Ari Wohl knew he wanted to study sports journalism, but it wasn’t until he attended summer camp at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication that he realized he was heading to Arizona.
The California native fell in love during camp and came back to earn not one, but two degrees in four years through the Accelerated Master’s Program.
“Sports journalism isn’t a program you can find across the country, but Cronkite had a sports journalism-focused program,” Wohl said, “and I pretty much instantly fell in love with it in two weeks.”
He will graduate with his Master of Mass Communication at the Cronkite School’s spring 2025 convocation, where he’ll also be one of the students honored with the Outstanding Graduate Student award. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2024.
Before joining the ranks of other “double Devils,” Wohl shared with us his experience at Cronkite and his guidance for future students.
Note: The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Question: Tell us a little more about your summer camp experience at Cronkite.
Answer: I had a chance to go to a Diamondbacks game, be in the press box, call an inning of the game and be surrounded by professional people. I fell in love (with the Cronkite School) in 2019 and then I came back.
Paola Boivin (Cronkite School professor of practice) said, ‘There’s no better place in the country to get hands-on opportunities.” When I came here and started working as a freshman, I knew I made the right decision.
Q: What were some benefits of you coming to ASU from California?
A: ASU is a perfect mix. You are out of state and independent, but it’s also a 55-minute flight, and I can drive back in one day if I had to get home in a hurry. Phoenix is close to home, but also far from home, and the weather is not too different, nine months out of the year.
Q: What’s something unique about the Cronkite School?
A: The Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau is such a different experience than anything you’ll get in a classroom. I was there four days a week this spring, working with two different groups of people. That collaborative effort of friendship, while being in class, trying to do a job and working seven hours a day, was such a different opportunity than anything I was anticipating.
Q: Was there anything that surprised you or changed your perspective?
A: I was like 96% of the people that come to ASU and study sports journalism — they want to be a broadcaster, on-air and do play-by-play. I would hear upperclassmen say, "Be open to letting those things change," and I thought they were talking to everyone else because I knew what I wanted to do. Now, here I am four years later telling underclassmen the same thing. Be open to letting things change because for me they did. I learned I liked a lot more than just broadcast, and I’m thankful I was open to trying those things. College is the perfect time and Cronkite is the perfect place to try new things.
Q: What are your plans after graduation?
A: This summer I will be heading to Israel to represent the United States in the 2025 Maccabiah Games as part of their media team. After that month, I will start looking for a full-time job working in sports journalism in some capacity.
Q: What inspires you the most about the future of journalism?
A: Cronkite does it right in the sense that you’re taught how to do journalism the right way. We are at a very important time in our history where journalism is not always viewed in the best light. It is really important that people my age know how to tell good stories, report factually and do the things necessary to progress journalism to the standard we want it held to. Cronkite does a good job of teaching those things, and it makes me feel confident that my fellow students and I will do great things and be great journalists.
English (US) ·