For the third newscast this semester I did a story on Dawn West, a 52-year-old member of the Pride of West Virginia, the WVU Marching Band.

She is full of life and energy, and it was really refreshing to see someone have such a passion for a relatively thankless effort. The Pride is a big part of the university and is the reason some people attend Mountaineer sporting events.

          Since I was a little girl I knew that I wanted to be a sports reporter. I wanted to be on the field, right where the action was, interviewing teams and players. WVU News has given me the opportunity to make that dream a reality. I have already learned so much and have had so many wonderful opportunities.

           My first story that I did was about “Being the Mountaineer.” It was a feature story on Troy Clemons, the Mountaineer mascot at West Virginia University. After editing the story, I knew that there were stories this week that were better than mine and knew that I probably wasn’t going to make show. After my thoughts were confirmed, I was feeling discouraged. A few days after submitting my story, I got a Facebook notification from the ESPNU TA saying that my story had been picked up by ESPNU! This was news that I needed and my confidence had been restored. This meant that I needed to step it up for the next story.