All in all, it’s been a roller coaster ride at Waynesburg

Maybe I came to Waynesburg for the wrong reasons.
Maybe I came to this school, some 71 miles away from my hometown of Beaver, Pennsylvania, because I thought it would whisk me away from the proclaimed “Beaver Bubble,” which would never let you go once inside, keeping you there forever. Or maybe it was the pressure of others, along with my high aspirations, of continuing my football career after high school. I’m not really sure what it was, to be honest.
But what I can tell you is, four years later, not much shaped out the way I thought – or hoped – it would.
In all honesty, I suppose the whole reason why I did choose to attend a small, Christian school in the heart of Greene County was a man who many people saw on their living room televisions and listened to on their back porch radios for over three decades calling Pittsburgh Pirates baseball – Lanny Frattare.
I’ve always loved sports. Since the day I was old enough to play organized sports, I was there. Basketball, football in middle school, soccer and especially baseball – a game I fell in love with at a very young age.
I’m not sure why I became obsessed with baseball. I didn’t spend very much time with my father growing up, and maybe it was the fact that the only time we really spent together involved the quirky sport. Whether he was coaching me, playing catch together or heading to Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoons to catch a couple innings at Three Rivers Stadium, then heading to McDonald’s on the way home to split a 20-piece McNugget, it was always about baseball. Baseball was something his father instilled in him at a young age as well. Either way, the sport connected with me.
The lure to learn from a man that spent 33 seasons behind a microphone broadcasting Major League Baseball drew me in right away. Just like many others my age and even older, Lanny was a second father to them, a babysitter, a friend that they would spend a few hours with on warm summer nights.
With that said, I had an epiphany. Long story short, why waste what some say is the best four years of your life doing something that, in the long run, will destroy your body, when you can work just as hard to better yourself career-wise after college? To me, the choice was a no-brainer. Regardless, some did frown upon that decision.
Looking back on it, it was the best decision I’ve ever made. I was able to accomplish everything I wanted to at Waynesburg, and then some. Four years ago, I would have rolled my eyes and laughed if someone told me that I would be in the position I am now. Covering a Division I basketball game as a freelance journalist and broadcasting one as a freelancer before the age of 21 is something I feel that very few can say.
In the eight semesters that I have written for this newspaper and the seven that I have been on the executive staff for, I have learned a great deal. I’ve stayed up until the early hours of the morning, writing on deadline to cover stories such as the 2012 election night and the Boston Marathon bombings. I’ve written opinion pieces that didn’t quite sit well with some members of the administration that reside in Miller Hall. I’ve even had some strong thoughts on athletic teams on campus that felt like I was attacking them, instead of me simply being critical, since that’s what journalists do. At any rate, I’ve learned that this business can be a glorified hell, even if you’re right, wrong or indifferent.
As I look back at everything that has transpired the last four years, I really don’t know what to think. Like every other college student, it was a roller coaster ride. There were smiles and jubilation, tears and heartaches, all sandwiched between a multiple senses of accomplishment. I am the first in my family to move away from home and go to college.All I’ve ever wanted to accomplish in my life is to make my parents proud of the person I’ve become, and all I can do is hope I’ve done an OK job of that to this point.
But there’s another thing I discovered here at Waynesburg, other than one heck of a sunset on cool spring evenings. I stumbled upon a second home for four years. I’ve made some good friends and even a couple of enemies, but support I have received chasing this wild and crazy dream of mine has been outstanding.From the support of the faculty around Waynesburg; especially in the department of communication, from my newly created friends and my old high school ones I remain in contact with today, to of course my wonderful family and my girlfriend, Katherine. Without their support, I would be nothing. But above all, I have to thank the man upstairs to leading me to this place with wonderful people.
Once again, all of this would be nonexistent if it wasn’t for that man who intrigued me with baseball throughout the majority of my childhood, keeping me on the edge of my seat, even if the team he watched 162 times each summer had 21-straight losing seasons (side note, I feel like I’m partially to be blamed for that, considering I was born on Opening Day of the 1993 season). From the bottom of my heart, I cannot thank Mr. Frattare enough for taking me under his wing and looking out for me. It’s a debt that I don’t think I can ever repay.
As far as my college choice goes, I was a little skeptical in my first semester or two at Waynesburg. I wasn’t sure if I belonged here or not. But as time went on, I knew this is where I belonged. So, if someone asked me if Waynesburg was the right decision, I can happily sum up my thoughts in one, brief statement.
There was no doubt about it.