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C O L L E G I AT E S P O R T S J O U R N A L I S M
Giving It the Old College Try With its robust journalism and athletics programs, The Masters School has instilled a love of journalism and sports in many alumnae/i and current students. These five recent graduates have combined these passions in their college careers. MITCH FINK ’21 would love to make his lifelong dream of becoming a sports journalist a reality. A first-year at Boston University’s College of Communication, Fink is a journalism major and sports editor of The Daily Free Press, the independent student newspaper. He puts his aspiration in perspective. “If that’s how it plays out, that would be great. I would love that,” he said. As sports editor, Fink plans the sports content for the week and manages a newsroom staff of sports writers and columnists. “Working on a college newspaper is really rewarding,” Fink said. “It’s a lot of people putting together a product for the whole community.” According to Fink, sports writing combines two of his greatest passions – writing and following his favorite sports teams. “I’ve always been a huge sports fan and I’ve never been particularly good at sports,” Fink shared. “I come from a family of writers and from a young age, I liked to write.” Fink earned his sports writing chops at Masters where he was sports editor of Tower his junior year and co-editor in chief senior year. “Tower empowers students to pursue careers in journalism like it did for me,” he reflected. Fortunately for Fink, the New York native has always been a Red Sox fan. “My dorm is right near Fenway Park. It’s definitely cool and a nice perk of being in Boston,” he noted. And yes, he admits, it would be tough to be a Yankees fan at Boston University. There’s always the chance that DREW SCHOTT ’19 will encounter Fink, his fellow Masters School alumnus, in the press box. “At the moment,” said Schott, a senior at Northwestern University, “I would love to be a college football beat writer for a major newspaper or a place like The Athletic. I really love to write and I love beat reporting, so that’s my goal for the long term.” Currently Schott is in a journalism residency working as a sports reporting intern at The Arizona Republic. Schott jumped into the sports reporting scene as soon as he entered Northwestern. He initially covered men’s soccer for The Daily Northwestern, the student-run newspaper. Having that beat “was instrumental in my growth as a journalist. It was a great way not only to get familiarized with beat reporting, but also a realistic introduction to a fast-paced newsroom, deadlines, and the different types of articles you have to write from precedes and game stories to features,” he said.
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BULLETIN Spring 2022
Editorial positions on The Daily Northwestern soon followed. Schott was sports editor for a semester and then gameday editor responsible for coordinating the Daily’s coverage of Northwestern football. “You get a different perspective covering teams when you cover college football,” he said. “Find ways to differentiate yourself,” advises Schott. “Talk to as many people as possible. You never know if these people will become sources, if they will help you with stories, and who these people may introduce to you in the future.” Schott vividly remembers the sports articles he wrote for Tower and the edits and critiques he received from Tower advisor/ journalism teacher Ellen Cowhey. “It’s why I’m a better writer and where I am today,” he said. When SHAWN FARHADIAN graduated from Masters in 2019, he knew he wanted to be a sports journalist. It was one of the reasons he chose the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, a university with “amazing school spirit” and “an attractive sports scene.” He hit the ground running. First semester freshman year, he became an assistant sports editor for the student newspaper, Daily Trojan, covering the school’s NCAA Division I football team. “I would go to football practice and interview players and coaches about practice and how they’re preparing for the game that week,” said Farhadian. By second semester, he was promoted to sports editor, overseeing the beat writers and laying out the sports section of the paper every night. “It was basically everything I did at Tower just on a much larger scale,” he explained. He credits his work on Tower and Ms. Cowhey with honing his editing, writing and communication skills. “My Tower experience served me well,” continued Farhadian, who was sports editor his senior year at Masters. When COVID-19 hit the USC campus, student journalists — among others — were isolated from the games. This led Farhadian to re-evaluate his career goal. He realized his “passion is not writing about sports. It’s about being around sports and being able to be in that environment,” he said. He switched his major from journalism to communications and tried out for a student manager position for the football team. As one of eight student managers working for the 100-plus players on the USC Trojans, Farhadian helped organize and manage practice and game-day logistics. He was responsible for ensuring
