A new world
Student journalists covering the 2016 Summer Olympics said they were prepared for this experience thanks to lessons learned at Carolina.
RIO DE JANEIRO — “A new world.”
That’s the slogan for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and that’s what 29 UNC-Chapel Hill School of Media and Journalism students are experiencing in Rio di Janeiro this month.
The MJ School sent 25 students to Brazil to work for the Olympic News Service (ONS) and four additional students to work as freelancers for news outlets across the state of North Carolina.
Louis Fernandez Jr., a 2016 graduate of the MJ School and reporter for WBIR in Knoxville, Tenn., is covering men’s basketball for the ONS this month. To call it a dream job would sell it short, because this was an opportunity Fernandez had never even considered.
“It never really crossed my mind as something I would or could do,” said Fernandez. “Before now, I’d never been out of the country.”
Kendra Douglas, a 2016 Carolina graduate and former member of the track and field team, expressed similar emotions upon hearing the news that she would be flying to Rio in August to cover her own sport.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Douglas said. “I have always wanted to go to the Olympics, and then finding out I was going to be a reporter, it was icing on the cake.”
It’s not just former Tar Heels, or even upperclassmen, making up UNC-Chapel Hill’s crew in Brazil. Sophomore and athletic communications assistant Rachel Brittain is another Tar Heel representing the MJ School at the Games. Brittain is reporting on weightlifting, and she said she has immediately gained invaluable experience that will help her through her time in Chapel Hill.
“I learn something new about myself, sports and reporting it seems like every day here in Rio,” Brittain said. “I have grown so much as a person; it is kind of weird to think I have in such a short amount of time, but I really have.”
The experience that each student brings home is far more overreaching than just work. Each day is a new adventure, one that brings perspective and unique memories.
“From overcoming language barriers, to how to drink my coffee black, to seeing how so many different people can come together for the games, to making the best of friends — this trip has been nothing short of amazing,” Brittain said.
Students said they were prepared for this experience thanks to lessons learned at UNC-Chapel Hill.
“Being a student assistant for UNC athletic communications has really prepared me to do my job in Rio,” Brittain said. “I have felt so much more comfortable interviewing athletes, being under the time pressures and knowing what questions to ask because of my job at UNC as a student assistant.”
For graduates like Douglas, the Olympics have delivered lessons of their own to bring home.
“I think one thing I will take away from this trip is how to be a better reporter,” said Douglas. “I learned about so many job options working outside the country and reporting on sports.”
And outside of the Games themselves, participants have been introduced to the “new world” that Rio advertised.
“We swung by Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer. Underneath that statue, so high, looking out over the city was spectacular, but as I stood there looking down over Rio, a cloud swept through,” recounted Fernandez. “It was like the cloud carried with it a sense of peace and serenity, and in that moment my mind was clear and I was happy.”
“I’ll never forget it.”
