In celebration of Black History Month, throughout February, students at Hazelwood East Middle School will experience a host of guest speakers who will share their personal stories and encourage career exploration.
Speaking to a group of seventh-graders in the library, sports anchor/reporter Maurice Drummond of FOX 2 gave a first-hand account of a career in sports journalism.
Drummond opened his presentation by explaining that when he was about the same age as the students, he knew he wanted to work in sports, so he read all he could about different sports by going to the library and researching his interests. He encouraged his audience to read and research their own interests, saying that “reading is the most important thing you can do.”
Drummond, who has more than 20 years of experience in sports journalism, followed by asking the question, “What does a sportscaster do?” Responses included “interview athletes” and “talk about different sports.”
Current events became part of the conversation when he said “the story of the day is Albert Pujols.”
“My job right now is to cover the story on Pujols,” he said, telling the students that he was getting phone calls and text messages with information about the St. Louis Cardinals baseball player.
“In this business, you have to be aware of what’s going on at all times,” he continued, adding that in the news industry, sources are important.
“It’s also important to be accurate. We have to have the facts, make sure we get names right and many other things so that we are credible. We have to know what we’re talking about,” he said.
Drummond also showed the students a video clip of his on-air work. He talked about using a teleprompter with a script, sometimes working without a script and being able to improvise.
After the presentation, Drummond took questions, spoke to individual students, posed for pictures and signed autographs.
Dr. Gary Jansen, principal of Hazelwood East Middle School, said the students appreciated Drummond’s “willingness to share time by talking to them about their interests. Many students wanted to stick around and talk to him about his career and people he may have interviewed. Others wanted to find out what it took to eventually be on a news team.”
Classmates Calvin Wilkes and Symiah Fulton shared their thoughts about experiencing the presentation.
“I thought he was good. What he said gives more encouragement to kids to go to college and get better grades in school now,” said Wilkes.
“He caught my attention. He encouraged us to read books, do our best, go to school and get a good education,” said Fulton.
“He is a good example for getting an education and having a good job,” added Wilkes.
Jansen said he hopes “the students learned the importance of identifying interests and spending time reading as much as they can about those interests.”