When I applied to the Sports Journalism master’s program at Arizona State University, I had a very specific goal in mind.
You see, throughout my undergraduate career at Prairie View A&M University, an HBCU about 55 miles north of Houston, Texas, I dabbled my hands in everything multimedia-related.
I’ve always had a deep passion for storytelling, entertainment and content creation. I can trace back my video editing passion as far back as when I was a ten-year-old child attempting to make funny club penguin videos.
I’ve always wanted to tell stories, and I found passion and inspiration to tell my own stories through mediums that were special to me. Basketball has always been my first passion. The spectacle of arriving to the arena, the bright lights, the loud and passionate fans – it all drew me to the game at a young age.
Not only that but the stories that were told on that court. Every emotion, every celebration, every technical foul speaks to who that player is and what they’ve been through. So many stories can be told from one game of basketball, and that’s something that I consider beautiful.
Wrestling and the various forms of comic book media are another form of medium that I’ve held dearly to my heart since adolescence. Both of these mediums are built on characters and storytelling. A beautiful story can be told through wrestling, the same way a beautiful story can be told through scripted television.
So since I was ten, I knew what I wanted to do with my life and what I wanted to accomplish.
So how do I accomplish these goals?
First, I need to graduate from high school – obviously. So after that’s done, I enrolled at my dad’s alma mater, Prairie View A&M University. Originally, I didn’t want to attend Prairie View because I had been tied to it for so long.
You know. When people tell you that you’re going to do something so much that you don’t even want to do it anymore? That was me.
But eventually, I attended the school to pursue a degree in communications. This is where my journalism and storytelling skills blossomed completely.
At Prairie View, I served as the Sports Director for our student-led production company, KPVU-TV. This wasn’t your run-of-the-mill student organization either – no, this was a full-fledged job. My peers and I were consistently turning in 16 or 17-hour work days multiple times a week.
It was tiring, but it was rewarding. I directed three sports shows, the main being Panther Sports Zone. I was tasked with directing the show, writing scripts, editing the packages, the whole nine yards.
While it was difficult, it set me up for success. With that performance, my professors blessed me with the opportunity to direct the organization’s one-hundred-thousand dollar broadcast live from The Chevron Championship.
This was the most challenging task I had ever been in my life. On top of the responsibilities I already had, I was now focused on producing great content for Chevron, and other multi-million dollar companies. But I used the opportunity to tell stories of students from our heralded university because that’s what I am wired to do.
Prairie View gave me so much opportunity to branch out and fine-tune my skills. But, there was always something missing. I consider myself truly a jack of all trades, but I want to be different than your average jack of all trades. Usually, when someone is referred to as a jack of all trades, they’re considered a master of nothing but excellent at everything.
I want to change that. I want to master everything to the best of my abilities. I want to be so good at everything, that I am undeniable at every single turn.
I gained extensive experience in broadcast journalism, directed a one-hundred thousand-dollar broadcast, served as the Sports Director, became the lead basketball reporter for our student-led production company – the list goes on and on.
And with everything I accomplished at Prairie View, I feel like I’m on my way to accomplishing that goal. The only thing that was missing was developing my writing prowess beyond what I learned during undergrad. There was no better way to do that than enrolling at Cronkite, one of the best journalism schools in the country. Which leads me to this class. A class that has been raved to me more times than I can count since I’ve been here at ASU. I can’t wait to see what I can accomplish next.
