Dean Pavlou dreamed of being a Major League Baseball player when he was young. If that didn’t work out, he had a backup plan.

“I used to put the TV on mute and announce the game,” he said. “Announcing has always been fun for me, and I have always had a knack for announcing and following the game. I love listening to and learning from what the announcers would say about a play. Gary Cohen from the New York Mets and Mike Breen from ESPN are announcers I try to emulate.”

Already the game announcer for Mitchell College baseball and basketball and the president of Radio Mitchell, the senior communication major honed his skills at his summer internship with WABC Radio in New York City. Paul Dunn, Mitchell’s integrative career development coordinator, helped Dean imagine what the internship would entail.

“I interned as a radio journalist, writing sports articles and live-tweeting baseball games,” Dean said.

As part of the internship, Dean attended meetings with three to four other people from the sports department to talk about what content would be released through various channels.

“The stories that I wrote went on the Intern’s Corner of the WABC website. Some were also posted on the regular sports page. I like writing sports articles a lot and have really improved my writing. Working in the sports department with other people who are interested in the same things I’m interested in was great, too. I had a lot of fun with it.”

In addition to writing, Dean practiced his broadcasting skills.

“My favorite part of the internship was doing the demos and recording myself speaking. I liked putting them together and writing the headlines. I follow a lot of sports teams, so I stayed up to date with what’s going on. It was easy for me to find information on the internet and say, ‘OK, there it is,’ and then say it in the demo.”

Dean also followed the games and social media of Major League Baseball teams.

“I tweeted baseball games, which means if there was a really good play that a player made, I tweeted it out. I also tweeted out what the teams’ social media teams put out. I went on the Mets page or the Red Sox page, found content and put it on the WABC page. I looked for whatever captured the eye.”

Dean said that communication in the job was key, and he also thought critically about his work.

“You had to figure out if something was appropriate to write about. I learned a lot about that and picked it up really quickly.”

While Dean has the information and knowledge for sports writing, he said sometimes he was challenged to find the right word or correct style when writing an article or doing other work.

“It’s the little things that got me,” he said, “like when I made a demo, I said ‘ah’ too many times.”

But he is right where he wants to be.

“My internship went well. I’ve overcome a lot, thanks to support from Mitchell and the Bentsen Learning Center. I have a learning disability and am grateful to be where I am, having worked at WABC, about to graduate college. My dream hasn’t changed at all, and I’m excited for my next chapter.”