This is my second semester with WVU News and I cannot be more excited! I auditioned for main anchor and landed the roll. I worked with an awesome team and had an all around great experience. This semester I auditioned for sports. I decided to take on sports to have a full year of reporting and a different experience at the same time. 

Sports reporting is a whole different world from news reporting. It is much more fast-paced and energetic. When I was practicing my script for auditions, I found myself reading it too newsy. I watched YouTube video after YouTube video of different sports anchors. This really helped me! I listened to their voices and watched their expressions. 

      I can’t believe that this week was my last time anchoring sports. It seems just like yesterday that I was a nervous, scared student auditioning for news positions. It’s hard to believe that we only have one newscast left. I just don’t know where the time has gone.

      This class has taught me so much not only about how to report on sports, but I’ve learned a lot about myself.

      It seemed like so long ago the last time I was on set as the Sports Anchor for WVU News. Throughout the week at times it was frustrating preparing for show, but the end result was rewarding.

      After watching the show, I felt like you could not only see the difference in myself from the first show, but I also felt like everyone on set improved just compared to show three. Being able to finish taping in as many as three takes was jaw dropping. Seeing Professor Dhalia walk into the studio with a smile and saying “That’s it, we’re done” almost seemed like a dream, but it is truly only a testament to our growth as a class. The class has made everyone better, and you saw it reflect on set. On set as far as talent, everyone read well with energy, and it is not just the people on set improving. We saw a flawless show from our producer and director as well. Our floor director cued us with perfect timing, and that all starts in the control room.

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.

          All summer, actually every year, I have spent here at WVU. I have always heard how stressful and difficult WVU News was. I constantly would hear that WVU News is extremely time-consuming, and you have to dedicate “X” amount of hours to be successful in the class. Two weeks into the class I found out that no one was lying, but they did leave out how satisfying the class is.

When I think about WVU News, I can’t seem to pinpoint what makes the class so unique and memorable. One cliché that you’d probably hear is how difficult and intensive the work is, and how much pressure is on oneself. Fully expecting this heading into class, my perception was completely flipped about a month in.

It might be the people. The classmates you spend countless hours shooting and editing with evolve from strangers to great friends in what seemed to be no time. You share stories out in the field, good or bad, and there’s a level of the relatable experiences you can’t get anywhere else. We’re all in it together for better or for worse.  

Here we are… The last story… the last show of the semester, and of my time at WVU. I can’t believe how fast four years can go! But we will go into that later. 

The second to last show of the semester is our Special Edition show. The show would cover President Trump’s first 100 days in office. So obviously everyone had to do a story on something Trump related. So there is an issue here for Andrew Caridi (Another WVU News sports reporter) and myself. You can’t exactly walk into a media conference for spring football practice and say, “Hey coach so what are your opinions on Trump?” So I needed to come up with a creative way to pull this off. 

I can’t believe that this is the second to last week of filming WVU news. As fast as its gone, it’s that much closer to being over. I’ve covered my first stories on smaller sports like rifle, or women’s basketball, but this week it was time to do something more challenging. The WVU football season is right around corner, and spring football is right here right now.

This story was one I was looking forward to covering all semester. The 2017 Once a Mountaineer Always a Mountaineer Day of Play! The Day of Play is an event where current and former WVU athletes return to Morgantown to play with the kids and show them that getting up to move can be fun!