I can’t believe we are about to tape our last show. Seems like just the other day we were just getting our beats and positions assigned. We’ve all come so far in so many ways and it’s been amazing being able to step back and see how much we’ve all improved as journalists throughout these past four months with the help of Professor Dahlia and Professor Marra. I truly believe the unsung hero of this class however has been the camaraderie we’ve built as a team working together to help one another film and edit our stories. 

It’s been stressful, it’s been competitive… but competition breeds excellence and I honestly think as a class we have achieved that and it wouldn’t have been possible without 100% effort from us all. Whether that be in the studio or in the field, this class has been the ultimate test of a team and it’s setting all of us up for very successful careers whether in this industry or another of our choice. I’ve learned so much about myself, about journalism and about life, and I credit it all to my classmates and my teachers.

With our special edition show, I detoured from covering sports in the traditional sense. Our final show was on addiction, and it seemed fitting to cover sports gambling and the risks involved. I definitely felt out of my comfort zone at first. This was the longest package I’ve done, and it didn’t have any footage of sports I filmed, which was a big departure from the work I had done in Mountaineer Playbook the previous semester and in this class up until this point. It stretched my brain journalistically without a doubt. Working closely with my fellow sports reporter Andrew on covering this topic made the whole process a lot less painful and significantly more fun. 

Excited to film at the Waterfront for the last time of my college career most likely. I’ll probably cry.