successful. Then they created their own podcasts, focusing on a topic meaningful to them. Students practiced monitoring their volume, pitch, and speed to optimize their vocal deliveries. Here is Catherine's podcast:

Later that day, students toured KCUR studios in Kansas City. As their kind and knowledgeable host, Donna Vestal—director of content strategy—provided background information on public radio introduced the students to KCUR announcer Linda Sher. 

Director of Community Engagement Ron Jones then had each student record a promo for the popular KCUR program Up To Date. You can hear Catherine's promo below.

Day 3: KCPT

Teacher's Note: On Wednesday, students took a tour of the KCPT studios in Kansas City, learning what distinguishes public television from its commercial counterpart. With those differences in mind, each student wrote and directed a public service announcement. Here is Catherine's.

Day 2: KU School of Journalism

BARSTOW STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT JOURNALISM AT UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

LAWRENCE, Kan. — On Tuesday, June 7, seven Media Mania campers went to the KU School of Journalism in Lawrence, Kan. They visited to the Stauffer-Flint building to learn more about journalism and media.

They got a drawstring bag with information about the different parts of journalism from KU Academic Advisor Ashley Gomez. 

When they exited the building, they toured several other buildings on campus related to journalism, like the offices where students produce The Agency, KUJH-TV, and University Daily Kansan. They toured one of the seven libraries, and they saw the Media Crossroads room. 

When the tour was over, the students went back to The Union to have lunch. After the campers were finished with lunch, they took the van back to Barstow.

Mrs. Gomez, the tour guide, has worked as an academic advisor at KU for three years; she has an background in education. Including her days as a student, she has been at KU since 2007. In 2012 she started to "professionally help college students get used to college, and not be homesick," Mrs. Gomez said. She also said that if she had to pick a part in journalism, it would be strategic communication and learning about marketing.

Media Mania camper Brianna liked it when the students went to the library, but she did not like the burned coffee smell. "I learned that there is lots of different parts in journalism," Brianna said.

Camper Stella said, "I like journalism about the same as before." She admitted that she would probably not major in journalism in college. Stella did, however, enjoy seeing the different pets of the KU campus.

Day 1: The Jungle Book Movie Review

A Review of The Jungle Book

by Catherine Z.

During the first part of the movie, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is running from Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). Mowgli grows up with Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) the wolf, and his home is in the jungle. One day Mowgli is told he has to leave the jungle because it isn't safe for him anymore, so he tells the other animals that he is leaving. Shere Khan (Idris Elba) wants to capture and kill Mowgli, and in some spots he gets close. 

In the middle of the movie, when Mowgli is lost in a jungle, he hears a voice belonging to a snake named Kaa (Scarlett Johansson).Then Mowgli meets Baloo (Bill Murray). Baloo saves Mowgli's life, and then Baloo asks him to do a few favors. A little while after that, Bagheera tells Mowgli that he needs to go back to the man village. 

Some monkeys catch Mowgli when he starts to run away from Bagheera and Baloo, and they bring Mowgli to their monkey temple. Then Mowgli gets introduces to King Louie (Christopher Walken). When Mowgli tries to escape the temple, King Louie gets angry and chases him all over the temple, breaking things and knocking them over. Towards the end, the characters are all fighting Shere Khan. 

Overall Jon Favreau did a great job directing the movie. Some parts were scary, but most of them were funny and entertaining. I thought that all of the characters looked realistic and did a great job acting out the characters. The only thing I noticed was sometimes when the characters talked, the lips didn't match up to the voices. 

I would give this movie a 4 out of 5 rating.