New website shares stories of the fall 2019 Madison flood

April 29, 2020

For their Publishing for New Media class, four Dakota State students wanted to create a project of value for the community of Dakota State and Madison. After a brainstorming session, they decided to make a website featuring stories from the fall 2019 flood in Madison. 

Travis Krakow, Jessi Giles, Noah Schuldt, and Jaclynn Rogers felt it was a great way to learn more about the community of Madison. The also believed it was crucial to document life-changing events like the flood. 

“It’s important to document historic events so that we can remember what happened, both the good and the bad,” said Giles, an English for new media major from Madison, S.D., graduating in May 2022. 

“Catastrophes like that appear in the news, and it’s easy to distance yourself from it, but when it happens in your neighborhood and impacts people you see every single day, it’s a very different experience to the process,” Rogers added. “Personally, I think when something like the flood happens, we should hear from as many people as we can to gain the clearest picture we can.” 

To do this, the group created a spreadsheet of people they could interview about the flood and tried to choose people who would be insightful; each chose a few people to contact. 

The students published 11 stories to the website, complete with photos and links to regional media coverage of the flood. These stories included talking with the Madison Fire Department, speaking with people whose homes flooded, and talking with those who helped with the cleanup.  

Throughout the interviews, and as they wrote their stories, one thing became apparent to all of them – “The Madison Community does stick together to help each other,” said Travis Krakow, an English for new media major from Flandreau, S.D., who is graduating in May 2021. 

To collaborate on the creation of a WordPress website, the group utilized Google Drive, where all the documents, photos, and even audio files from interviews were stored. This gave everyone access all the time, according to Rogers. She is an English for new media major from Miller. S.D., set to graduate in May 2021. 

The students also appreciated the skills they learned through creating this project. “I learned a lot about publishing websites and how to interview people,” said Noah Schuldt, English education major from Sioux Falls, S.D., graduating in May 2021.