MVTV’s sports anchor, junior Nick Nelson, will be spending part of his summer in a convention room filled with well-known politicians and experienced reporters, all through the makings of a program by Envision called Chase the Race.

This summer Nelson, will be attending the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, taking place Monday, July 25 through Thursday, July 28 to broadcast the an event taking place for the presidential election. This experience happens through Chase the Race, which allows 12 student journalists to travel all around the U.S. to broadcast designated events of the presidential election.

As an inspiration, Nelson’s former broadcast journalism teacher, Cindy Swartz, helped open his eyes up to the world of journalism and aided him in his application process.

“Mrs. Swartz, she was a great teacher,” Nelson said. “She really made journalism fun and entertaining.”

Moving from the broadcast classroom to the Democratic National Convention will be a big atmospheric shift, Swafford said..

“He’ll get to work with hopefully some of the top kids in the nation covering such an event that’s so a part of everyone’s life because everyone is curious as to who is going to be the next president,” Swafford said.

Although it took weeks for Nelson to receive a response, he feels as if it was well worth the wait.

“I was pretty stressed out for the first week, and then it slipped to the back of my mind by the third week because it took longer than I thought for them to get back to me, but I was really excited when I found out,” Nelson said.

Despite having a secure spot in his assigned event this summer, Nelson is still required to fulfill certain criteria in order to attend.  

“I will be going to the Democratic National Convention in July, but other student reporters from across the country are already in action,” Nelson said. “I have a series of assignments I have to do leading up to the event, [such as] creating videos, posting to social media and getting my generation involved in politics.”

To understand what will be talked about at the upcoming event, Nelson had to play catch up with his political current events.

“Going into this event, I wasn’t really that interested in politics — I did this event mainly for the journalism aspect of it — so I’ve been catching up on politics, and as a reporter I’m trying to stay unbiased,” Nelson said.

According the Swafford, going to this convention is a good way for Nelson’s broadcasting intelligence to grow, whether it be through experiencing strict due dates, getting along with all types of people or being thrown into situations where stories will have to be made on the spot.

“I think the idea of him going out and having a certain time limit gets him better acclimated with pressures and deadlines and working with other people, different environments and locations, will get him acclimated into covering a story on the fly, being able to mix and mingle with different people and just to find a story at any moment. I think it’s a great experience,” Swafford said.

No matter the outcome, Nelson sees this experience as one that will help open doors for his aspiring broadcasting career and expand his journalistic knowledge.

“[Attending this event] is a really good credential for colleges to set you apart from lots of other people, as well as the experience that I’ll gain from covering an event of this size,” Nelson said. “I think collaborating with professionals will really show me what it’s like to be a real journalist.”