Academics

My sports administration major is a mix of kinesiology and communication with business fundamentals. My communication major has taught me how to spread information through telling and sharing stories. As a communication major, I have developed my writing, editing,

storytelling, persuading and publishing skills across a range of media. My work with the Rome Braves allowed me to utilize my educational background from both majors to successfully share my passion of storytelling through a video streaming format.

Every culture has its own stories or narratives. Sport culture or the culture of a sports team is the expression of a team’s values, attitudes and beliefs about the game and competition. The media’s job is to showcase these stories as a means of entertainment or education, yet their job is twofold, in that it is also a way to preserve the culture and instill moral values. Throughout my SLE I was able to experience this form of sharing stories through a format I had not used before. My Sports Administration major emphasizes the concept of being a strategic leader, which I utilized during my SLE.

In the spring of my freshman year, I took a COM 270 Visual Rhetoric, which is a foundation communications class. In this course, I studied visual theory, visual literacy and how visual images are used to persuade. I also learned to study and interpret audience-specific visual culture and communication, and the rhetoric of visual materials. Our professor mainly used classic pieces of artwork or contemporary advertisements to teach us the concepts.Having had this class before working for the Rome Braves allowed me to gain a better understanding of the importance of the images I was capturing. It is important to know what the audience wants to see. Taking that class taught me how to make sense of shot framings in order to make one seemingly plain shot become more visually pleasing. For example, while on the mobile camera I was responsible for filming all mid-inning promotions and games. I had fun using elements from the Six Perspectives of graphic design such as unity, contrast, balance, rhythm, and Z pattern to find creative ways to get the best camera angles for each segment.

I took Introduction to ANT 200 Cultural Anthropology, which is the class outside of my major that helped me the most throughout my time with the Rome Braves. The course emphasized understanding non-Western societies from an anthropological point of view and using that knowledge to develop a new perspective on Western beliefs, institutions, and practices. This resonated with my experience at the Rome Braves because it is well known throughout the sports community that baseball is a ‘white sport’. While 42% of MLB players are non-white, nearly 100% of the people in power are. This lack of diversity can be seen throughout minor league front offices across the country as well. I believe that this under representation of minorities within professional executive positions is the main source of cultural clashes. One of the most thought provoking moments that really made me sit back and analyze my surroundings happened during the first homestand of the season. A few of the production staff workers were discussing what type of music should be played before the game, to which one person stated: “Don’t play the Latino music; the Venezuelans will go crazy”. At first, I was obviously taken aback by the comment and waited to see if anyone would find fault in his words. It was disappointing to see that everyone around that person started laughing. There were many of these instances where the cultures of the Latin players were mocked or ridiculed. This clash of cultures within sports, more specifically baseball, became more apparent as the season went on. Taking the Cultural Anthropology course gave me the tools to set aside my own preconceived notions to understand other cultures. In the same sense, I was able to recognize the unwillingness of my coworkers to do the same. Having a liberal arts foundation for my education has allowed me to develop intellectually and has given me a stronger sense of social responsibility. I have been able to interpret and apply the things I have learned outside of the classroom, which I believe is the entire point of a liberal arts education. My majors have taught me how to be more creative in the way that I think about the world. Finding what inspires me and shifting my thinking to the next level to showcase it to a wider audience has been the main objective throughout my major classes. In Sports Administration particularly, I have developed a business-like mind to help maximize my creative thinking.

When I looked at my SLE through an academic interdisciplinary lens I learned that having that educational background is useful in situations where general knowledge or ethics are in question. For instance, for both of my majors, everything we are taught is based on the mishaps of others. This semester I am taking COM 416 Media Law which examines the delicate balance that exists between freedom and control of media in the United States. The course essentially timelines and analyzes monumental court cases that have influenced the First Amendment which is the press’ major guarantee of freedom of expression. For example, from the past cases, we have learned the limits of the press, what is responsibly ethical, and where the line is drawn for being malicious in journalism. For my Sports Administration major, we learn how to navigate through the sports business world successfully by avoiding the mistakes of others.

My experience with the Rome Braves enhanced my knowledge of my majors by allowing me to apply the concepts I have learned in a real-world setting. This practical knowledge is essential since I plan on using what I have learned to make myself more effective in my career. I will continue to use these tools to help me develop intellectually and develop the knowledge and skills necessary for my industry. I can use pictures and other content I have access to from this past season to showcase what I have done and the environment I worked in. I have several pictures of me manning cameras, which show my use of visual rhetoric concepts. I could use the footage to showcase how I utilized my academic background in visual literacy and multimedia production to create creative content.