In the Star Tribune's article, "Feds eye campus bank card deals," Jennifer Bjorhus chose to use a more descriptive lead on a serious hard news item.
This creative beginning to the story is more effective than using a hard news lead because it describes the importance of the U Card to people who may not be familiar with its significance to more than 40,000 University of Minnesota students.
After describing the U Card, Bjorhus moves to a paragraph that mentions how TCF Financial Corporation is profiting greatly from the many students using its U Card.
Finally, the third paragraph gets to the news, which is that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking into the controversy regarding how financial products -- such as the U Card -- are being marketed to college students.
As many readers might not be aware of the U Card to begin with, this type of lead is most effective because it grabs the readers attention, explains the situation and gets to the issue that makes it newsworthy in three concise paragraphs.
Nice work. Keep it up. Find ways to make this blog a meaningful part of your portfolio. It's good for prospective employers or internship supervisors to see how you are blogging the news.