FUN FACT: “I’ve never had less than 3 cats in my home my entire life (besides college). I currently have 5 with my parents!”
Contact Jason on Twitter, or via email.
Where did you attend school?
- I am amongst the newest group of Penn State alumni! I celebrated my graduation this past May.
What kind of prior experience do you have?
- During my time at Penn State, I spent time as a sports reporter for the Daily Collegian, covering women’s hockey and baseball. I also covered local sports as an intern for WBCB 1490AM; a local radio station. I also had the opportunity to be a producing intern for State College’s radio station, B94.5; All The Hits. Prior to the pandemic, I was a Spring 2020
What brought you to The Centre Daily Times?
- I interned with the CDT during his last semester of college! I’ve gained tons of valuable knowledge and experience to help me succeed in my career field. I’m very appreciative of the opportunity they have given me!
How has your prior experiences helped to prepare you for a local news setting?
- I am originally from a town just north of Philly, so he has been around commotion for a huge part of his life. It’s taught me to always be ready to cover something or investigate on an instance’s notice as a journalist. Working in Centre County while attending college was a rather easy adjustment for me. Centre County is a huge sports town, and both Philly and Penn State sports have electrifying atmospheres at their sporting events.
How does reporting in Centre County compare/contrast to where you have worked in the past?
- For the first few months, my internship with the CDT was fully virtual, which forced me to watch sports on live streams on my laptop. As a reporter and media member, you want to give the best perspective you can to your audience, and me not getting to first-hand witness games in person until March wasn’t ideal. But overall, there were so many benefits I gained form interning with the CDT. The challenges I faced were nothing compared to the experience I got.
Is there something you reported on that stood out to you?
- One of the first features I wrote for the CDT was about a high school basketball player, Brendan Scanlon, scoring his 1,000th point. I was able to interview him, a teammamte and his coach for the story. Definitely one of my favorite articles I’ve written! Check the story out here: https://www.centredaily.com/sports/high-school/article249275420.html
Why do you think journalism is important?
- The way I see it, people are always going to be interested in what other people are doing, point blank. That’s really how YouTube and TikTok stars are created, because enough people choose to watch their content and spend their own leisure time following other people, which is human nature. In terms of journalism, it directly relates because as a writer, you’re covering every-day events, government meetings, whatever type of stuff you’re covering, but with the sole purpose of feeding your audience what they need to know and including an interesting twist to get people to care enough to click on your article. If you have the right people who are truthful, honest, and as unbiased as they possibly can to do their job, then journalism is a beautiful thing that keeps people entertained for hours throughout the day.
What do you hope to accomplish in your career?
- I’ve always told people that my ultimate goal is to host my own sports television show or radio show, ideally on a large platform like ABC, Fox Sports, ESPN, etc.. but I’m extremely excited to work my way up to that point, starting with covering local sports or news, making the right connections, and enjoying every single day in the work field because having a passion for sports provides jobs that are really fun and enjoyable!
What is your favorite thing about Centre County?
- Just the friendly environment in State College with all the people just walking around. As you can tell, I guess I just like being surrounded by people! Living on the outskirts of a city my entire life, it was nice to switch it up and travel to a small town in the middle of the mountains and other types of nature I wasn’t used to.