Former Bobcat establishes journalism career in Washington, D.C.

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TIME TO TYPE: Gelman performs his job as digital editor at WTOP network, where he collaborates with the web team to send out emails and share news to social media. Aside from this job that he performs three times a week, he also works as a radio reporter twice a week. Photo courtesy of Scott Gelman

By: Erica Zuber and Mia Villegas

The various electives offered to Bobcats produce an opportunity to test out different job fields that could possibly lead to future careers. This would become the case for former West Broward journalism student, Scott Gelman. He is now a reporter and digital editor for Washington’s Top News (WTOP) radio in Washington, D.C.

In 2012, Gelman came to The Lynx Newspaper in the middle of his Freshman year when Mrs. Annette Goldstein, The Edge Yearbook adviser and Introduction to Journalism teacher in 2012, recommended him to Mr. Dolhon, the adviser of The Lynx Newspaper. They were in need of a few students who understood sports and had the work ethic to do interviews, cover the different sports programs, take pictures and write comprehensive articles for The Lynx. Gelman accepted the opportunity to be part of the newspaper. He would become the sports editor during his sophomore and junior year and eventually lead The Lynx in his senior year as editor-in-chief.

“After speaking to him and recognizing his knowledge of sports that went way beyond his years, it was an easy decision to bring him into our program. For the next four years, our sports section was simply one of the best in the county,” Dolhon said. “Scott would eventually become our sports editor during his freshman year and eventually lead the Lynx Newspaper in his senior year. He just took on every assignment asked of him and did it with professionalism and journalistic integrity.”

Throughout high school, Gelman became an integral part of The Lynx. He won countless awards at the district and state level, and his daily work ethic with the other staff writers, editing expertise, and natural love for journalism that made him the newspaper leader. His desire to work in the journalism field during high school would also bring him to collaborate with West Broward’s WBTV and The Edge Yearbook. Although Gelman’s priority was being the editor-in-chief of The Lynx, his contributions to WBTV would continue to grow throughout his high school years. He mainly participated in sports reporting as the sports editor and for TV Production as an upperclassman.

**THE LYNX LEADERS:** (left to right) The Lynx Newspaper team, with advisor Gary Dolhon and staff writers Kaitlynn Ramirez, Tea Piro, Scott Gelman, Taylor Crehan and Nicholas Derosa, pose for a photo at the 2015 FSPA State Convention. Gelman was the editor-in-chief at The Lynx for the 2014-2015 school year. *Photo courtesy of Scott Gelman*

“I mean, journalism was something that he enjoyed, he was good at it. He cultivated it here with Mr. Dolhon and he kind of used that what he did with Mr. Dolhon and then he kind of brought it over to us,” said TV Production advisor Chuck Rivera.

Gelman continued his pursuits in journalism post-graduation, using his experiences to become a staff writer at the University of Maryland’s newspaper, The Diamondback. He initially planned to focus on sports journalism, but as he got more involved through internships and The Diamondback, he realized that he wanted to work in a more fast-paced environment that covered more topics than just sports.

“After a while and some internship experience I realized that it was a little formulaic for my tastes,” Gelman said. “I was getting a bit rundown trying to figure out how to make a game interesting every night and how to maneuver my way through the sports cliches. It is a very distinct talent and I did really enjoy it for a long time, but then through some internship experience, I realized that I could get the best of both worlds in news where I get to cover both news and sports.”

These experiences in both high school and college led Gelman to where he is today as a digital editor and reporter for the 24-hour news radio station, WTOP. Three days out of the week, he works as a digital editor where he delegates tasks out to the web team, who deal with sending out cellular notifications and WTOP’s website layout and design. The other two days of the week, he works with breaking news on the radio’s hourly schedule. Gelman is hoping to be able to focus on more breaking news and to work more on the field,profiles and talking to more people.

“If two years ago, you said to me, ‘You are going to be on the radio’ I would have told you that you were insane,” Gelman said. “Long term. I am not really sure, but I could tell you I am definitely in a good and challenging place right now with this hybrid digital and air situation that I have been given.”