Hello fellow East-Coastie! (Want to do the "WELS-Connection" thing where we compare who we know? I had a good friend who was in Oxford CT who would pop into Windsor every once in awhile.) Noting that you've been at ESPN since 2011 (and myself being aware of some Bethany grads there too), how do you feel watching the ebb and flow of Bethany grads "floating in and out" of ESPN?
I would love to see more floating in than out! The simple truth is this: the media landscape has undergone a drastic transformation over the last 15 years, and people can work for (or even start!) a variety of companies that can have a major impact now. Social media was still very much in its' infancy when I started and YouTube was a cool little hobby with only a small number of creators making any money on it; fast forward to today where, for better or worse, the most effective means for the President of the United States to communicate to the People is Twitter/X, and all of my friend's kids not just think, but expect, that they're going to be TikTok famous someday.
What I hope for Bethany grads isn't so much that they come directly to ESPN specifically, but that those of us involved in Media are using our talents and treasures to best serve the Word and to serve the people; that we are not participating in churning out garbage for clicks, but instead are storytelling, communicating, and documenting in a manner that we can all be proud of. Seeing all of the presenters here and the projects they are all a part of is very validating!