Most Penn State students will spend Super Bowl Sunday watching the big game in a dorm room, downtown apartment, or local sports bar.
But three of Penn State’s brightest will be on location at Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl 50 — not as fans but as future communications professionals.
Brianna Cameron is studying broadcast journalism and will be a member of the NFL’s public relations staff, making this the sixth straight year a Penn State student has held a position on that team, according to Penn State.
Maddie Brightman and Andy Madore are credentialed for the game to cover it as part of the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at the university. The two students are general managers of Penn State’s internet-based station ComRadio. They plan to produce content for the ComRadio website from Santa Clara — the home of the San Francisco 49ers and host of Super Bowl 50, where the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers will face off this coming weekend.
Cameron has an internship with the Penn State football’s social media manager and became aware of the Super Bowl position from a friend who held the same role last year. She wants to eventually work in sports marketing, and adding a position on the biggest sports stage in America to her resume can only help.
“I just hope that it gives me that foot in the door that I need for my career,” she said. “Just the experience itself, I think that’s an honor and a lifetime experience that not everyone gets to have. I’m excited.”
Photo of Levi’s Stadium — home of Super Bowl 50 — by // Flickr
Brightman and Madore might also shoot segments for Centre County Report — a student-run newscast at the university — while they’re in California for the game. The award-winning newscast airs online, on campus cable, and to 29 counties in Pennsylvania through PBS-affiliated and Penn State-owned station WPSU.
“It’s going to be exciting, I think,” said Madore. “First of all, it’s the Super Bowl, which is always nuts. Then on top of that, it’s Super Bowl 50. We work with Penn State football here locally. It’s obviously big here. People from all over Pennsylvania come to cover that. Now, we’re going somewhere where people all across the country are coming to cover it.’
Brightman added that the opportunity to meet industry stalwarts is just the icing on the cake for an already exciting trip.
“If you interact with someone, I think they are going to remember you from that,” said Brightman. “You’re at Super Bowl 50 and they see a student, I think if you make that connection with them and then connect back with them at some other point for an internship or a job, I think it will definitely stick in their heads.”
