DETROIT -- Ball State junior Jen Zarate’s day at the Mid-American Conference Media Day started by a tweet and ended with a job offer.
A communications major with a certificate in journalism, Zarate is also the president of Charlie’s Crew, the student section for all Ball State sporting events and an RA in Studebaker West.
Through checking her Twitter feed, Jen saw one of her friends re-tweet MAC Director of Communications Jeremy Guy about the MAC Social Media Experience Exclusive Opportunity.
The Social Media Experience challenged students to act as reporters for the day. One student was chosen from each of the 13 schools in the conference.
Before coming to the annual event in Detroit, the winning students had to think of 10 questions to ask their respective school’s players. The winners then spent Tuesday morning covering the conference through social media.
It was the first time the conference chose a student from each school for the social media experience. In the past, Guy had chosen only three students to attend each conference game with him.
“I don’t know any of the people. I don’t know who I am picking or anything about them,” Guy said. “So I read through their tweets and I see that they’re fans and that’s kind of how I make my selections.”
Zarate tweeted back to Guy and two weeks later was chosen as the Ball State student representative.
“It’s funny because I was never into sports in high school," Zarate said. "Then I got to college and went to the first football game and just wanted to keep going back. I just really like the environment, the school pride.”
As reporters from the conference interviewed coach Pete Lembo, defensive lineman Nate Ollie and quarterback Keith Wenning, Zarate was by their side taking pictures on her phone and tweeting their quotes. She finished the day with an on-camera interview asking her 10 questions to both Ollie and Wenning.
“It was my favorite part of the day. While other reporters had to be formal, I was able to get to know them personally," Zarate said. "I also walked away with football experience from a reporter perspective whereas I had only had a fan perspective.”
Before leaving Ford Field, Zarate received an email from a blogger following Ball State football. After noticing her tweets, he offered her a position as the Ball State representative. She set up a phone interview to get more information before accepting.
