Piece Two: Heart of the Project

My email archives capture the true behind the scenes of my work on COVID Between the Coasts. It was via email that I first asked Dr. Young if I could continue research into the effects of COVID on student athlete recruitment and a quick reply that sent me diving into research and interviews. It was also through an email that I contacted my first source for what would become episode 8 of the COVID Between the Coasts podcast series.

COURTESY WNIN.ORG

Scrolling through Instagram, I noticed several student athletes from my former high school had committed to continuing their athletic careers in college. Immediately, I wondered how COVID affected their recruitment and commitment process. A light bulb flipped on in my head, quickly generating ideas to use for a story. Dr. Young gave me the go ahead to pursue the topic just as quickly as I formed the idea. The pieces began to fall into place as my research proved my theory of altered student athlete recruitment true. My excitement grew upon receiving word WNIN, an NPR affiliate and the main collaborative partner of the project, loved my story angle and wanted me to turn my research into a podcast. Suddenly I was no longer a student working on research and story angle ideas, I had the pressure of doing the work of a journalist, which came with strict deadlines and high standards of quality. My to-do list became filled with tracking down sources, recording interviews, writing a script, and recording the podcast. Luckily, my classmates didn't let me take this all on by myself. In a week's time, each of my classmates had emailed me the contact information for a source fitting the concept of my story. Our team of students came from a variety of majors and backgrounds with each of us bringing different strengths and weaknesses to the table. It was the strength of our team of students, the support and guidance of Dr. Young along the way, and the collaboration with WNIN that truly made this project successful.

My past emails show more than just the progress of the project. They also show the roadblocks encountered along the way and the long hours put in throughout the semester. The first evidence is seen by an email with a 2:43am time stamp and attached file titled “A Very Very Rough Script”. I really value sleep, so you know if I was up that late, this project meant a lot to me. I wanted everything about this project to turn out perfect, even though half the time I didn't know what perfect even looked like for these tasks. My need for perfection led me to ending up inside Dr. Young's office at least once a week and sometimes every single day of the week seeking approval on completed work and asking dozens of questions. The semester continued with the completion of four recorded interviews and over three pages of scripted material.

Piece Three: Published, Awarded & Definitely Not an Imposter

It was just a class that was added onto my planner at the beginning of the semester, but it became more than just an average class. It never felt like a class, and I never felt like a student. I felt like a real journalist part of a team with a meaningful job assignment. I was always gaining journalism skills and general professional skills. I was pushed outside of my comfort zone constantly. If you listen to the final podcast, you will hear the voices of the sources I was in contact with for the story. These audio clips were recorded during phone interviews I conducted with each of the sources. In the podcast, you only hear the answers of the sources, yet originally these recordings included my awkward introduction when the voice on the other line answered the call, the series of questions I spouted off in a tumble of words, and my sigh of relief when the call was over. I've never liked to pick up a phone and make important phone calls. Phone calls have always been a source of anxiety for me, yet it was necessary for all the interviews for the final podcast to be conducted and recorded via phone call. I grew as a researcher and a journalist, but more importantly I gained and strengthened the skills that will be necessary in my future no matter what career I pursue.

CREDIT RTDNA.ORG

Knowing my work had been published and was being viewed as well as listened to by people around country brought me much pride, and I didn't hesitate to show my friends and family the link to my podcast on the WNIN website. As the semester ended and the excitement surrounding the project died down, COVID Between the Coasts was no longer at the front of my mind. My focus shifted to the classes and projects of next semester in a blink of an eye. Mid-summer, COVID Between the Coasts reappeared on my radar as I was notified the project had won a National Edward R. Murrow Award. I naturally added it onto my résumé and continued on with my summer. It was weeks later during a résumé check meeting for my sports analytics summer research program that I started to understand the significance of the award. The program co-director and head of the Carnegie Mellon University Statistics and Data Science Department, scrolled through my page of experience and achievements, but suddenly stopped as she read the COVID Between the Coasts section. She seemed surprised and impressed as she questioned why she wasn't already aware of my involvement in an Edward R. Murrow award-winning project. On the other end, I was just as surprised to hear of her apparent knowledge on Edward R. Murrow awards; I didn't expect someone in the statistics field to know anything about the journalism award recently placed on my résumé. After my discussion with the co-director of my summer research program, I realized the significance of the award and looked more into the prestige of the award. It is still amazing to me that this small collaborative project based out of Evansville, Indiana was recognized on a national level.

At the end of the day, I'm a mathematics student, but I'm also a communication minor. I no longer sit in my communication classes feeling like an imposter. How could I when my journalism work is still just a click away on the WNIN website? Not only do I now know who Edward R. Murrow is, but I also have a National Edward R. Murrow award on my résumé. I can truly say signing up for that random Investigative Journalism ChangeLab course impacted me in the best of ways and was one of the best decisions I have made since coming to the University of Evansville.