Covid Between the Coasts Nicole Tucker
Declaring a math major when entering college just made sense. Despite receiving a multitude of surprised and bewildered reactions, I knew I could make a career out of it. Although happy with my major choice, I missed the excitement and challenges of projects and the sight of a blank page ready to be filled with the words of a new story. I had previously declared a communication minor but never felt like a real writer or someone qualified to do real journalism work. I sat in my communication courses feeling like a fraud, as if at any time the real communication students surrounding me would discover my mathematic roots and know I was an imposter. I didn’t know how to conduct an interview or write a podcast script, and I sure didn’t know who Edward R. Murrow was. Little did I know, during my sophomore year, I would be a part of a team that would win one of those prestigious National Edward R. Murrow Awards, and I would see my attempt at journalism work come to fruition and be published. Piece One: Trusting the Process Dr. Tamara Wandel has always seen something in me that I’ve struggled to see myself. It was her that pushed me to declare a communication minor in the first place, and once again, it was her that got me wrapped up into this project during my sophomore year. I took her recommendation and signed up for a ChangeLab course titled ‘Investigative Journalism’, despite not even completely knowing what investigative journalism was. I signed up for the class and let it drift from my mind as summer plans became my priority. I was snapped out of my summer state of mind quickly when I received an email in early August from Dr. Wandel wanting to meet via Zoom and start on the project prior to the start of the semester. I really began to wonder what I had gotten myself into, but quickly brushed away my
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anxious thoughts and sent in my availability. The meeting ended with each of seven students in the class tasked with researching COVID in an individual Midwest state. Research—that was something I could do, especially research revolving around my home state of Indiana. I was confident in my researching skills and that shined through as I quickly completed my background research and sent it to Dr. Wandel well before the deadline. News and numbers involving COVID were rapidly changing though, and I found myself having to update and add to my research before the deadline passed and then dozens of times after. The next task was to find sources and conduct interviews that pertained to stories involving mass spreads of COVID within our individual states. I didn’t exactly know where to start when it came to finding sources, but I quickly discovered that Facebook would be an excellent tool. Even today, scrolling through Facebook, I come across posts from Facebook groups I joined solely for this project. The beginning of the project involved conducting preliminary interviews of these potential sources. Due to lack of confidence in my skills and the desire to complete the assignment stress free, I opted to send short emails or direct messages containing my interview questions rather than making phone calls. After the research and basic interviews, we all dove headfirst into the heart of the project, which we now knew was titled COVID Between the Coasts.
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. Wandel 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. Scrolling through Instagram, I noticed several student athletes from my former high school had committed to continuing their athletic
