Oct. 23, 2017
By Alyssa Palfey, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Senior Greta Lindsley has certainly made her mark on the cross country course since she started four years ago as a freshman, but more importantly, she's made her mark off the course as well, pursuing a future career in broadcast journalism.
From Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Lindsley is a senior cross country and track & field runner here at Penn State. She first got her start in running when she was young and was inspired to continue from her father's collegiate running career.
"I was always trying new sports, playing outside, and wildly energetic, so the only logical solution was put that energy into something productive. I did a couple fun runs in elementary school and loved it, but I didn't really focus on it as my main sport until junior year in high school. Plus, my dad ran in college, so he inspired me to lace up the spikes," Lindsley said.
The decision to run in college was a big one for Lindsley, but so was deciding what to major in. She always knew that journalism was the direction she wanted to go in, but had trouble picking the area to focus on.
"I have always enjoyed writing, plus I'm a big talker, so it didn't take long for me to realize that journalism was the way to go. I originally started as a print journalism major, but really started to like the broadcast side of things better around my spring semester sophomore year," Lindsley said.
Although the journey to deciding a future career path wasn't easy, the decision to come to Penn State was an easy one for Lindsley. She says that Penn State felt like home right away.
"During my visit, I got to go on the field at Beaver Stadium, watch a home cross country meet, and I also got to see the College of Communication's Centre County Report (CCR) newsroom during a live broadcast, which is what I'm currently a part of right now, so I was immediately in awe of all there was available here," Lindsley said.
A huge struggle of being a student-athlete is the time commitment that you have to put toward your sport. Lindsley found out how to time manage as soon as she got to campus her first year. She now balances practice, meets, schoolwork and the Centre County Report, which is news, weather and sports presented by Penn State's College of Communications students.
"Although I have a lot more on my plate with CCR and my sport this year, I have a lot of practice with prioritizing to-do lists from the past. The bright side for me is that I thoroughly enjoy my major and my sport, so even though I can get stressed out, I love what I get to do every day," Lindsley said.
Lindsley has experience with a news station prior to Centre County Report. She recently had an internship at WGAL, a local news station in her hometown.
"It was my first experience in a newsroom, and I was so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to learn from such a talented network right away. I got to sit in and watch the anchors live from the studio, but I also got to go on the road with reporters and cameramen to a scene. I observed, took notes, asked questions, and wrote everything down," Lindsley said.
Lindsley knows that interning at WGAL prepared her for how fast-paced things are in Centre County Report, she even still brings that same notebook to CCR today.
Balancing all of these things can be really tough, but Lindsley knows that being this involved is only preparing her for her next phase of her career.
"My favorite thing about working for the Centre County Report is how well it's preparing me for my next stage in this job field. During my internship last summer, I practiced anchoring and reporting, but this class was the first time I was actually on air," Lindsley said. "I'm learning something new every day, and it's a great program to put on a resumé. I also enjoy the people I work with. I have very helpful professors and very talented classmates to take notes from, so I'm in a really great spot there."