By Tim Stephens
Former President (Sportsmanias)
The APSE executive committee unanimously approved the application for an APSE student chapter at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
UAB becomes APSE’s fifth student chapter, joining Ohio University, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Oklahoma State.
“We are thrilled at the possibility of having a chapter of APSE on our campus,” said Marie Sutton, UAB director of student media. “UAB made national news this year with our inspiring story of reclaiming our football team. The whole nation watched as we covered one of the biggest stories in college sports. We believe working with APSE will help our students sharpen their skills, expand their contacts and give them access to some of the best journalists in the industry. With APSE by our side, we will be closer to achieving our paper’s mission of becoming one of the top in the nation.”
Students at several campuses around the nation are preparing applications for 2015-16 to submit for approval for the fall semester.
For information on how to apply for a student chapter, please go here: http://apsportseditors.org/student-chapters/
Individual student memberships cost only $25.
Sports editors are also strongly encouraged to reach out to universities in their region to gauge interested in student chapters and/or to consider sponsoring individual students as many have done since APSE began offering student memberships. Some of the former student members are now accomplished professionals in the field as well as contributing members of this organization. Such success fulfills a big goal of the student initiative: preparing students for career success and introducing them to the value of APSE before they move on from college.
Reports from the campuses:
Ohio University
Ohio’s APSE student chapter, more than 50 members strong, hosted several high-profile visitors for its meetings. Former APSE president Tim Stephens was the featured speaker at OU APSE’s first meeting, followed by Newseum Institute COO Gene Policinski, the first sports editor at USA Today. Other speakers to address the OU chapter included Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas, C.J. Moore of Bleacher Report, Jonathan Abrams of Grantland and Nick Creegan of AOL Sports, among many others.
The highlight of the chapter’s first year came in the spring when the chapter raised $11,000 — without assistance from Scripps School or its journalism department — to bring ESPN’s Chris Broussard to campus, where he spoke to a diverse audience of more than 300 students.
Another big event for the chapter was hosting the university’s annual panel discussion. The panel, made up entirely of OU grads, is typically one of our biggest events. This year the panel included: Anthony Castrovince, Paul Dehner, Terrance Harris, Jay Cohen, Mike Marot and Laurel and Eric Pfahler. The alumni journalists also attended an OU men’s basketball game and graded some of the game stories of the organization’s members and chapter adviser Justice Hill’s sports writing class.
With the success of the past year, OU APSE has big plans for 2015-16. Among those planned to visit campus are Adena Andrews of ESPNW, J.A. Adande of ESPN, Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, Creegan and Stephens.
Oklahoma State University
OSU-APSE is now officially recognized as a student club by the university after completing a probationary period, meaning it is now eligible to apply for permanent status that will qualify it to compete for university funding.
The chapter finished 2014-15 with almost 20 members. The group hosted four meetings, including in-person guest lectures from our professional advisers Mike Sherman of the Oklahoman and Michael Peters of the Tulsa World. Plans for 2015-16 include return visits by those two editors as well as a visit from USA Today’s George Schroder and Skype sessions with national editors. OSU-APSE also hopes to host the APSE Great Plains Regional meeting on campus in the future. Student members also are already planning to attend the 2016 Summer Conference in Charlotte.
OSU-APSE elected five officers for the 2015-16 academic year. Cody Stavenhagen was elected chapter president after serving as VP in 2014-15. Nathan Ruiz was elected vice president, and will automatically move into the president’s role after Cody graduates in December with honors.
Maryland
Maryland’s chapter included participation from 36 students. In addition to meetings, activities included:
- Tours of Ravens, Redskins, Wizards, Nationals facilities.
- Resume workshops
- Hosting panels
- Sports sporcle tournaments
- Guest speakers, including former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams.
A visit to USA Today is among the goals for 2015-16.
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech’s chapter launched with 22 members. The chapter’s big event was a visit from ESPN anchor Reece Davis to campus. The chapter hosted several meetings and training sessions, working closely with student media organizations to incorporate the things they learned with others in their newsrooms. Carrie Cousins served as adviser but has taken a new job. Erik Hall will take over as APSE’s liaison to Virginia Tech. Many of the members were seniors in 2015-16 so the chapter will begin an aggressive push for new members in August.
