Logan Stanley, a journalist from USA Today came to Verrado High School to preach Sports Journalism etiquette to our Viper Times staff leaving us with inspiration to make sure that the stories we publish to the public are better than ever.
Stanley currently covers various high school, college, even Olympic sports for the Arizona Republic. Some that helped him become the great journalist today is M.A. in Sports Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He is originally from Sonoma County, California and received his B.A in journalism news editorial and a minor in history at Eastern Washington University in 2018.
During the short time that he was here, he continued to share his personal stories to the person he is today. What schools he went to, who he is as a person. Throughout this time, he was true to himself and helped some of our staff members gain some ideas.
Stanley recalled, “I grew up reading the newspaper every morning, particularly high school sports. It’s the only time that most of these athletes will be covered in their lifetimes. I try to treat high school sports as professional sports, in the sense that I give it my all.”
He also expressed a time in his life transitioning into the previous virus, COVID-19 and how it impacted his life dramatically. To him, if it weren’t for that experience, it wouldn’t have pushed him to be the reporter he is today.
Some of the staff members here at the Viper Times asked a series of questions. Hoping to gain some insight on how to perfect their skills as Journalists. Stanley’s worry was, “if young people would find what I had to say interesting at all. So, when a bunch of questions were asked, I felt a sight of relief”
Our staff members were left mesmerized and inspired from his talk and his insight within the real world of Journalism and how much wisdom he had when it came to the rules of Journalism and how to perfect yourselves.
Emma Stewart, a Staff Writer at the Viper Times also had this to say. “Throughout his visit, he started Journalism by connecting with things that he loved and was passionate about that inspired me to bring more passion into my work by taking a different angle in my writing.”
Graciella Perez, an Editor at the Viper Times commented, “One of the biggest takeaways that I had from Stanley’s visit was that a major part of Journalism is the fact it is up to you to find your niche and make sure to stick with it.”
She also stated, “Stanley mentioned how a major part of him being a journalist was the connections he made and how people recognized him when he goes to their games. I think that I could contribute more by being personable with the people that I interview and work on making a name for myself.”
Overall, this experience helped out many staff members. It helped us have a better understanding of what our mission is here at the Viper Times. With this visit we were enlightened with a different understanding in Journalism. With these words of wisdom, we plan on using it for the betterment of the newsletter so that viewers like you are moved by every single story we publish.
