On Friday, February 7th, Owens Spring Athletes and Broadcast Media and Photography students collaborated for the spring 2024-25 academic year AthletiCon, an event that gives student athletes and Broadcast Media and Photograph students professional experience to add to their resume.
Rob Thomas, Assistant Professor of Broadcast Media Technology, revived AthletiCon when he began at Owens.
Ruth Foote, Professor of Photography, soon joined the fun. “I can’t remember how exactly he [Rob Thomas] approached me to have the studio students take pictures at the AthletiCon. When he brought it up to me, I thought ‘That’s fantastic!’ And immediately said ‘YES! Sign us up!’” said Foote.
Rob Thomas, TJ Barney, Editor-in-Chief of the Owens Outlook Student Digital Newspaper and Webmaster of the OwensOutcomm.com website, and Ruth Foote with the Athletic Department all work to bring this event together both spring and fall semesters.
AthletiCon is comprised of five stations where the athletes participate in interviews, sound bites for the radio station, photos for athlete cards, photos on a creative aspect, and a hype video.
Foote changes up the creative aspect every year. Fog was this year’s creative aspect. The photography studio went on the road to the SHAC with the high ceilings decreasing the chance of setting off the smoke alarms.
At noon, AthletiCon hit off with the Women’s Softball Team arriving.
Emily Rank, #14 on the Women Softball Team, gave some thoughts on the event.
“I think it’s pretty cool because you’re trying to get our names out. And it’ll definitely help with social media and help to get other athletes to think ‘Oh, that’s cool they do that!’ So, I think it is definitely a way to reach out to the community and find future athletes to come to Owens.”
The experience being interviewing, posing for portraits, and practicing creating audio clips for radio, commercials, and podcasts, Owens Athletes gain valuable experience to help showcase themselves as a potential professional athlete.
In addition, the Broadcast Media and Photography Students get hands on experience with these critical aspects of their future careers all while promoting the wonderful program to our community.
The athletes enjoyed taking portraits and creative group portraits with friends and fellow teammates. Joey Willington, #28 on the Men’s Baseball Team, stated, “The pictures with the smoke was his favorite part about this year’s AthletiCon.”
As fast as the day started, it came to an end. Everyone packed up and Spring Athleticon is now in the past; look for Athleticon in the fall.
