Final Project Idea

I wasn't in class last Wednesday when people got into groups to discuss final project ideas. I am pretty bummed I missed this class because I think it would have been really helpful to me since I am currently struggling between two ideas. Hopefully this blog will be able to provide me with some feedback (if anyone reads my blog, feel free to give me suggestions!). Here is one idea- I decided to focus on both a bigger issue and a more of a feature story. For the bigger issue I thought of, "Healthy Families" which is a home visiting program for low income pregnant women. A nursing student at UNH that I know, participated in this program this summer and said that most of the women she assisted were teenagers. She said it was a real "eye-opener" experience and realized how naive most young adults have towards the subject. I would like to be able to speak with one of the nurses of this program, the student who experienced it, and talk to someone who relies on the program and hopefully get good photographs and video there, this might be a stretch because I am not sure how willing someone would be able to speak to me about this. If that didn't work, I could approach it on the angle like my friend said- the lack of education/ or what schools are trying to do to prevent this. I still need to narrow it down, but I think this could be both an interesting and relevant story since proper sexual education or lack their of is an issue. I also tried to think of a smaller story, one that focused on someone or something interesting within the area. Being a local of NH and growing up here my entire life, the 13.6 miles of coastline is the most important part of NH for me. With this, I decided to focus on a more "at home" story. I know of two brothers that right out of college started their own surf shop in Rye, NH, called Summer Sessions, and they pass on the tradition they learned growing up to young kids every summer. They came from a humble background, their mom had sold things in order for the boys to buy their own surf boards. They represent a true "NH surfer"...which could be laughed at if you were a surfer on the West Coast who would say there is no surfing in NH. I know their isn't really a story element to it yet, but I think once I do a little research and talk to the boys I could find it. There is also an environmental issue at hand as well, as they try to expand the beaches and make them more "touristy" attractive. I am not sure if I would want the story to focus on surfing, but like I said, with a little more research I think I could find something else more there. But I like the idea of finding a local story that is part of an everyday NH or UNH student life but isn't always brought to attention. Let me know what you think !