Junior Emma DeGeorge has been a part of Hawk Headlines journalism since she was a freshman. DeGeorge quickly found interest in the program, but more specifically in the area of broadcasting. She always knew that it was a potential career that she wanted to pursue but it was not until her first live broadcasting experience with WFSB news that she was sure this was what she wanted.
One morning during advisory DeGeorge was called into the guidance office and found Chris Dailey and Jim Amato looking for her.
“It turned out that Woodland and Naugatuck got voted for game of the week,” said DeGeorge. “The news team usually asks if one student wants to go onto the field with them; I immediately said yes.”
While DeGeorge was excited about the opportunity, she realized the pressure and challenges that come from being live on television. Despite her nerves, she decided to go talk to Amato. He helped her realize that even if it was a little scary, she would regret it more if she decided to not do it at all.
“He told me that if I decided not to do it I would live with that ‘but what if I did’ feeling of regret,” said DeGeorge.
Talking to Amato helped to boost DeGeorge’s confidence and she was ready to take on the afternoon with the broadcasting team.
Despite her previous broadcasting experience, DeGeorge said it took some time to get used to the real world of broadcasting. In addition to getting to the game extra early to set up, she also had to adjust for different things like advertisement breaks, background noise, and getting used to other people in the studio talking, even while the game was going on.
“Other than some small setbacks it came pretty naturally to me,” said DeGeorge.
This was also one of the first times that DeGeorge had called a game live, while she had done some small commentary in the past, this time she really got to expand on her knowledge of the Woodland players, and the game as a whole.
She really enjoyed the opportunity to broadcast the news, and this definitely helped her solidify that this was the career she wanted to pursue in the future.
“Experiencing something like that made me so excited and sure about my future,” said DeGeorge. “I’ve always dreamed about doing something like this. When I finally got the opportunity it just felt like the situation was made for me; I wanted nothing more.”
