Mass Media - Butler Community College, El Dorado, Kansas

		Butler Community College sophomore Chris Neal has photographed President George W. Bush, Senator Barack Obama, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company Alan Mulally and the wake of destruction left behind after a tornado virtually demolished Greensburg, Kan. The photo assignment that stands out most vividly in his mind, though, is standing in the blizzard-like weather while wearing a trash bag over his body and camera, capturing images of the Butler Grizzlies' NJCAA victory over Snow College in Utah last December. Chris, a Wichita East graduate, said he knew "from the get-go" that Butler was the school for him. "I felt like they really wanted me to be there," he said. In his freshman year, Chris started off as a photographer for Butler's Grizzly magazine, but found himself shooting pictures and writing stories for the Lantern newspaper, too. By his second semester, he'd taken an interest in leadership and was named editor of the magazine. In April, the Kansas Associated Collegiate Press (KACP) named him Journalist of the Year - a prize not typically bestowed upon a freshman - and he took home eight of the 18 awards earned by the journalism department this year.
Chris Neal Class of 2009 "Before coming to Butler, I didn't see myself getting Journalist of the Year as a freshman."