College is supposed to be one of the best times of a student’s life- living carefree and on the brink of their future. The whole world lies before you and any opportunity can be yours. But yet it is only four years to make as many memories as you can and decide who and what you are going to be. That is one tall order!
After those four years, you are thrown into the real world to fend for yourself. Entering college, few students know exactly what they want to do and can only wonder what their future holds. It leads one to ask, “What makes the successful college woman the successful ‘real-world’ woman?”
I talked to University of Maryland alum, New Jersey native and ESPN host and reporter Bonnie Bernstein about her college years and life after.
“It really did fly by!” Bernstein said. “In hindsight, I’m not sure that I took the time to really enjoy a lot of the little moments.”
Bernstein graduated in 1992 magna cum laude from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Aside from a successful academic career, she also excelled on the mats as a four-time academic all-American for the school’s varsity gymnastics team (1988-1992).
Recalling her college years as a student-athlete in a Leonardtown apartment she says, “It was a very close knit group. It was feeling like you always had people who would have your back.”
Her hardest class? An astronomy lab. ““I dreaded going to this class every single week because it highlighted how bad I was at math,” Bernstein said. “I had no idea what I was in for. It was traumatic.”
She loved her journalism broadcasting class, though. “It was a new experience because it gave you all the tools for life after college,” Bernstein said. “Those sorts of classes were empowering for me.”
Bernstein even remembers Route 1! “I was always partial to Bentleys because they had a monte cristo sandwich that I loved.”
She credits much of her success to her determination as a gymnast. “The type of drive needed to compete at that level is the same drive needed to compete in the work world,” Bernstein said. “If you are not savvy with time management, it is really just unmanageable.”
Bernstein hasn’t slowed down since then. She is a role model for college girls everywhere as one of the most successful sportscasters in the business. She has hosted shows such as “NFL Live,”“Outside the Lines,” and “First Take” on ESPN and served as CBS’s lead reporter for the NFL and NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships for eight years. She also anchors New York Football Live on ESPN Radio in New York.
“My favorite memory in the industry was standing on the court in Atlanta when men’s basketball won the national championship against Indiana,” Bernstein says. “I had tears in my eyes.”
Bernstein says she got to cover every one of the Terps’ games leading to the 2002 championship and got to sit in on practice and film sessions as a reporter for CBS.
Bernstein also reported on the 89-90 season when the Terps lost to Duke on Feb 10, 1990, 114-111. “To have been there during a tough period, it was a really cool experience for me,” Bernstein says.
But successful only starts the list of words to describe Bernstein, she is a pioneer. She was the first female weekday sports anchor in Reno, NV at KRNV-TV. She also became the first sideline reporter to serve as a correspondent for both a network television and radio station on the same broadcast during Super Bowl XXXVIII.
She warns that finding a job out of college is not easy. Bernstein says “I can’t tell you how many resume tapes I sent out, probably like 30 . . .”
“Have confidence in yourself,” Bernstein advised. “Without feeling that you have the ability, you won’t get the job. Commit to being patient. Eventually, the right opportunity will come.”
If that resume was not impressive enough, she also co-chaired a coalition supporting the National Foundation on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition for congressional passage, is an ambassador for ING Kids Rock (a youth fitness program) and is the co-national spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis.
Bernstein is an inspiration for college women not only for her transition from a successful college career to professional career but also for her down-to-earth and kind demeanor. She truly embodies what the college girl should strive to be.
“While you want to excel in academics and athletics, these are your last four years of freedom before you have real responsibility,” Bernstein says. “The years fly by. Take lots of pictures. I never kept a blog or diary, take time to print out pictures and put them in an album. They are memories that will always be there.”