Most of the students who attended are working on their Senior Projects in the sports industry and were captivated by the stories the alumni shared. Steve Byk said the most important lesson he's learned is, "Trust your instincts and trust your own value system. Don't be influenced by and feel like you have to go with popular opinion. You will find yourself compromised if you go in a direction that you think will make your more popular; in the long run, that will erode the value you bring to your expertise. Believe in what you want to bring to the field and go in that direction."
D'Arcy Maine, who is both drawn to and mostly covers women's sports, recalled, "Growing up in Connecticut and seeing the popularity of the UConn’s women’s basketball team and being at Watkinson where the girls and boys teams were treated equally, I naively didn’t realize the inequity that existed in sports at large. Then I got to college and was so surprised no one wanted to go watch the women’s basketball team with me. But thankfully so much has changed since then. Just this week it was announced Google searches for WNBA jerseys doubled in the past year. I cover tennis, which has led the way in having equal prize money at most tournaments, and it seems like the rest of the sports world is starting to catch up in many aspects. But there’s still a long way to go."
Alex Young reflected on his 15 years at ESPN. "The media landscape has changed dramatically; streaming services didn't really exist 15 years ago. The way we consume content is vastly different and not as limited as flipping on the TV and tuning directly into ESPN. The stresses that accompany this changing climate are real." Over those 15 years, Alex's job has changed a lot. "In the early part of my career, having studied graphic-design in college, I didn't think I was going to be an animator; but I was fortunate to have the resources available to learn many of those skills on the job. If students want to take some first steps toward building a foundational understanding of animation in 2021, start with Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator; they are the industry standards. If they're interested in gaining experience with 2D animation, try Adobe After Effects; it will help build some of those foundational motion principles and is friendly to use. For 3D animation, try Maxon Cinema 4D, a primary tool for Broadcast Design. If I were just starting out now, I would also look at Unreal Engine, which has primarily been used for video game development but is branching out into other areas. It's fast to work with and free to use."
The next alumni panel will be on the topics of either social justice and/or mental health. If you are an alumnus working in either of those fields and interested in participating on a panel, please email kristen_gordon@watkinson.org. We are so thankful for all the ways our alumni give back to Watkinson.
