If you thought the idea of a pre-season conference was just for college sports: you thought wrong.
Days before the start of the 2019-20 basketball season, the Southeastern High School boys and girls basketball teams gave exclusive interviews to the SE Journalism class.
This idea came from SE attendance officer and softball coach Kevin Persons.
“I thought it would be fun,” said Persons. “Looking at college teams conferences and trying to bring it to a high-school level and implanting a vision for the athletes to go to a college level. I hope this is the first of many.”
The Sports Media Day was held in the SE gym. Journalism students asked team questions first, and then followed up with individual athletes. Pictures were taken during the hour-long session.
Both Athletic Director Anthony Paciero and journalism instructor Jacqueline Robinson believe this is a great experience for athletes and journalists.
“This was really cool. The school has never done this before,” Paciero said. “It gives exposure to both the journalism team and the basketball players.”
“This is great practice for journalism students,” Robinson said. “They practiced asking questions to write a feature, sports article from this experience. Students practiced asking questions to get information, clarify information and expand on information. You don’t get this from a textbook.”
The athletes also liked the event.
“It gave me a voice,” said Totiana Brown, a member of the girls basketball team. “I was finally able to express how I feel about the double standards in girls and boys basketball without being criticized.”
“I enjoyed it a lot,” said boys basketball player Justin Glenn. “It gave me an opportunity to tell my story.”
