This is the first AP of our Senior year Humanities class, Journalism. In this unit, we learned all about Investigative Journalism, and what it takes to be a Journalist, as well as, a responsible reader. Some of the main topics we discussed were critical thinking, fact-checking, the risks of being a Journalist, facts vs. opinions, and news literacy - being able to interpret the news and know the difference between credible news sources, and noncredible ones. We also learned about the Inverted Pyramid and Good News Values, which essentially lay out the basics for writing a good investigative article. The Inverted Pyramid outlines that a good article has, 1st - A "lead", which is the most important information and usually includes 1-2 paragraphs and a hook, 2nd - "The Body", which is the crucial information and it includes the argument, controversy, story, issue, background (evidence, details, logic, etc), and quotes, and 3rd - "The Tail", which is the extra information and it includes interesting and related topics to create context. Additionally, Good News Values is news that includes accuracy, independence, impartiality, humanity, and accountability.
For this AP, we chose a topic that we deemed relevant in our neighborhood and conducted investigations to support that topic, by interviewing people that would be affected by it. Below, you will see my project, which focuses on my neighborhood, Edgewater, and how its differences before vs. after college students move in, are viewed by local residents, either negatively or positively. Enjoy!
How do College Students affect Neighborhood Residents?
Edgewater is a northern
Chicago neighborhood, and it sits in between downtown, and
Evanston. There are nice parks, shops, and a lot of little activities to do. It typically tends to be rather quiet, except for the heavy noise of Sheridan traffic, but the overall environment is peaceful, especially due to the number of kids and schools in the area. Occasionally, areas around the train will have a little more disruption, but for the most part, nothing seems too bothersome. Edgewater is also home to
Loyola University Chicago.
It’s September, the glory of summer has nearly passed, as well as the surrounding peace and quiet in this neighborhood. All of the college students have settled in their dorms and apartments, and have begun living their college life. The average undergrad student population at Loyola in 2020, was close to 12,000 students, according to
usnews.com. Additionally,
80% of those students live in one of the many housing structures that the campus provides. The rest either live in nearby apartments or commute. So, due to this influx of students, there tends to be a disruption in the neighborhood of Edgewater, every time September rolls around.
The rest of this article focuses on identifying the effects (negative or positive) that incoming Loyola students have on the neighborhood each year, and how local residents feel about it. So, based on what we know about how many students join each year, two interviews were conducted, talking to residents of the area about their experience, every September.
The main subject was a woman with the initials of K.T. The primary quote that was received from her, was a response to whether or not she felt that the influx of students affects the neighborhood. She stated, "Yes, I believe that they do affect the neighborhood. In some ways positively, from the perspective that they increase and support the local economy, but there is also a negative impact, because they cause more pollution, partying, and some other issues as well." She then went on to explain how every weekend, there are multiple parties, throughout the neighborhood and in her apartment building, which becomes a noise disturbance. Additionally, she mentioned how there is constantly trash in front of their dorms and in the local parks, as well as around her building. She mentioned that a fix for that might be to work with the University to create local trash-cleanup days, where the whole neighborhood participates, including the students.
Though she seemed to mainly point out their negative impacts, she did also mention how a majority of the students do bring, "a fun and young perspective that uplifts the neighborhood". She consented to her full interview being recorded and included in this article, so you can listen to it below, as well as a second person's interview, with the initials of C.G.M.
2021. K.T. recorded interview. MEM
2021. C.G.M. recorded interview. MEM
A majority of C.G.M's answers were similar to K.T.'s, however, he generally seemed to have a more positive perspective on the students' presence in the neighborhood. One statement he made was, "...They create more activity and energy - there are more people walking around and going to restaurants." He also mentioned how they boost the local economy every year, which Loyola University actually
encourages. Many students participated in conducting a study of how much money going into local vs. chain businesses, affects local neighborhoods and jobs. The study concluded that, "$1 million spent at chain restaurants produces about $600,000 in additional local economic activity and supports 10 jobs. Spending $1 million at local restaurants, meanwhile, generates over $900,000 in added local economic activity and supports 15 jobs." He concluded that they do disrupt the silence in the neighborhood, but in a positive way, as opposed to in a negative way, "when you get past the trash and constant noise".
All in all, based on the interviews, it is safe to say that Loyola students have neither just a negative or positive impact on the neighborhood, but rather, a combination. While it is agreed that they contribute to the disturbances, such as lingering trash issues and partying, they do help to stabilize the local businesses, which in turn, creates more job opportunities.
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