I’ve been counting down the days until WVU News since I took Mountaineer Playbook last fall.

The week finally came for my first package. My first story had to be on Ginny Thrasher. She was the talk of the town and made not just national but international headlines after winning the first gold medal at the Olympics!                                                                                                                  

I started this story on the 7th. That’s when I was able to do a sit down interview with Ginny. I brought along one of the class videographers and we even set up two cameras. I wanted to get close up shots of her face and I was able to actually use one in my package. 

I also attended the first home football game because Ginny, along with other Olympians Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence, was being honored at half time. 

The next few days, I worked on my story while helping other reporters with shooting and stand ups. I also worked a couple of volleyball games and in the process came up with new story ideas.                                                                                                          

Last week, I got the opportunity to help out with the WVU You Visit virtual tour. This was really fun and I got to get a little practice in with the teleprompter before the first show. 

After submitting my package, I found out that my package got picked up by ESPNU! I was at work and was wondering why my phone had all of these notifications and then I found out the news. I was excited because none of my packages got picked up last year and I wanted to make sure that this time around I did all that I could to produce the best work possible.

    

On the day of the show I honestly wasn’t really nervous, just anxious. Since I was in Mountaineer Playbook I knew what to expect coming into the semester and going into the first taping. However, the shows are different but with sports, it’s all the same. The main feedback I got was my energy, I heard the same thing and Playbook and have to work on that. I kind of forget sometimes that I am on camera and I forget what my face or body looks like. Of course I’m in this class for a reason to learn and get better. Overall, I think the show went great! I think we had four or five takes and our last one was the best one. Everyone looked nice, sounded nice, and the packages were really good! I’m excited to see how much we grow and get better while learning from each other this semester.