Andrew Lind
Rock Chalk NFTs
A little background: Rock Chalk NFTs is a platform that is a part of Mercury NFTs, which is the larger entity, and a proud partner of KU Athletics. In my eyes, the purpose is to connect fans and their overall experience with a token, like an NFT (non-fungible token) that will help to enhance their connection or memory with a school. Rock Chalk NFTs does several things to create a better fan experience. One way is through a frequent newsletter that keeps KU Athletics fans up to date with the most recent happenings in the department. It also houses a collection of KU basketball “moments” in the form of NFTs and allows its users to purchase these moments to add to their collection. In addition, users can join a community space, otherwise known as a discord, to discuss KU Athletics, their moment NFTs and so much more. Finally, Rock Chalk tries to host Twitter Spaces and other online interactive events to connect the community and KU’s teams.
If I am being honest, I didn’t do anything, but sometimes opportunities just fall into your lap. Rock Chalk hosted a Twitter Spaces Q&A with Jalen Wilson prior to him making his decision about whether he was going to continue with the NBA Draft process or return to school for another year. Anyway, I listened to the Spaces and tweeted about it after Wilson made a comment about coming back against K-State and defeating the Wildcats in Manhattan. The tweet was very successful and garnered a lot of engagement, which positively impacted Rock Chalk NFTs. Several weeks later, I received a direct message from them asking if I would be interested in creating content [blogs] about the men’s basketball team that would pair with the NFTs that were being created from the season.
I write weekly blogs that normally have some relevance to something happening in the men’s basketball program. For example, if Rock Chalk hosts a Twitter Spaces with a player, I will write a recap that summarizes the most important topics from that conversation. Or following the NBA Draft, I wrote an opinion piece about how I think Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun will fare in the league. Or when KU welcomes new freshmen, I might write about their high school accomplishments and what their role will look like in the coming year. I said “yes” to this role because as a journalist I keep my opinion and my love for KU Athletics out of my reporting pretty much all the time. Yes, I am biased toward KU, yes, I was a student at KU, but no, I couldn’t show my love toward a school while writing and speaking about it. However, in this position I am able to continue my passion of creating content while being able to add my personal opinion, but also maintain a level of credibility through the information in which I am reporting; it’s the perfect mix of both.
No matter what grade you are in, no matter how many credit hours you are taking, if you have a job or not, or whatever your situation may be, you can always build in time to your schedule to accept an opportunity/internship and try something new.
Whether you like it or not, it’s about expanding your skillset, networking with industry professionals and putting yourself in a position to be successful post-graduation.