There’s sometimes pressure in life to only do things that advance your career. To spend all your time working toward your dream, and only doing classes and extracurriculars that get you there. When I got to Northwestern, I dreamed of being an investigative journalist. That’s still the goal, but I’ve also spent the last two years devoting much of my time to sports broadcasting with our student radio called WNUR.

A few weeks before I got to Northwestern, I saw a friend from high school post a photo from the press box of a soccer game at his SEC school. I thought that seemed cool, and when I saw WNUR Sports at the Medill Club Fair, I walked up to their table. The guys told me about their coverage of the women’s basketball team, the sport I played for fourteen years, and how easy it was to get involved at the station. They were excited that I liked women’s basketball and was interested in calling games. I signed up for something completely unrelated to investigative journalism, but I was excited to try.

I started calling volleyball and basketball games, and although there were several losses, I was having so much fun. Prepping for games and radio shows, working with a broadcast partner, and the thrill of going on the air became some of the highlights of my first year at Northwestern. I even got to travel with the women’s basketball team, and they bought me pizza and Dairy Queen after the win. I became passionate about these teams and this club, and helped hold it together when there were no sports last spring.

I’ve watched the club grow and change, adapt to Zoom and Facebook Live and broadcast during the pandemic. We’ve celebrated the Citrus Bowl victory and the women’s basketball NCAA tournament berth, and grieved through some tough losses during the men’s basketball season. I called close games and blowouts, ran a weekly talk show with fun games and now cover baseball on a podcast. My friends, parents and grandparents tune in every time, no matter how little they cared about Big Ten sports.

With the safety of vaccines and nicer weather in the spring, we’ve been able to toss around a football and hold in-person meetings. Hearing everyone laughing together again feels even better than it did before, and I’m so grateful for the friends I get to see every week. Some of those guys that convinced me to sign up are now close friends and I’ve looked up to them throughout my time at Medill.

I’m still doing plenty of classes, clubs and internships that will help me be an investigative journalist. And sports broadcasting is teaching me plenty of valuable journalism skills as well. But I hope everyone entering college stays open to whatever their WNUR Sports may be. At Northwestern, there are so many incredible opportunities that you won’t have outside of college, and your college years are the perfect time to add new passions to your existing ones. You never know, trying something new that sparks your interest at a club fair could be one of the best parts of your time here.

Margaret Fleming ’23

Major: Journalism

Hometown: Chicago, IL