Being the best I can be: Logan Bourandas’ Senior Column
I had one goal in college, and that was to work harder than everyone else and be the best broadcaster I could be.
Through that goal and spending those late nights at Innovation Park and the Bellisario Media Center, I’ve developed friendships that will last me a lifetime.
CommRadio was the first club I joined. I hadn’t heard about it until a mutual friend, Chris Hess, told me all the great things about it.
My first time meeting him in person would be at the first CommRadio interest meeting, which I missed.
Thanks to my inability to figure out the CATA bus system, I showed up an hour late and thought that the CommRadio general meeting afterward was the interest meeting which confused Chris when I finally met the guy.
Not the best way for an awkward Long Island kid to start his college career.
I got into my head even more when I got to Innovation Park for the first time and did my first training alongside another new member, Connor Griffin.
I thought I was never going to make it at this school if everyone had a broadcasting voice like him.
I had come into college as a radio-first guy, having been the station manager of my high school’s FM radio station, so I never thought once about writing. I even turned down my high school’s newspaper.
So it’s safe to say going from that to writing a CommRadio record 366 articles was never on my radar.
The first article I ever wrote was an AFC season preview article in September of 2019, where I had the Jets finishing 8-8, which wasn’t far off from their 7-9 mon-filled season.
Jets talk aside, getting comfortable in the club was way easier than I initially thought, thanks to me being annoying and signing up for as much content as humanly possible.
One day during one of those sports meetings, Jake Starr, came up to pitch the news department, and when I threw my hat in to be part of a newscast, the last thing on my mind was that I would eventually be his co-director.
Getting it despite probably being the worst interview of my life, by the way, and trust me, I’ve been a part of a lot of bad ones here.
That turned into five fun semesters of management as one of CommRadio’s news directors working alongside Starr, Kiley Hill and Isabella Leahy, which I’m thankful for every day I got the chance to do.
Being in a leadership role and even after the fact, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing and talented people in this club.
Some of whom I’ve had broadcasts with, and some I’ve had a small conversation with at Innovation Park or the CommRadio table at Willard. I wouldn’t take back a single second of any of it.
CommRadio was a much different place when I joined it four years ago, and I’m so happy at where it’s at now and can’t wait to see where it goes in the future.
I was one of the first CommRadio insiders for basketball and football before one of my best friends and General Manager, Alex Rocco, set the standard and then some for the role.
There are so many people I wish I could thank for helping to make these four years so special, and I wish I could do it here, but this will have to do.
Many people in my graduating class may look back at the past and blame COVID-19 for taking a part of the experience away but getting the opportunity to spend every day with the people in this club has made all of that a non-factor.
Whether it was broadcasting games in Ann Arbor, Piscataway, College Park, Richmond or State College, I’m truly grateful for all the opportunities that CommRadio has given me.
When I look back, it was not the college career I had envisioned myself having, I wasn’t perfect, but no one is.
I tried every day to be the best version of myself, and I’m happy with the place that’s gotten me to and where that mindset will take me in the future.
It may not lead me to perfection but maybe, just maybe, I won’t show up to another interest meeting an hour late.
Logan Bourandas is a senior for now, majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
