Journalism student from Lynbrook tackles interviews at Super Bowl LVII

Lynbrook resident and Quinnipiac University senior Santino Maione scored several interviews last week in Arizona, while he was covering the Super Bowl.

Maione, a journalism student, went to the event with classmates from the Quinnipiac Bobcats Sports Network, along with the Ability Media Program. They arrived in Glendale on Feb. 3 to cover a week’s worth of events leading up to the Super Bowl.

This is the second consecutive year that Maione has covered the NFL’s biggest game. “I never expected to be able to do this,” he said.

He was not going to fumble this rare opportunity, as he’s been interested in sports journalism for years. “I’ve always been a huge fan of watching ESPN, Sports Center, ‘First Take,’” he said. “And I’ve always known that I wanted to be an on-air personality for sports in general.”

Maione inched closer to his career goal by interviewing several athletes before the Super Bowl. “I’ve gotten to interview Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback for the Chiefs, Jalen Hurts, who’s the quarterback for the Eagles, and DeVonta Smith, who’s the wide receiver for the Eagles,” he said. Also, for the second straight year, he interviewed Pat McAfee, a sports analyst and a former punter for the Indianapolis Colts.

“It’s just been really, really exciting to be able to interview the people that I wanted to,” Maione said. “And there’s been a lot of different opportunities like going to different press conferences.”

“While you learn a lot from the classroom, a lot of what you learn is the extracurricular activities and the hands-on work you get to do,” Maione said. “Such activities involve playing with the cameras, working behind the scenes, working in front of the cameras.” Maione says he hones his sports reporting skills by “doing it over and over again” through these “hands-on experiences.”

Quinnipiac’s state-of-the-art technology  contributes largely to  Maione’s ability to keep practicing sports journalism. “We get to work with the latest technology that the cable networks are using,” Maione said. Quinnipiac’s journalism department allows Maione to “develop and improve” his skills inside and outside the classroom.

“Santino is just a hardcore sports guy who’s very passionate about this type of work,” said Chris Roush, dean of the Quinnipiac’s School of Journalism. “He wants to be a sports broadcaster in the future so this was just an ideal opportunity for him to get some ground experience.”

Roush wanted journalism students to go to the Super Bowl a few years earlier, but pandemic delayed the trip. However, he does hope that this becomes an annual event.

According to Roush, the students who attended the Super Bowl are “doing video stories and posting them on their YouTube channel. They wrote print stories, with one story posted on AbilityMediaGroup.com.

“They are doing anything and everything,” Roush said. “They covered a flag football game earlier last week.”

The School of Journalism paid for the students to go to Arizona. “What we’re all about is providing experiential education opportunities,” Roush said.

Maione is a firm believer that this learning method will make him grow as an aspiring journalist.