Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Virtual Career Skype Tour: Our Talk with Kristan Cunningham


This week we kick started our Virtual Skype Career Tour with the very own HGTV star, Kristan Cunningham. Kristan is the former host of Design on a Dime and is now working on a new show that will air on the OWN Network.


Our call started with a brief introduction, where Kristan outlined her educational background and work experiences. For the remainder of the call, we interviewed Kristan about skills and preparation needed to the perks and challenges of her career. Before the call, we researched expectations in the arts field and came up with specific questions for interior designing.

Throughout the call, we had different Skype jobs. The three main jobs were super stars, question keepers, and blog writers. The super stars were in charge of answering the call as well as greeting and interviewing our guest. The question keepers kept track of the questions being asked and came up with any questions that may have come up during the call. The blog writers were responsible for taking notes of key points that could be mentioned in this blog post.

Here are some things that we learned about Kristan Cunningham:
  • She always wanted to be an interior designer. She has subscribed to design magazines since she was 11.
  • She has worked in television for 10 years.
  • She now lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband and two dogs; Beans and Floyd.
  • She has helped with Habitat for Humanity.
  • She likes her career because she enjoys helping people and making a difference in their lives.
  • She gets her inspiration from all kinds of things and people around her.
  • She prefers magazines to blogs for finding inspiration for her designs.
Here is what we learned about interior design:
  • There is a difference between being a decorator and an interior designer. You need to go to school to become an interior designer.
  • It is important to have a passion in this field.
  • Math is really important in this field.
  • There is no typical day in the life of an interior designer, especially if you’re a star like Kristan is!


Here are some videos of our interview:






We were even featured on the local news! 



5 comments:

  1. Wow! What a powerful way to use Skype. Way to go!

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  2. Mrs. Musone,
    Thanks for your comment. We had a great time during the Skype call with Kristan Cunningham and learned a lot from her.

    Sincerely,

    6th Grade REACH Rocketeers

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  3. That's awesome! I absolutely love HGTV :) So far my class has skyped with my mom (our intro to Skype), a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a friend of mine who is in Law school to talk about both education/college and rules/laws. I hope to connect with some exciting high-profile people just like you! How were you able to connect with Kristan?

    Thanks!

    (-@gringaorgullosa)

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  4. I love seeing what you are doing with Skype! I teach in Pennsylvania. Maybe I'll be able to start getting my kids to connect with people around the world, too. (Though I don't think my district uses Skype).

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  5. Dear Ms. D. and class,

    What a fabulous experience! I enjoyed reading about the different roles you had during the SKYPE and I also like that you learned so much from the call! Ms. D., you have done a wonderful job with SKYPE, and I hope we can connect our classes soon! You looked fantastic on the local news, too!

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