“University of Akron students Jamie Reeves, Z-TV News Source producer and Becca Gruccio, Z-TV News Source reporter, returned from Denver, Colorado Friday after reporting on the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The entire experience was absolutely amazing, Reeves said.”
“

University of Akron students Jamie Reeves, Z-TV News Source producer and Becca Gruccio, Z-TV News Source reporter, returned from Denver, Colorado Friday after reporting on the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

The entire experience was absolutely amazing, Reeves said.

The DNC was held at the Pepsi Convention Center where multiple democrats spoke, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and Democratic Vice President nominee Joe Biden. Their speeches led up to Barack Obama’s formal acceptance of the Democratic Nomination of President.

As the first African-American nominee of a major political party, Obama’s historic acceptance was witnessed by over 70, 000 people at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech.

His presence on stage was so powerful, and even though I don’t agree with Obama on a lot of issues, I must commend him for doing an incredible job, Reeves said. It was amazing to witness such a historic event.

I thought his speech was very impressive, Gruccio said.

The pair traveled to the four day convention to report on the events while offering a local perspective. They maintained a blog that they updated every day that included both video and text. They also partnered with PBS which aired their two minute video of the events daily.

The reporters from Z-TV met and spoke with Ohio delegates and local political figures such as Mayor Don Plusquellic and Senator Sherrod Brown. They also had the chance to take snap shots of celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Hayden Panettiere and Susan Sarandon.

Reeves’ and Gruccio’s experience at the DNC may have been grueling work with long hours and little sleep, but they admit that it was all worth it to be a part of an event that has changed history.

We definitely had to work hard every day to get things done, but just being able to experience everything that the convention had to offer made it all worth it, Reeves said.

The convention was a lot of work, Gruccio said. It was so exciting, crazy, hectic, overwhelming but definitely a once in a life time experience.

Reeves and Gruccio stressed the importance of students getting involved with this historic election.

If Obama wins, he will be the first African-American president, and if McCain wins, Sarah Palin will be the first female vice president.  That alone should be enough to convince students to go out and get involved, or at least vote, Reeves said.

Who wouldn’t want to be able to say that they had a hand to play in history?

It is our generation that needs to have the say in this because we are basically the deciding generation, obviously our economy is not where it should be and we all can see that in the prices of tuition, daily gas prices, things that affect us, Gruccio said. Something needs to done.

They added that even if students don’t take action to get involved in this election, they should still be acquainted with each candidate and the issues and policies and register to vote.

It’s definitely important for students to vote and really figure out what they want because it’s our future, Gruccio said.

To see more of their adventures at the Democratic National Convention, check out their blog at ztvnewssource.blogspot.com.

“