Mitchell Gladstone was a participant in the 2014 Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop.

By Mitchell Gladstone

Senior, Duke University

When I first came to the newsroom at 801 Market Street four years ago, I had no idea as to where journalism would take me. At the time, I was a junior at Lower Merion High School and it was just less than a year after I’d been named one of three sports editors for The Merionite, our school’s student-run newspaper.

Fast forward to this summer and I was back in the very same newsroom, interning for the Inquirer and Daily News as I continue to forge my path in the world of journalism.

The Acel Moore Workshop showed me that there was much more to writing than simply putting pen to paper and sharing my thoughts in whatever fashion I chose. As we put together First Take, the student-produced newspaper on Millennials, I dug into a story about high school football players and the increased number of concussions, conducting interviews and doing research on this troubling trend.

Reading that story again, I think about how far I’ve come.

I graduated from Lower Merion in 2015 and headed to Duke, where I became a sports writer for The Chronicle, our independent daily campus newspaper. At Duke, I’ve covered more than half of the 27 varsity sports and progressed from being a writer to joining the men’s basketball beat to finally taking over as managing sports editor last year as a junior. The Chronicle has become an integral part of my college life. I met my roommate through our writing assignments and I’ve spent far too many hours in our office that looks right out onto Duke’s magnificent chapel.

I’ve also spent the past two summers at home — last year at NBC Sports Philadelphia and this year with Philadelphia Media Network. On top of the incredible opportunities I’ve had at Duke, traveling  to 11 of 15 ACC sites as well as the ACC and NCAA men’s basketball tournaments, I’ve been fortunate to get a taste of what it’s like to work as a beat writer in arguably the most competitive sports media market in the country.

And along the way, I have been lucky to work alongside many great editors and writers who have helped me grow and learn. Now, as I enter my final year at Duke, I feel ready for the challenges ahead in an ever-changing journalism landscape.

The Acel Moore Workshop was simply a starting point for me. I didn’t know what was to come, but it exposed me to the opportunities that might eventually be there for me in a world that has now become my life. I can’t say enough about director Oscar Miller and PMN for an incredible program that I know will keep doing great work in the years to come.