Alaa Abdeldaiem (left) and Emily Kennedy cover the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Sports Capital Journalism Program Staff | @SportsCapJour
INDIANAPOLIS – Alaa Abdeldaiem and Emily Kennedy, students in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations at IUPUI, are covering the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the Sports Capital Journalism Program website.
Abdeldaiem, a first-year student, and Kennedy, a graduate student, are the first of ten IUPUI students that will cover tournaments for the program’s website in the next month.
“This is the most ambitious series of opportunities in the seven-year history of our program,” said Malcolm Moran, Director of the Sports Capital Journalism Program. “The experiences will include the Final Four tournaments in Houston and Indianapolis. No sports journalism program has ever offered a collection of opportunities like these.”
Abdeldaiem, a member of the IUPUI class of 2018, was recognized as Indiana’s Student Journalist of the Year and a Hoosier State Press Association scholarship winner during her senior year at Crown Point High School. She had the opportunity to sit alongside Indiana Pacers play-by-play announcer Mark Boyle after winning first place in the Indiana High School Press Association’s sports portfolio contest. Abdeldaiem, a Psychology major, is a reporter for The Campus Citizen covering anything from the IUPUI athletic program to the Indianapolis Colts. She recently covered the National Football League Scouting Combine. Her work has also appeared on the website Purpose2Play.com.
Kennedy grew up in Tacoma, Washington and was graduated from Stadium High School, which is most famous for being the school used in the film “Ten Things I Hate About You.” She has a B.S. degree in Sports Management from Grand Canyon University. She served for three and one-half years in the United States Marine Corps as an Aircraft Firefighter. She has placed as high as third in a 50-mile race for women.
The Sports Capital Journalism Program is part of the Department of Journalism and Public Relations, home of the nation’s first graduate program in sports journalism. At IUPUI, sports journalism students cover a wide variety of major sporting events and assist in research initiatives. Through campus events, students connect with leaders in sports journalism and the sports industry.
