It's always a big deal when the president comes to town to address a graduating class. In Connecticut today, President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's 130th commencement.

To advance the event, The Bulletin opted to do something different with an alternative story format and photo illustration — both with great success.

Staff writer James Mosher wrote one heck of an informative piece on Obama's visit. The story could have been a traditioinal form, but Mosher took another tack. He broke down his story into nice easy pieces.

Beginning with the introduction, Mosher included information on Obama's first visit to the academy, his arrival by Air Force one, traffic restrictions, weather and extra buzz around his arrival.

Mosher's "what's on his mind" item mentions that it was only three weeks ago that Obama authorized the raid on Osama bin Laden. Mosher also mentions the NCAA chamption UConn boys basketball team's White House visit earlier this week, as well as a list of local Easter Connecticut residents walking in commencement.

Like I said, great stuff for readers!

The photo illustration for this package, nicely done by staffer Brian Pernicone, combines what appears to be an uncredited file photo of a USCG commencement (Don't forget thos captions and credits!) and a faded file photo of Obama.

A lot of effort went into that cutout, huh? I sure wouldn't want to tackle that image! I love how the flying hats are interspersed throughout the package.

Great page!

Joe Greco is corporate design director for GateHouse Media.
Contact him at jgreco@gatehousemedia.com.