Despite Mike Kraft’s responsibilities organizing and helping with editing the student-run newspaper, The Oswegonian, he also found the time this past semester to create a sports magazine in Oswego – The PlayMaker.
Kraft, a senior, is majoring in journalism and has been covering every men’s and women’s ice hockey game for The Oswegonian for the entire year so far.
“I’ve always been pretty good at managing my time wisely,” Kraft says. “Even if that means sacrificing somethings I really enjoy doing like playing video games and watching television. The nice thing about hockey games is that they take place on the weekend at night so it’s not like I would be doing homework during that time anyway.”
Kraft has been interested in sports since he arrived at Oswego, and says, “I started off covering the women’s ice hockey team for the newspaper during my freshman year. Most people don’t know this but I really didn’t know much about the game of hockey when I came to college.”
This has changed completely, as Kraft now writes with a passion and knowledge that rival other hockey fans both in Oswego and the greater hockey world.
Kraft’s accomplishments with The PlayMaker also make him a celebrity on campus.
“It really tested my creativity side. A magazine takes a lot more creativity than I’m used to. I’ve been used to more words and less pictures, but a magazine is the exact opposite. People want to see big pictures and cool pictures and diagrams,” Kraft says.
The idea for The PlayMaker, Kraft adds, started as a Journalism Capstone project by the newspaper’s former Editor-In-Chief, Chris Ballard.
“Unfortunately, he was never able to find a publisher and therefore it was never launched to the general public,” Kraft says.
Kraft decided to give it a go this year, and the magazine was a hit.
“The most exciting part of the PlayMaker was seeing it when the publisher dropped off the issues at the Campus Center. Actually seeing the product that you yourself created was absolutely incredible,” he says. “I really thought it came out great.”
Keep your eyes peeled, as another issue of The PlayMaker comes out this March.