After working three years in the finance industry, I decided it was time to take a risk and pursue my dream of becoming a sports journalist. I quit my job, moved five hours from home, and enrolled in graduate school at Syracuse University. I told myself for years that I wanted to be a writer, but I never made the leap.

Sports writing quickly became my passion at the beginning of my college career when I joined the student newspaper at Providence College in my freshman year. I was soon promoted to be the paper’s sports editor where I lead a staff of nine writers for the next four years. Two summers later, an internship with the Harwich Mariners for the Cape Cod League. Upon graduation, I emailed newspapers across New England hoping for an opportunity. With the few responses I received, they were all freelancing for high school sports. Taking the opportunities given to me, I got a full-time job to pay off school, moved back to my parents’ house, and gave up my Friday and Saturday nights to cover high school sports across New Hampshire. With each season, I realized I enjoyed being on the sidelines interviewing players and coaches much more than eight hours of office work.

At Syracuse, I grew from being just a writer to becoming a leader. As the lead producer at The NewsHouse, I guided our editorial team in covering a fraternity hazing scandal. This was the first time I had to make important decisions on how to cover an ugly event. We wanted to get the story out quick, but we had to make sure we were accurate as possible and give the school and fraternity time to respond to the event. This experience taught me that journalism does matter.

Outside of watching sports and writing, I spend my time outdoors hiking, fishing and skiing throughout the year.

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- Jack Belanger