I am so lucky to have been a part of The Montclarion for the past two years. I wrote about four different sports: lacrosse, women’s soccer, women’s ice hockey and football. I have met some wonderful people at Montclair State University’s sports programs and it was a really enjoyable experience.
Back in September 2016, I took my first journalism class, which was taught by The Montclarion’s faculty adviser, Tara George. Professor George suggested I write some sports articles for The Montclarion because I had written an article about a women’s soccer game in her class and received a high grade on it. I began writing about the women’s soccer team following that, which was a great first assignment for me.
I also wrote an article about an interview with religion professor Mark Clatterbuck, which focused on the threats fracked-gas pipelines pose to the environment. The environment has always been a huge passion of mine, and I wanted to write something that would call attention to this issue.
As it turned out, professor Clatterbuck invited me to come to a panel discussion about the Standing Rock protests at the Feliciano School of Business. I listened to Clatterbuck as well as Ramapough-Lenape Chief Dwayne Perry speak to a crowd of students about the protests. This is one of the most interesting experiences I had at Montclair State. I reported on the national story and was able to localize it.
Anthony Gabbianelli has been a tremendous sports editor. This semester, we added several new writers and always had content filled week after week. I attribute that to how Gabbianelli handles things. Gabbianelli has always been very considerate of his writers and puts a lot of thought into his weekly emails.
Gabbianelli also takes time out of his schedule to sit down and discuss pitch ideas with the sports section, even after regular meetings are done with. The whole sports section has been awesome because of writers like Adam Grassani, Samantha Impaglia and Corey Annan. They have stepped up and done great work. Because of this, I think the sports section is in great hands going forward.
Editor-in-Chief Haley Wells, thank you for showing such enthusiasm when you checked in with me on when I was writing about the women’s ice hockey team. Wells is one of the people I looked forward to seeing at every meeting and the newspaper is lucky to have her.
I appreciate Chief Copy Editor Fiorella Medina and Managing Editor Dominique Evans for proofreading and editing my articles and being a pleasure to work with as well.
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I was very fortunate to have covered the women’s ice hockey team during the past two years. Last year, the women’s ice hockey team won their first ever division championship and also made it to the Division III National Tournament for the first time in program’s history.
When I first started covering the women’s ice hockey team, I had a professional relationship with the players and coach Dave Solomon that made interviewing them very enjoyable. It was remarkable to watch this team go from a 4-8 season to a 14-3-1 season in a year where they accomplished a historic feat that all Montclair State sports programs could look up to.
In the spring semester of 2017, I was named an assistant sports editor by Anthony Gabbianelli, which was a great honor. I can see I have come a long way since my first year at the paper in a short period of time.
The experiences I have had at The Montclarion has challenged me to become a better writer and a more well-rounded professional, which are two things I hope to take with me into the future.
