For a second time, students from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s College of Communication and Information (CCI) will have the opportunity to cover the Winter Paralympic Games, reporting from Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in March 2026.
Building on the success of their reporting experience at the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games in Paris, students will again travel abroad through a partnership with the USA TODAY Network to cover one of the world’s premier adaptive sports events. During the spring 2026 course Sports Media and the Paralympics, a cohort of 10 students will study the Paralympic movement and adaptive winter sports, complete background reporting, and collaborate with USA TODAY Network editors in preparation for on-the-ground coverage. The students will be accompanied by School of Journalism and Media professors Erin Whiteside and Nick Geidner.
“There is no better way to learn and grow as storytellers than in an immersive, hands-on environment, and I am grateful for the support from the college and the partnership with the USA TODAY Network that make this experience possible,” Whiteside said. “Our students will be working alongside reporters from major media organizations, and the work they produce will be an important part of the overall coverage of this international sporting event.”
During the Games, students will split their time between two locations in Italy. Coverage will begin in Milan, where students will report on para ice hockey, before continuing to Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Italian Alps to cover wheelchair curling, para alpine skiing, and para snowboarding. One of Europe’s most renowned ski destinations, Cortina d’Ampezzo sits in the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage site, offering a historic and visually striking backdrop for Paralympic competition and a location long associated with elite international winter sports.
The 10 students selected to cover the 2026 Paralympic Games are:
- Alex Carpenter, senior, journalism and media, minor in sports management.
- Alexa Durben, senior, journalism and media.
- Allie Campbell, senior, journalism and media, sports communication concentration.
- Drew Garrison, sophomore, sports management.
- Elliot Walker, senior, journalism and media, sports communication concentration.
- Hollan Hines, senior, journalism and media, sports communication, minors in cinema studies and English.
- Jordan Smitherman, senior, journalism and media, sports communication concentration, minor in advertising and public relations.
- Mikayla Poteet, senior, journalism and media, sports Communication concentration.
- Molly Dignan, junior, journalism and media, sports communication concentration.
- Trevor McGee, senior, journalism and media, sports communication concentration and a political science minor.
“Covering the Paralympic Games is an absolute honor,” Hines said. “This is the third-largest sporting event in the world, yet it remains underrepresented in the media. I hope my work in Milan and Cortina can help change that, and I am excited about the ways this experience will help me grow.”
Through the partnership with the USA TODAY Network, all Paralympic coverage produced on site for the national outlet will be created by students. Serving as a full multimedia reporting team, they will produce written stories, photography, and video coverage, with a strong emphasis on social media storytelling. Working closely with athletes, coaches, and officials, students will document competition, capture behind-the-scenes moments, and tell human-centered stories that reflect the fast-paced demands of professional international sports journalism.
To support the project, CCI and the School of Journalism and Media are providing funding to offset travel costs, some of which comes from a fund established by the late Tutt Bradford, former owner and publisher of The Daily Times of Maryville, and his first wife, Elizabeth, to support journalism endeavors within the school.
At the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games in Paris, students wrote 27 articles, photographed numerous events, and produced more than 15 videos, covering athletes’ journeys, explaining adaptive sports such as goalball and offering in-depth storytelling to enhance the audience’s understanding of Paralympic competition. USA TODAY editors praised the work for its depth and detail, noting that the reporting helped US audiences better understand athletes as individuals and not solely as competitors.
“To be invited back for an encore performance is the highest compliment we could receive,” said Amy Jo Coffey, director of the School of Journalism and Media. “For our students to have earned the trust and respect of this national news outlet speaks to the professional-quality work produced by our students and their level of preparedness. And that preparation comes from our faculty, especially Dr. Whiteside.”
As the 2026 cohort prepares for Italy, students will seek to expand coverage of adaptive winter sports while continuing the college’s mission to increase visibility for athletes with disabilities. The return to Paralympic coverage reflects growing national recognition of CCI’s commitment to experiential learning that places students alongside professional reporters and prepares them for meaningful careers in media.