Jeremy Menard has been a sports fan his entire life. “But at a young age, I gravitated toward the media side when I realized I wasn’t fit to be a professional baseball or football player,” he said. Now in his first semester at Springfield College, the Visiting Assistant Professor brings on-air sports media experience to his role as the adviser of the campus TV and radio stations. He double majored in media communications and economics at Muhlenberg College – where he was the sports director for the school’s student-run radio station – and earned a masters degree in broadcasting and digital journalism at Syracuse University, where he did an internship with an ESPN affiliate. After graduation, Menard served as an on-air host of the station’s show “Between the Lines” for four years and then served as the Manager of TV and radio operation at Ithaca College. The Student interviewed Menard about his journey and his plans at Springfield.
The Student: What are your days at Springfield like?
Menard: I’m teaching three courses this semester. I’m teaching two sections of Multimedia Production and a section of Sports Broadcasting. I get the chance to speak with students and go through our projects. Both classes are very project-based, which has been a lot of fun. In addition to that, I’m the advisor for WCSB and Birthplace Studios, the radio club on campus, as well as SCTV3, the television club. Thursday nights are TV night, where we have our meeting and the live weekly news and sports extra productions. On the radio side, I meet every Thursday morning with the club president and vice president and make sure that programming on the radio station is up to date. When I’m not teaching, I’m preparing for those broadcasts.
The Student: How have you liked your job so far?
Menard: I love the opportunity to be able to build courses and work closely with students and talk to them through my experiences. Provide advice, suggestions, drawing outside examples to show them how to build different projects and assignments. To see them actually go out and come back with really high quality packages and interviews and coverage has been awesome. Being able to work and get to know the students, and be able to try to pass off some of my knowledge to them has just been amazing. I love it.
The Student: How are you looking to build the clubs you are advising?
Menard: I’m trying to share my knowledge to help build up these stations through the experience I’ve had in the industry, and working with student media in the past, but then also working on professional stations to provide those examples. Seeing the work that the students are doing here — which is already exceptional, and say, “‘Hey, let’s try this next time. Let’s try this angle. We should cover this event.”’ We want to tell a bigger, more diverse story every week. On the side of Birthplace Studios, provide advice to make the already really good podcast great, to listen and support the podcasts to keep them consistent. My biggest thing is finding a way to improve the quality, while also improving the overall coverage as well.
The Student: You’re a big road trip person. Where’s your favorite place to visit?
Menard: My favorite place in the world is the Adirondack Mountains in New York state. My family spends a lot of time in Lake George. That’s where my parents live most of the time. When I’m not working or not at home, my wife and I try to spend as much time up in the mountains, whether it’s boating, fishing, hiking, or skiing. That’s our happy place.
The Student: What’s your gas station order?
Menard: I like cherry Pepsi, but if it’s Coke that’s fine too, and a bag of Chex mix as well. If I’m really letting my hair down, I’ll get Swedish Fish