Additional Stories Written In College

1. This story ran in the UC News Record this past October.

Rutgers returns to Cincinnati
Matt Knochelman

Published: Thursday, October 9, 2008
Updated: Thursday, October 9, 2008

The past two seasons, the UC football team beat a ranked Rutgers team equipped with star running back Ray Rice. This time, the Scarlet Knights are without Rice and without a national ranking.

The Bearcats are scheduled to play Rutgers in UC’s annual homecoming game at Nippert Stadium Saturday, Oct. 12.
Student tickets are sold out, but the game will be televised on channel 12.
Rutgers leads the all-time series 7-5-1 over the Bearcats, but UC holds a 4-1-1 record over Rutgers at Nippert Stadium.
The Scarlet Knights played well against West Virginia on Saturday, but ended up losing 24 to 17, dropping their record to 1-4.
“Everybody wants to point to their 1-4 record,” said UC head coach Brian Kelly. “I want to point to the fact that in this league they’re 0-1, and they’re one game out of first place. They’ve got good football players and they’re well-coached across the board.”

The Bearcats’ defense will be focused on stopping junior wide receiver Kenny Britt, who caught a career-high 12 passes for 151 yards against the Mountaineers. Britt currently leads the Big East in receptions per game and receiving yards per game. Last year against the Bearcats, Britt had five catches for 92 yards.
The ‘Cats will also be looking to put pressure on fifth-year senior Mike Teel, who with seven interceptions and only three touchdowns, is having a disappointing season compared to the previous two years.
The Rutgers defense held West Virginia’s high-powered offense to 333 yards, its second lowest total of the year. Free safety Courtney Green recorded 13 tackles against West Virginia, one shy of his career high.
Against Rutgers, the Bearcats will look to establish the run. Last week at Marshall, UC gained 236 yards on the ground to help set up their passing game. Jacob Ramsey gained 99 yards on 17 carries, while freshman Isaiah Pead netted 60 yards on 11 carries.
Saturday’s game could have historical significance for UC.
Wide receiver Dominick Goodman needs one receiving touchdown to tie Jim O’Brien for UC’s all-time lead with 21.
And cornerback Mike Mickens’ 12 interceptions is one away from breaking Blue Adam and Jocelyn Borgella’s school record for career interceptions.

2. I wrote this story for an advanced reporting class in December of 2007.
2007 Solar Decathlon

The first ever Solar Decathlon was held in 2002 and was sponsored by the Department of Energy. The DOE’s third ever Solar Decathlon took place between October 12 and 20, 2007 at Washington D.C.’s National Mall. The results of the competition were revealed on Friday October 19, with Germany’s Technische Universität Darmstadt coming in first place. The University of Maryland came in second place, followed by Santa Clara University in third. “I want to congratulate this year’s Solar Decathlon champion Technische Universitat Darmstadt and the 19 other teams for their innovative designs and application of solar technologies. The Solar Decathlon is a great demonstration of the ways in which technology, science and design can be blended in the production of net-zero-energy homes,” Department of Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said. “Promoting the early commercialization of solar and other energy efficient technologies will help secure America’s clean energy future.”
The University of Cincinnati, which took place in its first-ever Solar Decathlon, wound up finishing 15th out of 20 teams. UC student Terron Austin helped cover the event for the News Record. His basic tasks were to talk to visitors and newcomers. He was also, “assigned to report on innovations, new equipment, heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems.” Austin did not find the results discouraging. “I was actually not surprised,” said Austin. “I expected them to make it into the top ten, (but) there were other circumstances the judges were looking for.”
Teams in the competition were judged on ten different aspects. Architecture was worth 200 points, while engineering and market viability were each worth 150 points. Communications, comfort zone, appliances, hot water, lighting, energy balance, and getting around were each worth 100 points. UC scored 5th overall in architecture with 181 points, and earned a perfect score of 100 in energy balance. Overall, the UC solar house scored 830.865 out of a possible 1200 points. The first place German team scored 1024.85 points and earned a perfect score in four different categories, including energy balance.
UC’s 3 goals for this competition were to transform the way people think about dwelling and energy efficiency, inform how its energy systems work, and perform as a work of art. The house runs off of 68% solar thermal energy and 32% electric energy. According to UC’s Solar Decathlon website, solar.uc.edu, “The singularly greatest innovation in our house is the complex system that uses evacuated tubes to create hot water. The entire south face of our house is covered in fifteen Sunda Seido 2-8 Evacuated Tube arrays. Seido 2 tubes were chosen for their superior thermal performance, flow-through design and availability in the United States…In colder months, warm water will also flow through a radiant floor, gradually heating the house comfortably from the ground up. The radiant floor provides an even distribution of heat and fairly constant temperatures with respect to time. The radiant floor will minimize heating demand from the fan coil unit, which makes for a more comfortable living environment without the unsettling effect of air blowing around.”
The solar house features a monitoring system to verify that the various electrical, heating, and cooling systems are working correctly. The house is also very cost effective and easy to transport. It is also easy affordable to upgrade. UC’s solar house has 4 distinct upgradeable versions: the Simply Green, which is the starter model and priced at about $340 per square foot; the Temperately Tubed, which is upgraded by added thermal heating and cooling for about $443 per square foot; the Premium Panel, which contains solar PV panels for electrical and thermal power and costs around $439 per square foot; and the Solar Supreme version, which would include solar electrical and thermal energy systems for $542 per square foot. All of these features made the UC house an interesting and unique addition to this year’s Solar Decathlon.
Regardless of the final results, this was definitely a great learning experience for the UC students who took place in this event. “It opened my eyes that these types of competitions are important to the future of eco-housing living,” said Austin. “In a very short amount of time, we could be living in solar houses.” Asked if UC is likely to compete in the next Solar Decathlon, set to take place in 2009, Austin said, “As far as I know, I believe so, but I’m not positive. I would hope they are interested and want to win.”

3. I wrote this story for a Columns and Reviews class, which was taught by the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jim Knippenberg, in May 2007.

In Cincinnati, football is over until July. The Bengals finished a rather disappointing season by losing their last three games to Super Bowl champion Indianapolis, Denver, and hated rival Pittsburgh. The Bearcat football team capped off one of the best seasons in team history with a 27-24 win over Western Michigan in the inaugural International Bowl. The Bearcat men’s basketball team, which hasn’t won a game in over a month, might as well just forfeit the rest of their games. Cincinnati doesn’t have an NBA or NHL team. That leaves us with baseball.
Spring training has begun, and hopes are high all around Major League Baseball. I’m generally interested in baseball up until the All-Star break, when NFL mini-camps open and my focus once again turns to football. Nonetheless, it’s only February and the Reds are about to begin playing.
Last year wasn’t too bad for the Reds, who finished 80-82, barely missing the playoffs in the horrid National League Central. Who won the World Series? The St. Louis Cardinals, the Reds division rival who barely edged the Reds out of the playoff race with an 83-78 regular season record. This just shows that no matter how mediocre a team is during the regular season, they can always heat up in October and win it all. That’s a good sign for the Reds, who have continued to improve over the past couple of seasons.
Pitching has always been a problem for the Reds, but second-year General Manager Wayne Krivsky has helped the cause by resigning top pitchers Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo. This may also be the year that top-rated pitching prospect Homer Bailey makes the transition from the minor leagues to the majors.
A few other major transactions have been made so far this off-season. Catcher Jason LaRue (who couldn’t hit a single if his life depended on it) was traded to awful Kansas City for a player to be named later. Newly acquired shortstop Alex Gonzalez, left-handed reliever Mike Stanton, and utility man Jeff Conine should all have positive impacts in the upcoming season. The Reds also picked up outfielder Josh Hamilton, the number 1 overall pick in the 1999 draft. Hamilton succumbed to drug addiction shortly after being drafted by Tampa Bay, but went through rehab and is now clean. It’s just a matter of whether or not he can still play up to the standards that surrounded him in 1999. Manager Jerry Narron said, “I don’t think there’s anybody here with the combination of power and speed and throwing arm.”
In addition to these new faces, returning players include: catcher David Ross, first baseman Scott Hatteberg, second baseman Brandon Phillips, shortstop Juan Castro, third basemen Edwin Encarnacion, and outfielders Adam Dunn, Ryan Freel, Chris Denorfia, and Ken Griffey Jr.
The team is definitely in much better shape under second-year owner Bob Castellini than it was under penny-pinching Carl Lindner. Castellini knows how to win. He also knows what he wants. He cleaned house and brought in his own staff. He’s not afraid to make a move. He’s backed by a good GM in Krivsky, and a manager the players can relate to in Jerry Narron. I feel that a new wave is here. No more fourth and fifth place finishes for the Reds anymore. This is a new era in Cincinnati. The Bengals have already been turned around by Marvin Lewis. The whole city has come to rally around them. Now, it’s time for the same transition to happen to the Reds.