Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Sixteen students will be part of the Sports Journalism Institute’s milestone 30th class. The students from universities around the nation will come together in late May -- either in person or virtually -- to prepare for internships this summer at newspapers, networks and multimedia sports outlets.
The class includes five women and 11 men. Four universities each have two students in the class—the University of South Florida, the University of Missouri, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Arizona State University. The class also includes students from three schools that have not previously been part of SJI —Boston College, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Quinnipiac University.
Eighteen students were chosen for the class but Lia Assimakopoulos of Northwestern and Emily Leiker of the University of Missouri each have accepted a full-time job and we congratulate them on their moves.
“I am extremely proud that the students will be part of a historic moment for SJI,” co-director Leon Carter said. “When a group of NABJ and APSE members discussed a boot camp at the NABJ Convention in Detroit in 1992, who in the group thought SJI still would be thriving today? My one piece of advice to the 2022 Class: Be prepared to work hard; you have a lot to live up to.”
SJI thanks all its hosts, partners and sponsors, including the Gannett Foundation and the Gannett news organizations. Seven Gannett newspapers will serve as intern hosts in 2022—USA Today, The Tennessean, the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the Louisville Courier-Journal, The Oklahoman and the Tuscaloosa News. Longtime partner ESPN will also host an intern.
In addition to these partners, SJI also thanks Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Malcolm Moran, whose guidance on deadline writing and other topics has been a staple of SJI boot camps for over a decade. We also thank the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where SJI was in residence for seven boot camps. We also thank David Squires, a member of the North Carolina A&T faculty and a member of the SJI leadership team from the beginning who annually makes sure SJI students are well-versed in editing and storytelling on any platform.
We also thank Arizona State University, which has hosted SJI’s boot camp the past three summers and will do so again this year. The program was conducted on-site in 2019 but moved to virtual in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
Bootcamp will begin May 21 with orientation and wrap up on May 28. During the week, students will hear from newsroom professionals and academics on topics ranging from ethics in the press box, to diversity in the media, to tips on beat coverage. Students also will hear from SJI alums who have used the program as a launching pad to careers at places such as ESPN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and The Athletic. SJI training emphasizes deadline reporting and writing whether in person or via zoom.
The 2022 class includes seven Black students, four Hispanic Americans and three Asian Americans.
“From Day One, SJI has been a rainbow coalition and our 30th class exemplifies that,” co-director Sandy Rosenbush said. “And in answer to Leon’s question about which of us expected SJI to be going strong at 30 – none of us! But we are all grateful that it is: This industry needs our graduates now more than ever.”
Devin Bradshaw
Arizona State University
Junior
SI.com
Toyloy Brown III
Quinnipiac University
Senior
USA Today
Alberto Camargo
University of South Florida
Senior
Knoxville News Sentinel
Derrian Carter
Arizona State University
Graduate student
Tuscaloosa News
Alexis Davis
North Carolina A&T State University
Senior
The Commercial Appeal
Roshan Fernandez
Syracuse University
Junior
Seattle Times
Nathan Han
University of Texas at Austin
Junior
Kansas City Star
Emma Healy
Boston College
Junior
The Tennessean
Jeremiah Holloway
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Senior
Louisville Courier-Journal
Marissa Kraus
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Sophomore
The Denver Post
Callie Lawson-Freeman
San Francisco State University
Senior
ESPN
Joel Lorenzi
University of Missouri-Columbia
Senior
Houston Chronicle
Peter Morales
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Junior
The Washington Post
Varun Shankar
University of Maryland
Sophomore
Charlotte Observer
Richard Silva
University of South Florida
Detroit News
Senior
Payton Titus
University of Florida
Junior
Yahoo! Sports