小优视频

Journalism major Ella Zinken 鈥�25 grew up watching football with her dad and always knew she wanted to be a sportswriter. She鈥檚 living that dream this semester through a content-sharing partnership between 小优视频ampa鈥檚 student newspaper, The Minaret, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tampa Bay Times.

Zinken, who has written for The Minaret since 2023, covers the Tampa Bay Sun FC, the first professional women鈥檚 soccer team in Tampa. Zinken writes about two stories a month, covering live games (a favorite was the Sun鈥檚 first win at home) and writing features, like a recent story about the Sun鈥檚 fan club.

Her stories appear both on the Minaret website and the website for the Tampa Bay Times.

The news outlets鈥� partnership started last year and allows the Times to publish content originally found on The Minaret platforms.

Zinken is the first student to write stories under the agreement. She was known to be an excellent student and had developed close relationships with her professors, who also knew of her passion for sports. So when the time came to recommend a student to cover women鈥檚 soccer, Zinken鈥檚 name rose to the top.

Sohana Nasrin, assistant professor of journalism and faculty advisor of The Minaret, recommended Zinken for the role.

Zinken鈥檚 鈥渆xceptional storytelling abilities, coupled with her extensive sports knowledge and passion for sports coverage, make her a standout in the field of journalism,鈥� Nasrin said.

Journalism Chair Jeff Neely said the final decision rested with the editors at the Times.

In addition to covering the Sun, Zinken also has shadowed seasoned Times reporters on other Tampa Bay sports beats, including the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, an experience she describes as surreal.

鈥淭hey just have access to all this stuff. And I'm, like, 鈥楾his is my dream, and people get to do this.鈥� Yeah, I'm sitting in the press box at the Bucs game,鈥� she said.

Zinken is a New England Patriots fan, and she says the Patriots-turned-Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is part of the reason she fell in love with football. Brady is now a game analyst on TV, and Zinken recently learned she鈥檇 be covering a game he was working, too.

鈥淲ow, that鈥檚 so cool. I鈥檒l be in the same building as Tom Brady,鈥� she thought.

At the game, when she met the reporter she was shadowing, Brady walked out of the elevator in front of them.

鈥淭hat was my favorite moment, for sure,鈥� Zinken said.