Profile: Tavin Stucki

The Utah Statesman school newspaper is a part of everyday life to most Utah State University students.

“The last survey done by the Statesman showed that 92 percent of students are calling themselves regular readers,” Jay Wamsley, advisor to the Utah Statesman staff said.

A big part of the Statesman’s success is because of Tavin Stucki.

Stucki, a 22-year old junior at USU, is the sports editor for the Statesman. He was hired this year at the beginning of the fall semester.

“I saw the opportunity open up and I really wanted to cover sports,” Stucki said. “Being able to watch sports all the time and go to all the events for free, I was all over it.”

But watching sports and getting all-access passes is just the beginning to Stucki’s long list of tasks to get done before the deadline.

The Statesman publishes its newspaper three times a week. The Monday, Wednesday and Friday issues require numerous hours of Stucki’s busy schedule.

“It takes quite a bit of time really,” Stucki said. “I’m in the office from 4 p.m. to midnight three days a week finishing the layout of the section and editing stories. Then every story I write, which is usually two to four stories a week, takes about one hour, plus the time it takes to watch multiple games a week and do interviews,” Stucki said.

Stucki’s hard work and effort has earned him compliments from the boss.

“I hired Tavin because he is willing to do whatever it takes in order to have a great product,” Catherine Meidell, the editor in chief of the Statesman said. “His emotions are really invested in Aggie athletics.”

A great product indeed, according to many students who read the paper.

“I pretty much pick up the newspaper just to read the sports section,” Spencer Harris, a USU student said. “The Statesman does a great job at covering the things I want to read about.”

Stucki and Meidell both agree that the sports section is much better than in previous years because it captures more faces in Aggie athletics.

“I’ve taken what I learned from the previous sports editors, like great writing and being people friendly and have implemented them into my section,” Stucki said. “I’m also covering lesser known sports like rodeo and rugby. We are also covering intramural sports.”

Aside from stats, scores, sports news and player previews, Stucki plans on continuing his career as a sports editor after college.

“I recently thought about being a sports editor at one of the smaller newspapers in Idaho,” Stuck said. “I have a lot of family there and it’s close to home.”