The stress of the spring semester has passed, and summer classes are in full effect. Some students are traveling home to be with family, catching up with friends, working summer jobs and vacationing to new destinations.
However, for four journalism and emerging media students, their sports reporting summer course will take them more than 5,000 miles away to Moscow, Russia.
While studying abroad is already a unique experience, the students will also be reporting on the 2018 FIFA World Cup as foreign correspondents, a first for Kennesaw State.
KSU seniors Jeremy Collins, Marquis Holmes, Alex Keller and Virginia Wyckoff are packing their textbooks, bags and video cameras to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to a city that is new for everyone on the trip.
The students will be accompanied by Dr. Thomas Rotnem, a professor of political science, and Dr. Carolyn Carlson, the director of the journalism and emerging media program. Carlson organized the trip to be her final venture as she is set to retire at the end of the summer semester.
Carlson said that her final task after returning from Russia will be “final grades, cleaning out her office and retiring [to] North Carolina on the side of a mountain with a beautiful view!”
From June 9 to July 1, the students will reside at the GRINT Institute, a private university dedicated to improving international relations with the U.S. and European countries.
The team will feed sports and feature stories back to the states where Dr. Joshua Azriel and Stella Payne’s Advanced Video Production class will broadcast the articles and videos on multiple social media platforms for KSU News Now.
Their coursework will require them to report on eight World Cup games using various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. The students will create and post live game tweets and podcasts.
Journalism and communication students may be excited to cover FIFA, but Carlson is concerned about the language barrier present in Moscow. However, Rotnem has assisted in helping the students practice basic expressions prior to their departure.
“It will be a challenging experience,” Carlson said. “But you’ll know when you’re through if you want to be a reporter or not. If you enjoy that adrenaline rush, you should pursue a career in it.”
Carlson, a veteran reporter who has held positions with The Associated Press, The Augusta Chronicle and The Orlando Sentinel, is very excited for her students to excel during this experience.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn the very important sports skills and a skill you’ll be able to use in your career and help you get a job,” Carlson said. “It’s not an easy thing to do and employers will recognize that you dealt with a difficult situation.”
When the student journalists are not covering games, they will be touring the city on a Moscow boat tour, visiting sports and historical museums, attending a Russian ballet, viewing a Russian circus, walking through a World War II bunker and experiencing a world different from their own.
In the interest of full disclosure, Marquis Holmes and Virginia Wyckoff are contributors at The Sentinel
