Meet James Renda, a 17-year-old baseball player who enjoys watching basketball and football. James is also looking forward to learning about journalism. After high school, James wants to go to college and major in a field with something related to Business and Marketing or Journalism.

Q: Why are you a fan of sports and how does it connect to your life?

A: I am a fan of sports all around. Playing and watching sports gives me a rush. I think that being passionate about anything in life is a good thing. Sports provides that passion for me. It makes me excited to start and finish any task related to sports. Finally, it just gives me a break from doing work and relaxes my brain.

Q: What is your opinion on journalism and why? 

A: I think that Journalism is very interesting and that is why I am taking this class. I like how it can really connect to anything. For example, in sports, there are sports journalists everywhere. Adrian Wojnarowski for Basketball and Adam Schefter for Football are both well-respected sports journalists. The thing that interests me the most is that I love the idea of providing the public the story, to make them feel like they are in the moment of the game, to get the same rush I experience.

Q: Do you think journalism is important and why?

A: Journalism is very important in my opinion. This is because if journalists didn't exist, then people wouldn't get many points of view about a story or event. However, I don't know everything about journalism so I want to learn more.

Q: What do you want to learn more about involving journalism?

A: I want to learn specifically about how you get a story out and the details behind it. The public has an understanding of what journalism is: however, they don't know the behind-the-scenes details. That is what I am hoping to gain.