ABOUT JOE PEARSON

An award-winning high school journalist always looking to improve

JOE PEARSON

I am a senior at St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison, the Jackson-area’s only Catholic middle school and high school. I live in Flora, Miss., with my mother, father and twin sister.


I have been involved in journalism for five years now, and I have served in numerous capacities. I have been the sports editor and sports columnist of the newspaper, then editor-in-chief. I have been a sports anchor and news anchor for the school’s weekly student-produced newscast Bruin News Now. I have also been the play-by-play announcer for Bruin basketball and a radio show host. All of this I was able to do thanks to my English teacher in eighth grade, Mr. Terry Cassreino, who also happened to be a former longtime Mississippi journalist and served as St. Joe’s high school journalism teacher.


Mr. Cassreino always included essay questions on his English tests. He was impressed by my writing and insisted that I write for the newspaper. I really wasn’t sure that was for me. I hesitated because I saw myself as a budding novelist, a storyteller. I wasn’t interested in being a reporter who wrote in the hard, straightforward, abbreviated diction of newspaper writer.


I thought newspaper writing was boring, lacked creativity and forced all kinds of rules on writing that I did not subscribe to. But Mr. Cassreino was insistent. He explained that newspaper writing was a creative outlet. He said I would have a lot more freedom to explore interesting topics than I thought I would have. He wouldn’t drop the idea of recruiting me to take his class.


So, we struck a compromise of sorts. I agreed to take his class as a freshman, join the newspaper staff as a columnist for the sports page and use my skills of imagery and storytelling to write stories that captivated the readers.

JOE PEARSON, RIGHT, HOSTING THE PRE-GAME
SHOW BEFORE WEBCAST AND BROADCAST
OF ST. JOE BASKETBALL.

I immediately became sports editor of the student newspaper The Bear Facts. I wrote sports columns and designed sports pages using Adobe InDesign software. I stayed in the same role until the last month of my sophomore year, where I assumed the role of editor-in-chief for the last edition of the paper that year. I served in that capacity until the end of the 2018-2019 school year to give others a chance at serving as editor. This year, I wrote sports stories and sports columns for The Bear Facts and continued to work on Bruin News Now and basketball broadcasts and webcasts.

I have received numerous awards for my writing throughout my high school career – including some awards from the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association. In 2017 and 2019, I received the Orley Hood Award for Excellence in High School Sports Journalism; I was a finalist for the award in 2018. Also in 2018, I received a second-place award for sports commentary from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in its national competition. In 2019, I received a first-place award for the same category.

As I explored journalism throughout high school, I branched into other areas. My work has not been limited solely print journalism

I have anchored the news for Bruin News Now. And I call basketball games live over the radio on WJXC Jackson, Mississippi Catholic Radio 107.9 and on the Bruin News Now channel on YouTube. I hosted the Coach Michael Howell Pregame Show that aired on WJXC prior to home district basketball game live broadcasts. Those shows also were available to download as a podcast from the school website.

Not only do I have a background in covering sports for the newspaper, but I also play sports.
I am a member of the varsity football and baseball teams. I was the starting linebacker on the football team and starting third baseman on the baseball team. In 2018, our baseball team
captured the 2018 2A Baseball Championship. In 2019, I was named First Team for the 2A All State baseball team

JOE PEARSON ANCHORS BRUIN NEWS NOW

I hold a 4.6 GPA, and membership in the Mu Alpha Theta Club, English Honor Society, National Honor Society, the Latin National Honor Society and the Quill & Scroll International Honor Society for High School Journalists.

I belong to the campus ministry team at school, where I organize retreats for students.
I am a parishioner at St. Richard Catholic Church in Jackson. I am a member of the youth group, and I serve as a liturgical minister, altar server and Master of Ceremonies.