Column | Heading to the big leagues

Looking back on the start of my career at Pitt, I was never supposed to join The Pitt News. I was a wide-eyed engineer hoping to work on cars and planes in the future. Becoming a writer never crossed my mind.

Four years later, I sit here trying to find the words to sum up an unbelievable time of my life, and just over a year and a half of them I got to spend with the sports desk at The Pitt News.

I didn’t decide to take the leap into a writing major until the spring of my junior year. Regardless, I knew instantly that I needed to involve myself with the team at The Pitt News. So many thanks go out to Dalton Coppola for bringing me onto the team when I had zero experience in sports writing. My career started that day in April of 2022 and has blossomed ever since.

I still remember writing my first byline for the desk — a quick summer column about how the Pirates could possibly contend sooner rather than later (I was right about that, by the way). Baseball was one of my biggest passions even before I became a sports writer, and nothing felt more exhilarating than being able to write a column about it with my name on it.

Writing with the sports desk here at The Pitt News ballooned into joining the sports desk in the biggest sports market in the world — New York City. After only one semester as a writer, I somehow had the opportunity to work with the New York Post and continued growing my passion for writing about sports.

Coming back to Pitt in the fall for my senior year, I was all in as a writer. I worked on finishing my writing classes and contributing as much as I could to the news. It wasn’t until this spring, though, that I feel I really connected with everyone on the team. I’d worked with Richie Smiechowski for a while already, but it wasn’t until he became our sports editor that I feel I found a true mentor within the sports desk.

Richie ran the sports desk for only a short amount of time, but I’d never felt more motivated to work for an editor than I had for him and Brian Sherry. I found an amazing community at The Pitt News that I had been lacking for a long time during my college career, and I’ll never find the right words to express how thankful I am to have been included in such an incredible team.

As my college career comes to an end, my journey within the world of sports is only beginning. I’m not putting my bat on the rack, I’m getting called up to the big leagues. I haven’t found my team yet, but soon I hope to find my way back behind the sports desk for a newspaper and pumping out bylines as often as I can.

This journey was truly special, and I couldn’t have done it without everyone who has supported me along the way. Dalton and Richie, thank you for bringing me into a team of incredible people who have totally transformed me into the writer I am now. To my friends and anyone who has read my work over the last year or so, you make everything I do worth the effort. And, of course, to my mom and dad. You put your faith in me when I felt no one possibly could, and for that I’ll be forever grateful. I wouldn’t be writing this story without you.

Goodbyes are hard. I don’t want to leave Pitt, but it’s time to go. I couldn’t have had a more special four years, but it’s time for me to head to the big leagues. So, for one last time —

Hail to Pitt.