Team mom: UNLV journalism student thrives by helping train other broadcasters

Image

Christopher DeVargas

Vanessa McConnell, journalism student at UNLV and vice president of programming for UNLV’s student-run radio station, poses for a portrait at Greenspun Hall, UNLV, Monday April 12, 2021.

Mon, Apr 19, 2021 (2 a.m.)

Vanessa McConnell UNLV Journalism Student

Vanessa McConnell, journalism student at UNLV and vice president of programming for UNLV's student-run radio station, poses for a portrait at Greenspun Hall, UNLV, Monday April 12, 2021. Launch slideshow »

Vanessa McConnell arrived at the UNLV baseball stadium ready to broadcast the day’s game for student-run KUNV 91.5. Before setting up the equipment and testing the microphone levels, she had another, more important responsibility: Making sure her son was comfortable.

Her adult son, Shon Darvy, who is disabled, is not only McConnell’s companion on game day, but also when she does studio work at the campus station.

McConnell is a 49-year-old single mother of two, balancing the challenges of motherhood and the struggle of life with the pursuit of a career in broadcast journalism. Caring for Darvy, who has a spinal defect and is bound to a wheelchair, always takes top priority. Her daughter is a recent high school graduate.

“Most people I go to school with, I’m 20 years their senior, so they can’t relate to me and I can’t relate to them,” McConnell said. “At the same time, I’m still here and I’m making headway.”

McConnell’s work broadcasting games and at the station, where she’s the vice president of programming and trains 20 other student broadcasters, helped her earn a $1,000 scholarship this spring from the Black Play-by-Play Broadcaster Grant & Scholarship Fund.

Adam Giardino, a media relations manager and broadcaster from Franklin, Mass., started the scholarship program in June to support aspiring Black broadcasters. There are more than 200 television and radio play-by-play jobs in major and minor league baseball, and fewer than five are filled by Black broadcasters, Giardino said in a news release.

For McConnell, the scholarship was much-needed in the pursuit to complete her studies. She was laid off from the station for a few months because of the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, and was forced to reduce her class load to part-time. It also delayed her expected May graduation.

But that’s the least of her worries. The economic crisis hit her so hard that she had to resort to getting groceries at a food bank. But she stresses the setback is only temporary, and she started college in 2017 because “I wanted the certification. I wanted a degree. I felt like people would take me more seriously about what I do.”

That’s the case at the student station, where she is beloved and respected, said Ashton Ridley, the KUNV general manager.

Take a recent weekend this month when McConnell worked a pledge drive to help the station improve its facilities and equipment. She answered phones and encouraged people to donate by telling them her story.

Ridley has worked with McConnell for nearly two years and said she gives meaningful, in-depth interviews — especially when talking to members of the Las Vegas Aces WNBA team. She asks all the questions the audience wants answered, he said.

“To know how to get to that point without being rude or inconsiderate is a great skill to have,” Ridley said of McConnell’s style.

McConnell moved to Las Vegas from California in the 1990s after her brother was shot and killed in the parking lot of a nightclub, she said. She initially went to cosmetology school and worked at salons.

But she always had an interest in sports and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada to begin her studies in media. Her schooling was delayed by a decade to care for her son, who required hip surgery.

That, of course, is part of her journey as a nontraditional student. Some of her classmates still live at home with their parents or in the dorms. They have help with tuition, and nobody to care for except themselves.

Often times on campus, McConnell “didn’t know what to do, where to go, who to talk to,” she said.

Finding her way at the station surely helped close that gap. Now, she teaches other students how to provide color commentary or play-by-play for broadcasts, and write scripts.

“What’s the point of having knowledge if I can’t share it with somebody?” she said.

Back to top

SHARE