The History of the Hocking River

            People never stop and look at what is right in front of them when they set off to college. At the Ohio University there is just so much history surrounding the campus from the buildings, monuments, and landmarks that are full with new found desires. Every weekend I wake up and head off to work at the Applebee’s in Athens but because I’m a freshman I have to ride my bike. I take the bike path that surrounds the university and there is where I found my inspiration for my  promotional piece, The Hocking River.  After a while of riding alongside it and never thinking, we got the topic in English and I knew this could be the chance to find out a lot of history about the river itself. So I had to think, “What would be the best way to promote the Hocking River?” In high school I was in a lot of computer classes that taught me how to use PowerPoint, so I took that in to consideration and started on my promotional piece. With this in mind I decided to promote the Hocking River, with a PowerPoint to show its important history. With this all in mind I had to figure out a way to grab the attention of my audience. “Who is my Audience?” that all I asked myself for a long time and how can I make it interesting for them. I want them to see and understand what OU has to offer with the history that encompasses it. People sometimes overlook what’s right in front of them, like me when I would drive to work alongside the River every weekend and never realize till I started this promotional piece. So with this and the PowerPoint I will make everyone see the True history of Ohio University.

            The PowerPoint takes people through the history of the Hocking River from the early 1800’s to the river that I drive alongside every weekend. The first slide would be my title slide just to show my audience the topic of my piece. The color choice I used was to have a darker background with lighter color words to be able to see and read the materials a lot earlier. The background is in all shades of blue colors for the water that the Hocking River contains. Each slide contains a picture of the river or the riverbank and history that I thought was interesting. Because the river has been around for a very long time I decided to put the PowerPoint in chronological order to better understand the piece. Each slide will take you through the history of the Hocking River by the pictures that I have chosen and the information. The PowerPoint is like a timeline to show students that past and the present of the river that they might never know without this piece. The background song is called “No Handlebars” by the Flobots, I picked this song because it reminds me of riding a bike on a Saturday morning. Which I do every weekend to go to work so I thought it was fitting for this project.

            Because all the history on the Hocking River, researching was not that difficult. “Hokhokken” or "Hokhochen" were the names that the Native Americans called the Hocking River when they came across it many years ago. When reading the article “ Hocking River: Facts and Discussion”, because of the consent flooding on OU campus the Army Core of engineers re-channel the river during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The beautiful river is also surrounded by the bike trail that goes around the campus that is for the scenic views. This allows people from all over to walk and see the Hocking Rivers outstanding sites. Because it’s a promotional piece I use some of this information to grab my audiences and bring them in to the piece I hope with this and my PowerPoint I am doing such that.

            Hocking River surrounds Ohio University with history from all decades. You can visit it at all hours of the day and take great pictures for parents whose son or daughters are not from Ohio. I chose the Hocking River for my promotional piece for many different reasons. I used this PowerPoint to promote this piece to show the hocking river and the important history. With this said this piece will grab the audience and make them see the history that this beautiful place has to offer. Most students don’t ride on the bike trail everyday like I do, so I felt that it was my duty to promote and show people the history behind the Hocking River and the effects it has on the campus itself.