CAS CONNECT 2014

33 Nathan Ruiz, a sports media soph- omore from Sparks, Nev., attended the camp the year they held a press conference with Tidland. Murray says Ruiz’s story was so good that it ended up running on the front page of the OSU student newspaper, The Daily O’Collegian . With OSU offering one of the few sports media degrees in the country, Ruiz already had a strong desire to attend OSU, and the camp was an added bonus. He says that getting to experience a little taste of college life is a great way to draw students to the program. “Being on OSU’s campus makes you fall in love with it,” Ruiz says. “I did feel a little more prepared going into my freshman year simply because of being at the sports media camp. It benefited me during my first year and will keep benefit- ting me over the next three years.” It’s a great time to be a sports media student at OSU, as Ruiz found out this year. He’s an avid baseball fan and as a sportswriter for the O’Colly , was able to cover OSU’s baseball team as they made their run for the College World Series, which came up short at the super regionals. OStateTV, a digital media network that showcases OSU-related videos, launched two years ago. OStateTV will serve as a laboratory for OSU School of Media and Strategic Communications students, who will provide content, including a regular student-produced sports show. Orange Power Studios, which produces original and exclusive content for the OSU athletics department and assists in production efforts with Cowboy Sports Properties and Fox Sports Net, is making its debut this fall. The OSU sports media camp and its state-of-the-art training resources are designed to give a hands-on experience to those students looking to be successful in the sports media and broadcasting indus- try, and it’s hard to argue with the camp’s results. “Every one of those kids won some type of award while they were in college,” McGuire says. “So I don’t know if there’s cause and effect there, but there you go.” Jamie Hadwin Campers at the 2014 version of the OSU sports media camp gather outside the Paul Mi l ler Bui lding. PHOTO / MICHAEL LINDBLAD While the baseball game is perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the camp, the faculty, counselors and previ- ous campers stress enough how the camp develops important journalism skills. That’s where Ray Murray steps up to the plate. Murray, an OSU sports media professor, works with the campers on print stories and instructs them how do research in order to be prepared to ask the tough questions. The campers put their research to the test at a mock press conference with an OSU coach or athlete. In the past, camp- ers have held “press conferences” with OSU football head coach Mike Gundy, OSU women’s basketball head coach Kurt Budke and former OSU golfer turned pro, Chris Tidland. Murray says the camp helps end misperceptions that a career in the indus- try involves sitting around watching ESPN’s SportsCenter and eating hot dogs at the ballpark by exposing campers to many sides of the sports media industry. “In addition to writing talent, you have to research,” says Murray. “It’s highly competitive. You have to know what you’re talking about. You have to ask the tough questions, and you’ve got to be observant.”