Standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in the pouring rain, watching athletes make their way down the Seine River. Navigating around the Paris metro to chase down stories. Behind-the-scenes tours of Olympic facilities and interviews with competitors.
These are just some of the extraordinary experiences a group of 26 journalism students from Cal State Fullerton had during their three-week
study abroad program covering the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
“Being able to introduce my students not only to the Olympics and working in sports media at the highest level, but to a new culture, has been so fulfilling to me," says Gayle Jansen Brisbane, CSUF assistant professor of communications. “And what better place to do it than Paris during the Olympics."
The three-week program, plus the four official class meetings leading up to the trip, will earn students six credit hours and count as either taking sports broadcast journalism or sports reporting. Both classes are among course requirements for CSUF's new
sports media certificate—for which Jansen Brisbane is the advisor.
“When you are a journalist, the only way you get better is by doing it—when you get out in the field and you're dealing with the logistics of moving around a city, trying to get people to talk to you, being persistent, generating story ideas and backup story ideas," Jansen Brisbane says. “It's getting those reps and seeing other journalists working and understanding what it takes. … There's no way to replace it with any kind of schoolwork."
Jansen Brisbane modeled the study abroad program after an Arizona State course that took students to the London 2012 Olympics and brought along ASU professor Bob Young to co-lead the program. In addition, the students benefitted from financial support through private donations made during CSUF's Day of Giving and from Associated Students Inc. to participate in this life-changing opportunity.
The students were organized like a newsroom and served as student leads, editors, producers and reporters. Each morning, the group would meet in the designated media room at their hostel to pitch stories and plan coverage before setting out to capture the day's content. The students have produced written articles for print or web, broadcast segments and videos for social media—a number of which were picked up by news organizations.
“It's like we're actual reporters already in the field," says recent graduate Francisco Molina. “You go out there and cover the content that we're covering. Some of us have been able to get interviews with professional athletes. Some of us have been able to tackle issues like transportation. Others have done cultural stories, and others have done health and safety [because] the river has been a huge topic."
Their first major assignment—and their longest day, which ended at 4 a.m.—involved scattering throughout Paris to cover the myriad performances and activities during the Opening Ceremony. Despite the pouring rain, it became a memorable experience for 2024 graduate Jose Flores, for whom this trip was his first time leaving the U.S.
Student Jose Flores, right, and his group take a selfie at the Eiffel Tower during the Opening Ceremony.
“Through some will, some determination and maybe a little bit of luck, we made it feet away from the Seine River with a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower," he says. “The group that I was with looked at each other while the boats [carrying athletes] were going by, and we were getting emotional."
For some students though, the experience even began before arriving in Paris. Recent graduate Miguel Castaneda contacted two players from his hometown on the U.S. men's water polo team while still in Southern California. The connection enabled him to attend the official team roster announcement in La Brea. He was then able to attend one of their games in Paris.
Students Miguel Castaneda and Megan Sweeney film a video for their Olympics coverage.
Once in Paris, each day brought a new opportunity for the students to put their skills to work. Taking Jansen Brisbane's invitation to be creative, fourth-year student Connor Alicaya developed a short-form vertical video series—think Instagram Reels or TikTok—called Gold Medal Minute that highlighted the gold medals won each day.
And through one of Young's connections, Marissa Lavezzari, a 2024 graduate and the student lead who headed up social media, joined a media tour of the Team USA High Performance Center. There she was able to interview athletes and coaches, watch practices, meet leaders in the Olympic Committee and work alongside veteran reporters.
“We found out that we do belong," Lavezzari says. “We came here without any credentials besides our school credentials, so we weren't sure how much access we would have to the Olympic Village or the athletes. [But we were] able to be inside and be amongst reporters who have worked hard to make their way up through the industry and be at the same level as them. We've worked our butts off and it's starting to pay off—and we get to look back on everything that we've accomplished."
Student Marissa Lavezzari interviews CSUF's Titan Aquatics Manager Darren Spiritosanto, who served as a U.S. referee in water polo at the Paris Olympics.
The hard work and hands-on learning have paid off, too, as it's prepared the students for their future careers. Flores will return to a producer role at a CBS and NBC affiliate in Fresno, and Lavezzari will continue in her position as a sports information director for the communications department within CSUF's athletic department.
For Molina, the experience helped him land his first job post-graduation at the Sporting Tribune in Los Angeles—as he offered to do reporting for them while in Paris and is now also running their social media account.
“This is the epitome of every journalist's dream, to be able to cover the Olympics," Molina says. “And for a lot of us, especially with the background of our families, we never thought this would be possible, much less at a Cal State. We want to make sure people know who Cal State Fullerton is by the end of this trip."
“We're living in a day and age where so many people ask what's the value of a college degree and how much of your college degree do you actually use in the field," Molina continues. “We will never be able to even bring that question up because of this experience. This is why we went to college. You cannot get any closer to the action than what we're experiencing right now. We're doing things that we love, and it confirmed this is what I'm supposed to do in life. We're meant to be in this field, and my college degree definitely helped prepare me for my professional career."
Read the students' Paris Olympics coverage.