Madelyn – Communications GA SEU – Posting to X and Fire Site
Her First Byline: From Watching the Game to Telling the Story
Commentary
The Southeastern University Fire’s 37–23 victory over Faulkner provided a pretty good first opportunity.
One of the exciting parts of this new chapter is getting to see Madelyn move from being a student-athlete who was featured in stories to becoming one of the people helping tell those stories.
Her first football assignment as a Graduate Assistant in Athletic Communications gave her an opportunity to experience that process firsthand. Instead of simply watching the game, she was now helping document what happened, sharing updates as the action unfolded, interviewing people involved, and contributing to the official story that would be published afterward.
From Game Day to Published Story
A football game moves quickly, but telling the story of a game requires paying attention to much more than the final score.
The final recap captured the major moments from Southeastern’s 37–23 victory over Faulkner, including Zach Pleuss’ four touchdown passes, the scoring progression throughout the game, Joel McGrath’s perfect night on field-goal attempts, and the defensive turnovers that helped secure the win.
Seeing Madelyn’s name attached to the published recap makes this milestone especially meaningful. This wasn’t simply a post about a game she attended. It was part of the official communication surrounding the program.
Following the Action in Real Time
The published game story tells the story after the final whistle. Social media tells the story while it is happening.
During the game, Madelyn was also part of the process of communicating the action as it unfolded. Touchdowns, field goals, halftime updates, big plays, and the final score all became opportunities to keep fans connected to the Fire.
These posts show another part of the job: recognizing which moments matter, communicating them quickly, and helping maintain the voice and presence of the athletic program throughout the game.
And This Is Just the Beginning
The football game was only one of the first opportunities.
Madelyn is continuing to take photographs, contribute additional bylines, and build experience across the Southeastern University athletic program. Each assignment provides another opportunity to learn the rhythms of athletic communications and to develop a body of published work.
There is something pretty special about watching the transition from being the athlete whose story is being told to becoming one of the people helping tell the stories of others.
Keep an eye out on the https://fire.seu.edu site for more posts
Even some pictures for other’s articles
A New Chapter
For four years, much of the story surrounding Madelyn was about what happened on the field — goals, assists, teammates, seasons, awards, and the experiences that came with being a collegiate athlete.
Now the perspective is changing.
She is still close to the field, but she is beginning to experience college athletics from a different side. Instead of being the player waiting for the next play, she is helping capture the play. Instead of waiting to see what gets written, she is helping write it. Instead of simply being part of the story, she is learning how to tell the story.
That makes this first football assignment more than just another game recap. It represents the beginning of a new professional chapter.
Building a Portfolio One Story at a Time
Every published story, photograph, social-media post, interview, and game-day assignment becomes part of a growing portfolio.
These screenshots preserve some of the early examples of that work — not just as memories of a particular football game, but as a record of experience gained along the way.
Over time, individual assignments become a body of work that can demonstrate writing ability, photography, interviewing, social-media communication, storytelling, and an understanding of the fast-paced world of college athletics.
What’s Next?
This first football assignment is only the beginning.
More games will bring more opportunities to write, photograph, interview, post, and tell the stories happening around Southeastern University athletics.
It will be fun to look back at these first assignments someday and see where this chapter began.
For now, the next story is waiting.