Students in the College of Arts and Sciences have a knack for aligning their passions with internship and career opportunities. William Kosileski, who graduated in December 2016 with a BA in journalism, did just that through his internship with MLB.com writing about the Cleveland Indians. Kosileski began his internship in spring 2017, working as an associate reporter alongside Indians beat reporter Jordan Bastian, covering events leading up to, during and after home games. On average, Kosileski would write four to five stories a day.

Articles were not limited to game previews, updates and recaps. Kosileski also wrote pieces regarding player injuries, broken records, career highs and more. He believes that being able to write about a wide variety of material helped him to become a better writer over the course of the season.

“You’re not just writing about baseball, you’re writing about personal things outside of baseball,” Kosileski said. “The more you do it, the better you get, especially in my case.”

From day one, Kosileski said he was, “thrown right in the fire,” having to quickly learn how to meet the demands of deadlines, breaking news and in-game surprises. He also had to quickly acclimate to the environment in the press box and Indians’ clubhouse, where he met and interviewed Indians’ personnel such as Corey Kluber, Francisco Lindor and Terry Francona.

Luckily, Kosileski said he had a great support system of professional journalists around him, who were always willing to critique and give advice on his writing. The relationships he built with other reporters helped him to confirm his desire to pursue a career in sports journalism.

“It’s fun to be on a beat with the other reporters, build a camaraderie and get to know players and people around the team,” Kosileski said. “It’s not just the whole aspect of writing. It’s the relationships I’ve built that have affected where I want to go with my career.”

Kosileski began writing about sports in high school and continued doing so when he came to Ohio State. He developed his skills through a variety of journalism courses and by writing for The Lantern, Ohio State’s student newspaper.

This past summer, he took second place for Best College Sports Writing in Ohio’s Best Journalism Contest, sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, for his Oct. 26, 2016 article, "Wrestling: Husband and father first, All-American wrestler second for Bo Jordan."

Nicole Kraft, an assistant professor in the School of Communication, watched Kosileski progress as a student and writer during his time at Ohio State. Despite his quiet demeanor, Kraft said that he always made constructive and insightful contributions in class.

“He's a diligent and hard worker. He's not thinking about, ‘well I'm going to work until I get time off.’ He's like…"As long as there's opportunity, I'm going to be the first in line to take it’," said Kraft. “[T]hat's what makes our students successful, the one's that really seize opportunity and maximize it and just grab hold of it the best they can, and Bill is certainly that person. I have very little doubt that he'll be successful moving forward in the world.”

As the Indians’ 2017 season came to an end, so did Kosileski’s internship. Despite the season ending sooner than anticipated, he’s able to walk away from the experience with solid writing and reporting skills, something he’s grateful that Ohio State laid the foundation for.

“Ohio State gave me all the tools I need to be a good writer. This internship solidified everything and took me to another level because of the amount of work and different situations,” Kosileski said. “If I didn’t have the skills I got at Ohio State, I wouldn’t have been ready.”

Hannah Smith, fourth-year, journalism major