ARLINGTON, Texas -- While most of their peers cheered from the stands this football season, two local high school students took their team's run to the UIL State Championship game as an opportunity.
Jordan Pryor, of Allen High School, and Matt Garnett, of Argyle, both served as correspondents for FOX Sports Southwest and Dave Campbell's Texas Football's Student Beat program this fall.
Along with 23 other students across the state, Pryor and Garnett provided live social media updates from their respective school's football games each week for FOX Sports Southwest's Football Friday telecast.
"The Student Beat program is a unique opportunity for students to be part of the football action on Friday night, while also gaining valuable experience for their future," FOX Sports Southwest marketing director Mary Hyink said.
This was the first year of the program, created in partnership with the Baylor University Sports Sponsorship and Sales (S3) Program and FOX Sports University. In 2013, Baylor students participating in the S3 program were tasked with developing a marketing campaign to assist FOX Sports Southwest in promoting its high school football coverage. The student correspondent concept was conceived to support the network's coverage, while also offering aspiring journalists the opportunity to gain real world experience.
"I'm the sports producer and sports broadcasting director for KGLE3 at Allen High School and I said, 'heck yeah' when my instructor asked me if I'd be interested," Pryor said. "I live and breathe all sports. When they came to me for this, I was willing to multitask with all my other filming duties for AHS."
Pryor plans on studying broadcast journalism at the University of North Texas, but Garnett is still exploring options for his future.
Regardless, both high school seniors can add the work they've done for FOX Sports Southwest to their already impressive resumes.
"It's great being affiliated with FOX Sports Southwest because you have more access and you get to network with a lot of people," Garnett said. "You're not just some high school kid because you're working with a big organization."
While working at the UIL State Championship football games, Garnett was able to show off his photography work and Pryor did videos on the big stage at AT&T Stadium.
"Being able to get my name out there has really helped with the videos that I make," Pryor said. "Whenever I tweet, more people see them. It's been really cool just to be able to network."
FOX Sports Southwest and DCTF hope to see the Student Beat program continue to grow and provide more opportunities for talented high school seniors like Pryor and Garnett.
"I think it gets a lot of kids' names out there who are interested in going into this profession," Garnett said. "If you're a high school student covering football and you're not a part of this program, then you need to find a way in. You get to meet a lot of people and learn what it's like to work in the real world. That's something that a lot of high school kids don't get to do."
