UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas for some, but a group of Penn State students hopes their experiences in the city during the next week or so gain attention and have long-lasting results.
Eight students from the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications have been selected to participate in hands-on, media-related opportunities at the Super Bowl, which will be contested Feb. 11 in Las Vegas. Their presence continues what has become a tradition, stretching nearly two decades, of students from the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications fulfilling such roles as they prepare for eventual careers in journalism, media and sports communications.
Four students will assist the Associated Press (AP) in partnership with the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, two students will work with the NFL’s public relations team, and two more students will cover the game and related activities for CommRadio, the student-driven streaming station at Penn State.
The AP quartet includes Seth Engle, Spencer Ripchik, Destiny Sanchez and Ishmael Sesay. Julia McAtee and Sydney Smichnick will work with the NFL, and Alex Rocco and Adam Sheetz will cover the event for CommRadio. All eight of the students are seniors.
Smichnick, completing a double major in advertising/public relations and political science, and McAtee, a film major with a minor in Spanish, will be among the first students on site. They’ll arrive in Las Vegas on Feb. 3 and work side-by-side with the NFL’s communications staff throughout the week.
“It’s really exciting, something I’ve worked hard for and something I’ve had so much encouragement from people in Bellisario College to achieve,” said Smichnick, whose numerous experiences at Penn State include internships with Penn State Athletics and the Pittsburgh Penguins. “I’m excited to experience all that comes with the Super Bowl, and especially to get to work and to do whatever they need me to do.”
Smichnick also has roles in the Penn State Dance Marathon and an internship with a public relations agency this semester. She initially considered law school or an economics degree at Penn State before finding her passion in communications and sports.
For McAtee, who hopes to craft a career in documentary filmmaking, the working Super Bowl trip offers a glimpse at a worldwide spectacle supported by hundreds of staff members with thousands of media members chronicling the activity.
“I just never imagined I’d have all the opportunities Penn State has presented to me,” McAtee said. “It never would’ve been something that I thought was possible, especially coming from a small high school.”
The four students working with the Associated Press will provide a variety of support on site and news conference and events while helping with coverage of the game and related events that will be distributed all over the world. Along working alongside some of those accomplished media members, the students will be able to generate some of their own stories and help with AP video coverage of activities during the week and the game itself.
Engle and Ripchik, both journalism majors, previously helped with a similar AP partnership covering the Little League World Series. Sanchez, a journalism major, has worked extensively for Penn State Athletics and Big Ten U on-camera roles. Sesay, a telecommunications major who has worked as a video producer for Penn State football, will help with behind-the-scenes and video coverage of Super Bowl-related events.
“You don’t come to college expecting these kinds of things to be available,” Ripchik said. “Not many people like me can say they had that chance to cover the Little League World Series, and especially for the Associated Press.”
While supporting the AP’s coverage efforts that will be shared across the globe, those students hope to learn a lot as well.
“We’re there to help the AP and that’s important. It’s an amazing chance to see people at work and take in a sporting event that’s one of the biggest in the world,” Engle said. “There will be so many chances to learn from what we experience.”
“I’m going into it planning on being on my toes, being ready to do anything and get the most out of the experience of telling the story of the Super Bowl in Las Vegas,” Sanchez said. “The Super Bowl one of the biggest events of the year. I just imagine being a sponge and learning as much as I can.”
CommRadio’s Rocco and Sheetz will provide live coverage from “Radio Row” in the days leading up to the game. They’ll conduct interviews and produce shows that will air live on CommRadio from 6-8 p.m. Feb. 8 and 9. On gameday, they’ll host a pregame show and postgame show on CommRadio.
“It’s going to be a surreal event — the players, the personalities, all that’s happening outside the stadium as well as inside the stadium,” Sheetz said. “It’ll be fun to watch how people who’ve done it for years approach their work at an event like that, and it’ll be great to try to make the most of an opportunity like this myself. Upperclassmen told me there were so many opportunities in the Bellisario College if you worked hard, and that turned out to be the case in my time here.”