Chance of a Lifetime

By NICK PETR
IU Diversity Sports Media Institute

You don’t realize how big Ron Hunter is until you’re standing right in front of him.

You’ve rehearsed your question a few times, but when he’s staring at you waiting for you to ask him something with a semi-impatient look in his eyes, the question seems to float away for a second. But you’ve trained for this all week so you take a deep breath and fire away hoping that whatever comes out of your mouth makes sense enough to not make you look completely stupid.

Trying to find a time to catch your breath can be a tough thing to do at the Diversity Sports Media Institute at IUPUI’s National Journalism Center. Between the numerous interviews, workshops, team building sessions, panels and tours, there aren’t enough hours in the day. But the opportunity we’ve all been given is well worth the long hours.

The end products for the camp include a fully functioning webpage and a 30-minute broadcast show fully run and operated by the students. If that’s not "real world" enough for you then I don’t know what is.

"It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said institute participant Paul Maurice of Herron High School in Indianapolis.

What this whole week has come down to is basically throwing us into the world of present-day journalism. When the interviewing schedule included personalities like Fred Mitchell, Tom Crean and Isiah Thomas, it can be a little intimidating, but all of the students were well-equipped after a seminar on interviewing run by the National Sports Journalism Center Director Tim Franklin.

"At the end of the day they’re just people. The eat, sleep, breath just like me, so why should I be scared?" said institute participant Brandon Young, a graduate of Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis. "I just listen to what they’re saying and formulate my questions based off what they say."

And actually at some of the interviews the reporters were the ones doing the intimidating. Ron Hunter, head basketball coach for the IUPUI Jaguars told Brandon that he is always intimidated when reporters come up wearing a tie.

Throughout the week all the camp members have been taking instruction from the best in the business including Steve Sweitzer and Jim Hester, who have worked in broadcasting with WISH-TV and WFYI among other jobs for many years and Ronnie Ramos, who among other things has worked as editor for the Miami Herald and Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But it most certainly has not been all work for the group. I’d be lying to you if I said that we all went up to our separate dorms promptly after returning home to go to bed. I can’t speak for the girls’ side of things, but I will say that I’ve been to more slumber parties this week than I have in about five years. Nothing says bonding like watching reruns of the Chappelle show in an overcrowded dorm room with 10-plus guys lying on three sprawled-out mattresses while having a heated discussion on Easy Mac.

Overall I’d say that I’ll be able to use what I learned from this institute in my life regardless of whether I go into journalism or not. It truly is an opportunity that only comes around once, and you have to make sure you’re ready for it. But what I’ll really remember are the people I’ve been able to meet.
I’ll be the first to tell you that these are some of the goofiest kids you’ll ever meet. But they’re also some of the smartest and most talented people I’ve been around in a long time.