Kaeli Conforti

Published Materials: 

As part of a project for my feature writing class, I attended Megacon, a sci-fi convention held in Orlando every year. To better understand why people chose to spend so much time, effort and money dressing up in character for the event, I allowed a group of students to dress me up - as Catwoman for the first day, then as Superman's Lois Lane for the remainder of the weekend. In this photo, I am interviewing a man dressed from head to toe as Chewbacca from Star Wars. How many reporters do you know have interviewed Superman, Batman, The Joker and Chewbacca all in one weekend?

The following link will take you to a photo-blog I created as an alternate story form for my feature writing class in Spring of 2009. I took all the photos, wrote captions and provided a brief blog entry during each day of the event to give my photos some context.

 http://megacon2009.weebly.com/index.html

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These are just a few of the articles I edited, formatted photos, and produced as a Freelance Travel Blog Editor for Tripbase.com.

10 Volunteer Programs that will Improve Your Leadership Skills

8 Beautiful Books that will Make You Weep

6 Reasons Why I Won't Go Back to Moscow

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Here are the stories I published during my Online Editorial Internship with Budget Travel. The following were picked up by MSNBC and featured in the "Overhead Bin" on msnbc.com.

How to do Broadway on a budget

5 U.S. theme parks for under $50

How safe is your hotel room safe?

Finally, tacky tourist photos available to all

This summer, travel with your little one--and you're sanity

12 Great Memorial Day Getaways

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Here are three stories I've published for AOL City's Best Tampa, a new online directory for the best entertainment, restaurants, events and nightlife in the Tampa Bay Area.

Country Line Dancing Bars in Tampa Bay

Try Your Hand at Tampa Gambling

Best Places to Snag a Cheap Dance Lesson

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Here is the link to my page on Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's blog, The Daily Loaf, where I wrote travel stories about things to do in and around the Tampa Bay area. 

Published Clips:

Where's the Love? Are women outgrowing romance?

Play tourist at the Museum of Science and Industry, where you'll battle hurricane force winds, a bed of nails, and The Ultimate Wave.

Strolling through Safety Harbor: the Third Friday Music Series, history museum, farmer's market, Philippe Park and more.

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Here is a story I published on the website for Oprah's Angel Network about the personal challenge I hope will inspire others to donate $25 every month to different charities.

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The following articles were published in The Crow's Nest, the official student newspaper of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. 

Meningitis shot mandatory for campus residents

Over the Thanksgiving holiday break, University of South Florida students received letters and e-mails regarding a change in the University’s vaccination policy.

 As of January 2008, it will be mandatory for all students living on any USF campus to be immunized against meningococcal (bacterial) meningitis.

 Students living in Residence Hall One last fall were required to show documentation of their vaccination before returning at the start of this semester. All new contracts for the spring and those starting for fall 2008 must also include proof of vaccination.

 This requirement is mandatory for all students living in the residence hall regardless of any personal or religious reasons concerning vaccinations.

Please click on the link below to view the story in its entirety.

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Chess club offers students the chance to rekindle their love of the game

 Has it been a long time since you played a really good game of chess? Would you like to learn how to play? Why wait? Just check out the Chess Club at USF St. Petersburg.

 The Chess Club meets in the Davis Lobby every Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. where students are welcomed to practice their skills, challenge each other to a good game or learn how to play for the first time.

 “Anybody who always wanted to play, I can teach you in 15 minutes,” Robert S. Forman III, junior, economics major, said. “As a club, it’s set up so that you can just stop by and play a game or two. You don’t need any experience.”

 Forman, who has been involved with chess “for quite some time,” has a special talent: He is able to play against 20 people at the same time.

Please click on the link below to view the story in its entirety.

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Students Catch a Wave in Costa Rica

 Some students travel to popular ski lodges to enjoy the slopes during winter break or travel out of state to visit family for the holidays. Others go surfing.

 The group of nine students, most of whom were members of the USF St. Petersburg Board Club, spent twelve days basking in the sunlight of Quepos, Costa Rica, along the northern Pacific coast, practicing their surfing skills and enjoying the scenery.

Please click on the link below to view the story in its entirety.

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Here are some design layouts I created for my news design class in spring of 2009. 

This was the front page of a newspaper I created. We were told to design the layout, write the headlines, choose the pictures from an AP photo database and fit in stories from various news organizations to practice allignment and enhance visual appeal.

This is the link to the 24 page travel magazine I created for my design class. I took all the photos (except the last one, which is credited), wrote all the copy & designed all the layouts. I have posted the magazine in PDF format below if you'd prefer to view it that way. Welcome to Totally Travel!

http://en.calameo.com/read/000043762347b9af9cfde

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The following link will lead you to a page featuring all the stories I've written for The Crow's Nest Blog.

http://usfcrowsnest.wordpress.com/author/kaeliconforti/

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The following link will take you to a travel blog I started in early 2009. I posted any travel related stories I've written for the school newspaper, and I plan to expand my blogging opportunities as I travel more this summer.

http://totallytravel.wordpress.com/

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This link will take you to my latest blog. It's my way of sharing my thoughts, ideas, worries, wishes and humorous ramblings with the rest of the world, basically following my post-graduate activities.

http://willwrite4food2.wordpress.com/

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The following link will take you to my Photobucket account, which features photographs I've taken at events ranging from the Joe Biden rally at USF Tampa to personal photos taken during trips to Blairsville and Savannah, Georgia; St. Augustine, Florida; and various parts of Italy.

 http://s658.photobucket.com/albums/uu302/kaeliconforti/

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