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Pollen Takes Toll on Students' Health

By: Alex Wilts, Becca Gamache, and Shelby Tauber

Every spring is allergy season here in Texas. Oak trees, the heaviest pollinating trees in Austin, begin pollination in March with peak levels usually around April 1st. The increase in pollen concentrations in the air directly affects people's allergies, leading to more appointments made at UT's University Health Services and a greater consumption of allergy medications.

Story Idea

Story Idea:

Our story is going to be about the pollen increase in Austin during the spring seasons over the last few years. According to authorities, the increase may be due to warming Earth temperatures and it has been reported that pollen levels will continue to escalate during the next decade. More pollen also has a greater effect on people’s allergies.

Structure of the story:

• Start off by attempting to show the large amount of pollen everywhere on campus (on cars, on the ground, in people’s hair, etcetera)
• Maybe take a few shots of people struggling with allergies
• Introduce our topic through text and interviews
• Bring up how the spring season may not be so great for some because of the way the pollen affects their allergies
• Tie it into the ecological view that the pollen is increasing because of global warming
• Suggest some ways that people can deal with their allergies and give tips on little things people can do to attempt to slow down the current rate of global warming

Video/Text Component:

We could use text to describe the statistics of the pollen increase and how many people today live with allergies. The images we show will add to the text because recording outdoors can be visually stimulating. We just hope that will be able to get good shots that will do the amount of pollen justice.

Potential organizations/subjects to interview:

1. University Health Services- They could give us more information on the number of students that are going in to get prescribed allergy medication. They could also have tips for the audience on ways to deal with allergies.
2. A professor that has knowledge on the topic of how pollen levels are being affected by rising Earth temperatures- They would be able to give more insight into this issue.
3. A student affected by allergies- The audience would be able to hear perspectives on how the pollen is hurting students.  

Soundslide Post

https://webspace.utexas.edu/reb2777/publish_to_web/index.html

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Alex's Friends

• My name: Alex Wilts

• Partner #1's name: Estefania De Leon
• Estefania is a first-year journalism major from Austin, TX. Her favorite band is Owl City and she loves the color pink. Also, ironically, she has a fascination with owls.
• Her favorite news sites are The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and The Associated Press.

• Partner #2's name: Becca Gamache
• Becca is a second-year journalism major from College Station, TX. Including Texas, she has also lived in Wyoming, Virginia, and Montana. Immediately after moving to College Station in 2005, she determined that she was never meant to be an Aggie. That is why she is here today, sitting to the left of me, in J302F. 
• Her favorite news sites are CNN and The Daily Texan.