Students Set to Cover Championship Game

Two communications students will get an unrivaled hands-on opportunity when they cover college football's national championship game and events surrounding it as part of a partnership crafted by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism.

The students -- Shane Hennigan (photo, left) of Dunmore, Pa., and Shane McGregor of Ebensburg, Pa. -- will write stories surrounding the Jan. 9 college college football national championship game in New Orleans. Their work will be included in official Bowl Championship Series outlets and publications and will be available at http://comm.psu.edu/sports and https://blogs.comm.psu.edu/bcs online.

"They have earned this opportunity through outstanding work in class and professional opportunities," said Malcolm Moran, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and Curley Center director, who will accompany the students during their trip. "After covering national championship games as far back as 30 years ago, it will be great fun for me to see this event through their eyes."

Such experiences for the most capable students are an integral part of programming for the Curley Center. Five students covered the Pan Am Games in October and two students covered the NCAA Final Four in April 2011 as part of similar partnerships.

Hennigan, a senior telecommunications major, and McGregor, a junior majoring in journalism and English, were part of a team of students during the fall semester that completed an independent study and wrote stories for the sports department of the Centre Daily Times.

McGregor, a reserve quarterback on the Penn State football team, was one of five students honored earlier this year with a $5,000 scholarship from the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation as part of a national essay competition.

He became the third Penn State student to earn a scholarship from the foundation in the past five years. Previous winners were Josh Moyer in 2007 and Mark Viera in 2008. Only two other schools -- Trinity College of Connecticut, which has a winner designated each year as a tribute to Murray's alma mater, and the University of Montana -- have produced as many winners in the competition the past five years.

The Center for Sports Journalism became the first of its kind when it was established in 2003. Three years later it was named for Curley, who in more than five decades served as a reporter, editor, publisher and, ultimately, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the Gannett Co. he was the first editor of USA Today.