The return of Transatlantic Storytelling is officially underway as 16 Ball State students have been selected to participate in the second iteration of the award-winning project with Cardiff Met University in Cardiff, Wales.
The highlight of the project will be a 12-day cultural immersion trip to Wales in late February and early March 2024. While on the ground, students will collaborate with their peers in the Cardiff Met Sport Broadcast course to produce feature stories, live sporting events, studio shows and podcasts.
Claire Witte (Senior)
This project, in my mind, is the culmination of the time that I have been involved with the Sports Link program. Being able to work with the best minds and creatives in the program on a semester-long international group project would be a visual representation of how great this program is. My dream job is to work in long-form production with either NFL Films or ESPN Films, so this project is a perfect way to prove myself in this role.
From my professional internship roles, I have a good understanding of what it takes to be a leader and how to support and rally a team to put forth their best effort and create great work.
If someone were to ask me what my hobbies are, my first response would be “working or finding more work to do.” I value success as a priority in my life, whether it be career or personal success.
I am always pushing myself to do better and be a better human being, my biggest competitor being myself and my expectations of my own success. This is my third and final year at Ball State and a goal that I set for myself in August is to leave a lasting impact at Ball State in two ways, professional and personal.
I hold six different positions on campus, athletics, admissions, and alumni departments. As busy as these roles keep me, I wanted to find more ways to leave a lasting impact on campus and off campus.
The first being a comprehensive project that combines my involvement in Sports Link, Football and Athletics. With the partnership of Charlie Maurer, I am working on a long-form football video project that covers the diverse, emotional lives of football players.
The second goal for my senior year comes in personal growth. Coming into my freshman year, I was not a part of Sports Link and found no support or guidance from classmates or upperclassmen. I want to be able to be seen as a leader, mentor, and friend to new underclassmen. Whether that comes in the form of coffee chats or project partnership, I want to inspire new media students to be successful in their college careers and beyond.
The biggest thing I hope to gain from this project is to have a professional-level creative piece that can proudly sit on my portfolio and show future employers what I am capable of producing. I also want to build professional relationships with my peers, the wonderful people at Cardiff Met, and anyone else that we would work with on this project.
Another goal is to be able to say that I have worked on a long-term project in a team setting. The biggest reason I joined Sports Link was to be able to work with a team and collaborate with peers, something I knew I could not do without the help of this program. Being a part of this project will make that goal a reality as I would be able to work with some of the best minds in the program as part of this team.
Claire Witte