Ethan Bock Pursuing His Dreams At WVU
Ethan Bock, Moeller class of 2020
Ethan Bock, a Moeller graduate of 2020, and a former Moeller journalist, has been continuing his journalism dreams at West Virginia University working for their newspaper.
West Virginia University’s student newspaper, also known as Daily Athenaeum, recruited Ethan Bock to their staff. Bock said, “I have always been a sports fan my entire life. I religiously watched ESPN when it was watchable-I remember freshman year at Moeller when they would start helping you brainstorm maybe what you want to do, and I thought that writing about sports would be the coolest job ever.” He also said that Moeller did a great job preparing him for college, and that so far, “Moeller was harder than college.”
Bock was a student in Moeller’s journalism class. He said, “Mr. Jackson’s class definitely helped me get ready for journalism in college because he showed us the basics in journalism, but it helped to be ahead of a lot of other journalists in college. […] I interviewed CK about Deuce and it was great practice at learning how to interview people. This class also helped me confirm that I want to do this for a living, so I do credit, Mr. Jackson, a lot.”
Bock also spoke about how journalism is interesting and how it is now different in the time of COVID. He writes for The Daily Athenaeum and also interns for a WVU website that is called BlueGoldSports. He covers the Volleyball team every week. “Every Wednesday the coach will have a press conference with me on a zoom call,” Bock said, as he described his reporting routine. Bock will also go to the games when they are at home and cover the games. After each game, a postgame conference is held, which Bock also attends. Also for BGS (BlueGoldSports), he has covered football, basketball, soccer, and any breaking news that comes out that relates to WVU. “There are only five of us on the staff so it’s a great opportunity to write what I want to write about.”
He virtually works every day of the week on things for stories besides Sunday. He has written around 15 stories for the Daily Athenaeum and around 30 stories for the website. Bock emphasizes the difference between Journalism at WVU and at Moeller. “Moeller journalism is different from WVU journalism just by the fact of the size. “Moeller is about 1,000 people, while WVU is around 30,000 undergrads. Also, your audience that you’re writing for is WAY bigger in West Virginia than Moeller. I actually think Moeller journalism is a lot more creative than some of the people here at WVU.” Bock says the best part of college so far is being able to interview head basketball coach Bob Huggins and head football coach Neal Brown.
Bock got into the DA with the help of Danny Kuhn, Moeller grad of 2018. Kuhn said, “In terms of how Moeller prepares you, this may seem crazy, but the Journalism class didn’t even exist until I was a junior. Doing the yearbook and journalism class at Moeller was my first start as a journalist, and I’ve gone back and read my old stuff. While it is nowhere near what my writing is like now, it’s really crazy that I even got the opportunity in high school. That’s extremely odd and I remember being head and shoulders above other students in my freshman year, thanks to the opportunities that Moeller gave me.”
Both Bock and Kuhn now work in the sports section together. Bock speaks on how he got into the newspaper with the help of Danny, “I am pretty sure he threw my name out to the editor of the newspaper. The editor of the newspaper, Jared Serre, reached out to me on Twitter last May and offered me to write sports for them after reading my stories for The Crusader. So, if I shall offer any advice it would be use your connections wherever you may go in life. It sounds crazy, but no matter where you go there are Moeller alumni to help.”
When asked why he accepted the offer from Serre, he said, “I said yes to working on the newspaper because it is a great opportunity to get involved in sports journalism. Also, it is a good way to find connections. I have interviewed WVU alums and told them what paper I am writing for and they all can recognize it. Also, eventually, this job can turn into a paying job, which will be exciting.”
Keep in mind during your day to day, whatever classes you’re taking now at Moe can play a huge role in your future.