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No. 16 UNC women’s basketball scores 119 points in thumping of NCCU
By: Alexandra Jones
Published Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024
‘Quite a performance’: UNC volleyball’s Jackie Taylor has career outing against UVA
By: Alexandra Jones
Published Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024
First-year Lanie Grant scores career-high 15 points against Ball State
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Published Monday, Nov. 25, 2024
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Read More On Caroline’s Journey
Caroline Wills started working at The Daily Tar Heel during the first semester of her freshman year. Her journey began at the City and State Desk, where she wrote about politics in North Carolina for a semester before requesting to switch to the Sports desk. Wills had initially thought she wanted to be a political journalist, but upon spending a few months writing about politics, she realized it was not her calling.
Wills discussed that her relationship with her dad was a large part of the reason why she decided to switch to writing about sports. Her dad had been a basketball coach at her high school for 19 years, so she had spent her entire life around basketball and sports in general. Sports like basketball gave Wills a chance to connect with her father – she mentioned how they would always talk about sports and bond over their favorite sports teams – especially UNC.
Wills mentioned that getting the chance to engage in sports at UNC from a different perspective was exciting to her. She knew as a sports journalist, she couldn’t be a fan, but she could still be at the event and take part in the sports she loved through one of her favorite activities – writing.
A semester after switching to the sports desk, Wills was promoted to Senior Writer to begin her second year at Chapel Hill. As a Senior Writer for the DTH, Wills was assigned to be a beat writer for women’s tennis – who ended up winning the national championship that season.
Wills covered women’s tennis, field hockey, women’s basketball and then women’s tennis again throughout her time on the Sports desk as a Senior Writer. Over the summer, Wills was promoted to become sports editor. She stated this accomplishment meant a lot to her since she had applied to be one of the two Assistant Sports Editors before her junior year and did not end up achieving the position. She was crushed – but it opened a door for her to become the Sports Editor in her final year with the DTH.
Wills also examined her journey as a sports journalist while being a woman. She discussed a situation where an older male journalist cut her off while she was interviewing UNC’s quarterback during a press conference – simply because she had asked him three questions. Wills states that, at times, she tends to be the youngest person or the only woman in the room, so she had to learn how to effectively stand up for herself while surrounded by other journalists. In any press conference, she prioritizes making sure she gets her question out and receives the answer she is looking for – no matter who surrounds her at the moment.
For Wills, working at The Daily Tar Heel was an opportunity to come out of her shell and learn more about journalism than she ever could in a classroom. She is passionate about telling the stories of athletes who many only see on a surface level – getting a chance to reveal their unique backgrounds that define who they are as a person and a teammate.