Journalism at Ohio University and WOUB led Sean Balewski to a career in law

Students don’t typically go to journalism school to become a lawyer. But, in a way, that’s exactly what Sean Balewski did.

“I grew up in Independence, Ohio. And when I was in high school, I originally was only looking at colleges that had pre-law programs,” said Balewski. “But my mom kept reminding me that I loved to write, and she thought I should consider majoring in journalism.”

Because of the solid reputation of Ohio University’s journalism program, Sean and his mother scheduled a campus visit.

“I remember being on campus for the tour and we went through the journalism building, and I was hooked,” said Balewski. “I applied right when I got home. It was funny because I had spent two years trying to figure out where I wanted to go to college, and then I made the decision to go to Ohio University in one night.”

Once Balewski arrived on campus, the broadcast journalism major quickly learned about the opportunities available for students at WOUB.

“I was a political junkie and liked to cover political news. So, I got involved with the WOUB newsroom, working in radio and then TV,” said Balewski. “I also worked on a program called Ohio Sports Zone.”

While Balewski was a student, he was offered an internship at NBC News and was able to work on programs like Meet the Press with Tim Russert, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and The Chris Matthews Show. Balewski also had the opportunity to cover the Republican National Convention and the MSNBC Democratic Presidential Debate.

When he graduated in 2009, Balewski had a few different offers for TV reporting positions and accepted the offer at WPTV in West Palm Beach, Florida. After about a year and a half in that role, Balewski realized that while he enjoyed being a journalist, he still wanted to find out what a career in law would look like.

“I moved home from Florida to Cleveland and worked for a city councilman as his communications person, while I was studying for the law school entrance exams.  I started law school at Cleveland State University in the fall of 2012.”

Balewski is a licensed Ohio attorney and now works as a vice president of contracts and compliance for Deloitte Consulting. And even though his career has gone in a different direction, Balewski says he still uses the skills he learned in journalism school and WOUB every day.

“I have to take a whole bunch of complicated information and make it make sense to a different audience. That’s what you do as a journalist,” said Balewski. “WOUB was the single most important experience I’ve ever had for what I have done, am doing and will do in the future. Just having the responsibility so early on, in a very professional setting, to be tasked with delivering the news was so valuable. I was able to get a reporting job right out of college and do what I’m doing now because of WOUB.”

To learn more about WOUB, visit woub.org.