Ellyn Stanton first learned how to skate when she was three years old, and got into ice hockey because her older siblings played.

“I’m the youngest of four, so my two older brothers and my older sister played. We moved so I stopped playing for a bit. I started playing again when I was about eight years old and I was the goalie,” Stanton said.

Playing hockey eventually led Stanton to develop an interest in sports broadcasting.

During her junior year of high school, Stanton wrote a letter to Dan Potash asking for her ice hockey team to be featured during a Pittsburgh Penguins game.

“They did that youth hockey team of the month, and I wrote a letter saying why we thought our team should be featured. And we were actually the first ones featured,” Stanton said.

Stanton said Potash and his crew came to one of the practices and interviewed Stanton, her coach and some of the other girls on the team.

“I think that was whenever I was like ‘Wow, this is a job, that would be amazing to do,’” Stanton said.

In 2015, Stanton became involved with the Penguins once again, this time as an intern.

“I was the video production intern. I did do editing, I did some shooting. It was in the summer so it was slower then, but it was really cool because I got so much experience,” Stanton said.

Stanton is currently earning her master’s degree in media communication at Point Park, and is specializing in advertising and public relations (PR).

After graduating from Adrian College in Michigan, Stanton landed a job in marketing, realizing that she wanted to do something else. Stanton decided on Point Park to gain real world experience.

“I wanted a different environment because Michigan was such a small town and I wanted something where I could get real world connections,” Stanton said.

Stanton also serves as the graduate assistant for the broadcast department, where she helps out with different video production and on-camera classes.

“I’m just kind of there for [the professors] as a support person if they miss class and I can go in and fill in for them, and just have an office hour if students need any extra help with stuff,” Stanton said.

Stanton said one of her favorite parts of the job is watching students grow.

“I think it’s cool to see the improvement of all of the students and knowing that you can help,” Stanton said.

In the future, Stanton said she plans to keep her options open, though she hopes to stay involved with sports media.   

“I really like sports broadcasting,” Stanton said. “I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I’m really interested in sports PR and sports social media. I know that I really want to be in that sports world.”