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This sports fan, radio host and honors student proves you can follow your passions at Pitt.

Erin Clark was born into a Philly sports family. When she wasn’t cheering for the Eagles or the Sixers, she was playing “every sport imaginable,” and when she wasn’t doing that, she was traveling with her father to her older brothers’ games.

The soundtrack of those endless car rides: WPI or the Fan, Philly sports radio.

“I’d hear those old, mean guys ranting about players and their teams, and I would pick up on stuff. I came to love listening to the professionals talk, and it grew my sports knowledge,” said Clark, a junior in Pitt’s David C. Frederick Honors College and a communications major.

Now Clark, is adding her voice to the male-dominated field of sports on-air broadcasting — and her time at Pitt is giving her firsthand experience behind the mic. She’s interviewed Pitt football legends on the sidelines of the Pitt Spring Game, was a red-carpet correspondent for the Panther Choice Awards and was an on-air host of the Pitt Dance Marathon.

For Clark, formerly captain of her high school’s basketball team in North Wales, putting on a broadcast is another way to join forces toward a common goal.

During her sophomore year, Clark was one of two anchors of , a student-run live news magazine that airs Fridays at 8 a.m. She got a taste of the fast-paced world of breaking news journalism, including late-night Thursday writing sessions with her co-anchor and waking at 4 a.m. to wrap up pre-show details.

“When we go on air, everyone’s running on adrenaline. All the pieces come together. Every anchor, reporter and producer has their own role, and they look out for everyone else. If you don’t succeed, then the person behind you doesn’t succeed,” Clark said.

Clark speaks to a camera from behind a desk

Over the summer, she returned to the genre that inspired her to take up a mic: talk radio. Clark joined Pittsburgh KDKA’s Next Take, a news, information and talk program — and the first top 25 commercial radio show hosted and produced by undergraduate students.

“Radio has a stigma of only being for older listeners, but it's clear that people turn to the radio for up-to-date, reliable information,” said Clark. “Next Take is unique because it’s giving a college-age perspective on the news.”

Clark also used her time off from classes to add science communications to her already impressive reporting portfolio. She spent 12 weeks as a Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Experience in Electric Grid, or SHURE-Grid, fellow. Open to undergraduate students, the interdisciplinary program guides participants through the real-world challenge of strengthening America’s electric grid infrastructure.

As her team's media representative, Clark created educational video content about cyber-informed engineering, which integrates a cybersecurity approach to designing technology.

When you come to college, you’re growing into yourself, living on your own and need support. I found that at Pitt.

Clark is also creating her own media. Capitalizing on the growing fanbase of women’s collegiate and professional basketball, she is about to debut a streamable talk show, Swish Sisters, featuring five members of Pitt’s Women’s Basketball team. The show, launching in the fall 2024 semester, will cover various topics, from the players’ takes on basketball to food and fashion.

“Women athletes are often overlooked, and this show will give insight into their lives off the court,” Clark said.

Finding her place

Clark’s high school graduating class only had 140 students, and adjusting to life at a larger school took time. By the end of her first semester at Pitt, Clark had a mentor who helped her open up and realize her ambition — Kevin Smith, director of undergraduate studies in broadcast in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.

“I was this terrified first-year student who didn’t open her mouth in class, but he saw something in me,” she said.

They clicked when Smith discovered that Clark shared an interest in sports media, his specialty.

He encouraged her to become involved with Pitt to the Point, even though first and second-year students rarely participate.

“To have a front row seat to see Erin’s determi91porn��Ƶ to achieve her professional dream has inspired me as an instructor, as a professional and most importantly, as a person,” said Smith. “Erin is one of those remarkable students who not only has elite talent, but she also always runs toward hard work. To me, that's the definition of fearlessness.”

“After I joined Pitt to the Point, I saw opportunity after opportunity come my way, and Kevin Smith helped me every step. He’s stuck with me, pulled for me and he’s vouched for me,” said Clark.

She added: “When you come to college, you’re growing into yourself, you're living on your own and need support. I found that at Pitt.”

Discover how Pitt can help you unlock your possibilities.

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Photography by Tom Altany

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