My name is Jalen Weathers. I’m a self-motivated graduate student from Chicago, Illinois, where I primarily grew up on the west side. I have been a student-athlete for the majority of my life, playing various sports, such as baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, and track. As I got older, I narrowed down my list of sports to football and lacrosse in high school and eventually went on to play football at the collegiate level. I originally went to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and stayed there for two years. I then transferred to chase my dreams of playing football at the Division One level at Eastern Michigan University.
After wrapping up my final football season in 2022 and graduating with an economics degree, I reflected on my career goals and aspirations. After considering what I wanted to do, staying within the sports world and becoming a sports anchor or sports betting analyst would make me genuinely happy. I minored in communications during my time at Eastern Michigan as well. Still, I knew if I wanted to become a sports anchor, my best shot was going to graduate school and learning the fundamentals of what it takes to thrive in this industry.
As I had more time at the beginning of 2023, I started researching different graduate programs advantageous for sports journalism. To my surprise, Arizona State University caught my eye, and after going deeper into what their program offers, I found it to be a great fit. Thankfully, I was accepted and am now in my second semester as a graduate student.
I was introduced to the Sports and Culture Commentary class through a classmate, Chase Clemons. After his convincing argument and post-research on the class, I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn from such a prestigious professor how to communicate my opinions effectively. I believe commentary is essential in journalism because the facts don’t always make things clear within sports. I want to be able to evaluate statistical data with my analytical skills and formulate an opinion on why I feel strongly about those results. As I aim to be a sports anchor and eventually become an influential one on ESPN, I must know how to voice my opinion with valid reasoning to back it up. Although this is mainly a writing class, I believe it’ll translate well and help my verbal communication.
A major challenge in this industry, though, is the availability of jobs, especially for a sports anchor. It is difficult to secure that kind of job right out of college as it is a competitive field to get into currently. Many journalists must be willing to work hard and manage several different things for their company with little pay. Knowing my career and financial goals, I’ll have to overcome this hurdle, but nonetheless, I look forward to my journey in the sports journalism world.
