For four straight days, four DHS students worked about 35 hours on one of the biggest sports stages in the country – the NCAA Tournament. 

Seniors Janeah Berry and Conley Hamblin, along with juniors Cooper Chadwick and Agness Mbezi and 2021 graduate Blake Chadwick volunteered as part of the media team at the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight at INTRUST Bank Arena in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. 

They worked long hours, struggled to meet deadlines, brainstormed ideas to write about, researched, self-edited – all while absorbing the experience of what it takes to put on an event that brought thousands to Wichita and the arena.

This is the second time that adviser Joanna Chadwick has brought her students to cover the NCAA Tournament. Chadwick brought six students in 2018 when the men’s NCAA Tournament was at INTRUST Bank Arena. 

Chadwick, who spent 20 years working as a sportswriter at the Wichita Eagle, connected with the tournament media director Mike Ross in 2017 about giving high school journalism students this opportunity that w0uld also teach them valuable lessons for whatever career they choose going forward. 

There were moments of self-doubt, moments of triumph. There were giddy moments as they sat on press row, as well as the exhaustion of being one of the last to leave the arena following Louisville’s victory over Michigan to advance to the Final Four.

There were moments of being invisible amid all the action backstage and near the court. And then there was the visibility that came when Ross praised them for having the best notes of any regional. 

These notes were brainstormed and refined by the students  – while being guided by journalism adviser Joanna Chadwick – and then sent across the country to media outlets. 

The first day was a bit rough. They were thrilled to have sat through four teams’ press conferences, but now they had to put it into a readable format that met journalistic standards and actually helped media from across the country. That first set of notes needed plenty of edits, but their reflection on where improvements were necessary revealed itself in the aftermath of each of Saturday’s games. 

By Monday night, they didn’t need to brainstorm with their adviser – they had this. They sat on press row in prime seats, they followed the game and they looked for not only the moments that everyone would be talking about, but also the moments that fans weren’t privy to.

Berry, Chadwick, Hamblin and Mbezi walked away from the NCAA Tournament knowing that they learned lessons most students don’t have the opportunity to learn.

They learned lessons about good — and bad — leadership that will last forever. They learned to reflect and then improve, which will serve them well in future jobs.

And their experience will never be forgotten.