My Role As An Interviewer: A Reflection

On Oct. 16, 2025, I had the opportunity to interview the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Josh Rawitch, as part of the Meredith Sport Management Speaker Series. The real work started a week earlier, though, with confidence and nerves taking turns running the show!

I started to do my research on Josh and all the accomplishments he has achieved in his career. This would be my first interview with a crowd watching, and as I would like to be a journalist, I knew I had to be precise in my work and perform well, especially when interviewing a renowned figure in the Major League Baseball (MLB) world.

Initially, my stress level was low, and I had a lot of confidence about what would be coming at me on Oct. 16. After watching multiple interviews and scanning several news websites and publications, I felt confident that I had a good understanding of Josh’s background.

I knew I had to ask him questions that would make him shine, have the crowd engaged, and show that I had done my research. I narrowed it down to seven questions. I secured this opportunity thanks to Executive-in-Residence & Coordinator, Sport Management Program Scott Dalrymple, so I ran the questions by him. He seemed to enjoy them and thought they were good.

I also knew that as I progressed in my career, I wouldn’t always have card notes for questions, so they would have to come naturally or through memorization. So, this was going to be a good test to see how I would cope under pressure.

Two days before the interview, I narrowed down the questions and started to memorize them. But now the nerves really started to kick in. “What if I forget my questions? What if I make a fool of myself in front of my peers?” I spent the next two days trying to keep a clear head.

On the day of the interview, I woke up and looked in the mirror. I then recited my questions out loud, line by line, sounding confident, without any mistakes. I smiled and realized everything would be okay. I ate a good breakfast, went to class and waited until evening.

Around 5:30 p.m., I headed down to the Commons to meet Josh and some of the College’s administrative staff. We chatted for about thirty minutes and had an amazing conversation. It was definitely a great feeling to be sitting at that table.

Then it was show time! As I waited to be introduced, my nerves came back. In spades. I could not stop shaking.

That was until I heard my name being called. I walked on stage and sat down. All the nerves went away and I felt like I was home. My questions came out coherently and my confidence returned. And judging from the feedback I got from friends, I believe I did a good job.

The crowd seemed engaged, Josh seemed to enjoy fielding my questions, and I felt like a legit journalist. What did I learn from this whole experience? Take a risk. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. And be sure to always have backup questions in addition to your main questions because you never know how the conversation might flip! Overall, the experience made me feel even more ready for my future career.

For information about the National Baseball Hall of Fame, please visit the website.