Media Participation Project - Griff Volker

For my Media Participation Project, I wrote an article for capitalsoutsider.com.  I knew for my project that I wanted about sports in some way, as I would like to become a Sports Journalist in the future. After receiving an email from Beteck about an opportunity to write for the website, I was excited to learn that I would be able to write sports articles. And after posting my article (which you can see here), I want to continue writing for the website during the school year because I enjoyed the experience.

Beteck gave me the name of the Capitals Outsiders editor, Ben Sumner. He works for the Washington Post and graduated with a degree in Journalism from UMD. I knew that I would have to get in touch with him fast, as I assumed that other students would job at this opportunity. I emailed him and told him I was interested in writing for the website for my project. He told me to take a look at the website and at some of the articles, then to pitch an idea for my first article. I then went to the website and looked at what had been posted.

The website is more of an off-beat website compared to most of the other sports websites, so I began to think about what article I should write. I wanted to make a good first impression with my first article. I didn't want to post something off-beat because I wasn't sure if he would like the humor or the subject matter before he got to know me. After seeing that there weren't any articles using advanced statistics, I realized that I should write an article using advanced statistics. This way, I could post something that was different from all of the other articles on the website, Ben could see how thorough my article is, and then he would offer to have me write more articles. He had told me that if I write enough articles for the website, then I could go to a Capitals game and sit in the press box, which would be really exciting.

For one, I didn't know what the advanced statistics in hockey meant, and I did not know how I would incorporate those statistics into a thorough analysis. After texting my friend from high school, who is a big Capitals fan, he told me that the Capitals defense did not do well last season. After looking up the statistics for the defense, I began to write my article. A few days later, I had finished, and Ben posted it to the website. He invited me to the website's group Facebook page and gave me a WordPress account for the website. I was very excited when Ben said that he would love to have me write some more articles for the website in the future.

After contacting Ben and getting my article published on the website, I felt that I gained some firsthand experience in communicating with employers and writing articles through email. I felt that this helped me with my communication skills, and now I know not be nervous when emailing a potential employer. Writing for Capitals Outsider also gave me the opportunity to think about article ideas, and now I know how pitch new and interesting article ideas that will keep readers interested. Through my Media Participation Project, I have a better understanding of how to be professional and how to pitch and write articles.