EDITOR’S NOTE: This semester WTVR.com has partnered with VCU’s School of Mass Communications “iPadJournos” mobile and social media journalism project. Those VCU students reported the following story.
By Samra Khawaja and Manhatten Royal (Special to WTVR.com)
RICHMOND, Va. – After winning the CAA championship against Drexel University Monday night, Virginia Commonwealth University students are now gearing up for another run in the NCAA tournament.
The excitement goes way beyond the cheers that were heard on Broad Street on Monday night when students celebrated the victory.
Even during Spring Break next week, when students usually think about anything but their university, VCU will be on the mind of most.
Students are already making plans to watch the upcoming match, which will be announced this Sunday.
“Of course I’m going to watch it,“ said student Joshua Adkins. While many students won’t be on campus, they will watch the Rams on TV wherever they are during the break.
“I’m going to be in New York singing on Broadway, but I’m still going to catch the game backstage,” said student Demi Carter.
For students like Tammi Chau who have been to every home game, missing the next game is a difficult choice to face.“If the game is somewhere close, I might travel just to go see it,” she said.
Even if students can’t make it to the next game, social media networks like Twitter and Facebook bring the “Ramnation” a little bit closer during break.
Live tweets with the hashtag #rva were being sent second by second during Monday’s game, feeding to the anxiety many students said they felt.
Chau, who had floor seats at the game in the Richmond Coliseum, said the game against Drexel stirred a lot of emotion. “Towards the end of the game we thought either it’s going to be us running the courts, or the other side running the courts,” she said.
During the first half of the game, the Rams had a wide lead. But as Drexel made a comeback, VCU students felt the pressure towards the end.
“That one point lead could’ve been the end of the game,” said student Chris McQueen. “But I had enough confidence that we were going to pull through.”
While it has not been released where and when the next game is going to be and against which opponent, VCU students hope that the Rams will pull another run way past next week’s Spring Break.
This story was reported by the “iPadJournos” mobile and social media journalism project, a cooperation between WTVR.com and VCU’s School of Mass Communications.
