Hello, dear reader, my name is Oscar Matous and I am the Assistant Sports Editor for The Rocket. My roots in The Rocket go back to the early weeks of the spring 2016 semester. I had just finished my first full semester of college in the fall of 2015, and was looking for more activities to do besides just sit in my room and consume large amounts of pizza. Being the naïve college freshman we all are, I hesitated to join The Rocket in the fall of my freshman year because I assumed there was an unwritten rule that everyone “had” to be a journalism/English major. Then the power of Division II sports journalism shined upon me like a rose on a sunny day. I received a mass email from the Communication Department saying that Ryan Barlow, the Sports Editor at the time, was looking for contributors to cover spring sports. I told myself to just go for it and I set up a time to meet with Ryan and his Assistant Sports Editor at the time, Cody Nespor. I knew I wanted to change my major to journalism sometime throughout that semester anyway, so I figured that I should get involved with the paper sooner rather than later. In addition to finding out that The Rocket is comprised of a number of non-journalism, and even non-communication majors, I soon discovered that I made the best choice of my entire life. Shortly after meeting them, Ryan and Cody gave me my semester assignment—to cover the tennis team. I prided myself in going to their matches during Slippery Rock’s lovely, yet unpredictable, spring weather. Since then, I have, in some fashion, covered almost all of the NCAA Division II sports SRU has to offer and have yet to meet someone (Rock Athletics does not count) who has covered the women’s soccer team as much as I have.
Throughout my collegiate journalist career, I have worked under some amazing Sports Editors including Ryan, Cody, Justin Kraus, and Steve Cukovich. Without these gentlemen, I would not be where I am today. I look forward to bringing my experience and charisma to The Rocket this year to make our beloved student-run newspaper even greater than it already is.
In addition to my duties here at The Rocket, I am the Sports Programming Director for WSRU 88.1 FM, Slippery Rock’s local, student-run radio station. In my free time, I am rooting for all Pittsburgh sports, watching ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ or having an epiphany from Dr. Harry’s divine knowledge, all while sporting a pair of my trusty Crocs.
