On August 15, 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul and destroyed all the efforts of the people over twenty years. Nasrin Hussaini was from the same group of people and lost all her belongings. She left Kabul with her two daughters and one son with the help of the American government. She and her children were forced to leave their family, life, work, university, and all the things they had worked hard for for years.

Nasrin knew that she would face many challenges and so she had prepared herself for a winding path. After eight months in Albania, she entered the United States and arrived in Pocatello on March 21, 2022. With the help of Global Talent, Nasrin has joined the film team of Idaho State University. She sees this as a good opportunity to start working again.

Above: Nasrin Hussaini operating a camera at an ISU soccer game

About ten years ago The Big Sky Conference told every school they had to develop an in-house film production team. John Young, Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Communication, Media, and Persuasion at Idaho State University, is the current leader of The Sports Video Crew, made up of mostly students and ISU alumni, who film the games for BSC streaming on ESPN+ and Disney. 

Young says they broadcast about 70 games a year now, about two to three games a week all season.

“We have to produce excellent broadcasts consistently,” he says. “We’re on ESPN. It’s probably the most visible thing for ISU globally.”

The Sports Video Crew livestreams to ESPN+ every home football, basketball, women's volleyball, women's soccer, women's softball, and track and field event. Being on the crew is a paid learning experience for students.

The crew works with professionals from ESPN and Disney Streaming Services, learning everything they need to know to put on professional live sports broadcasts, including operating cameras, managing audio, directing, handling instant replay, commercial breaks, and working with the announcing talent. 

Their work has been featured on Sports Center's Top Ten Plays three times in the past several years.  

Young explains that every year they bring in three or four people that they can train. When those students graduate there’s room for more. 

"The right thing to do as an educational institution is to give a lot of people a great opportunity," Young says. “By the time they’re seniors they get really good. There are very few Division One programs where you can be a student and be the primary camera operator for ESPN.”

Matt Roberts helps lead the crew with John Young. He is a former student who studied photography.  

Roberts says, “It’s great to work with the students, train them, and see them grow. We’re giving students training and resume points, and real world experience.”

“It becomes a passion,” Young says. “It’s a labor of love for people." 

One of those experiencing these opportunities is Nasrin, who is a primary camera operator. She was a media professional in Tabul and the film crew at ISU gives her the opportunity to work in her trained profession.

“There’s a lot of creative camera work and storytelling these students can aspire to,” Young says. “Nasrin is absolutely capable of that. We’re really glad to have her.”

In the film room at Holt Arena prepping for game time, Matt Roberts (L) and John Young (R)

Members of the ISU Sports Video Crew waiting to film at an ISU home football game, (L to R) Faraci, Rhaman, Cleveland, Towsey

Nasrin Hussaini, born on March 26, 1981, has a bachelor's degree in judiciary and administration law. In Afghanistan she worked as a producer and director of television programs and as a filmmaker. She started learning cinematography in 1999 and a year later worked with Afghan filmmakers.

She started official work in filming with the Afghanistan National Television in 2006, and from 2008 to 2021 she worked as a producer and director in television. She participated in various filmmaking workshops and has made three short films. One of them, “Silent Scream,” won the Best Director Award at the 6th Herat International Women's Festival 2020. The Best Actress was also chosen from this film.

The International Women’s Film Festival is supported by both national and international media and a number of other national human rights and international organizations, such as the International Federation for Human Rights. 

Nasrin says she is excited to be in the company of those who understand film and image again because she loves her work. 

Isabelle Faraci is an ISU alumna who graduated in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in visual communication, video emphasis. Currently she is the graphics coordinator for the crew. She ensures that they have the scoreboard, blurbs from teams, and graphics such as in-game stats. She helps coordinate with the ESPN+ commentator so he can share the information over TV. 

Isabelle says that the work is really fun, and that it’s important.

Rahman is in his second year working with the broadcasting group. He has worked at the Holt Arena since 1994, but he says that being a camera operator gets him more involved with the sports and the teams. His favorite sport to film is women’s basketball because he says they always have a good team. He says he was proud to be part of the crew that made the ESPN Top Ten list for Tomekia Whitman’s buzzer-beating shot captured by Jake Link on camera.

Alexandra Towsey is a junior majoring in public relations. She got the job on the film crew after talking to the head of the Department of Communication, Media, and Persuasion, Dr. James DiSanza, who persuaded her to try it. She had never done filming before, and is now getting great experience.

“Anytime you get a really good shot and they replay it, that’s satisfying,” she says.

Megan Cleveland is a sophomore in her second year of sports broadcasting. She is majoring in video communications with a video emphasis. She also started working with the crew at the suggestion of DiSanza.

“I love working with cameras,” she says. “It’s super fun. My favorite sports to film are soccer and basketball, mostly because those are more active. You’re always moving the camera around.”

She says she has had many memorable moments on the crew, but one that stands out happened while working the end zone camera.

“They showed one of my shots on the board and the crowd was booing because of the results of the play. John said, “Megan, the crowd’s reacting to your shot!” The opposite team really nailed an ISU player and I’d gotten a shot of that. ESPN did the replay in slow motion.”

“We produce a very high quality broadcast,” Young says. “I think that’s a combination of having steady leadership year after year and also that student enthusiasm becomes a real asset to us. We work really hard to elevate our game as high as we can.”

Young says that the film crew is getting professional experience, the same as any professional sports film crew.

“The students get to do the exact same thing the professionals are doing. They’re getting absolute real world experience. If one of them wanted to be an NFL camera operator at some point, this would be a great starting point.”

Young says that many students from the ISU film crew have gone on to media careers. The students that work on the crews can go directly into sports live production or a post-production house. 

Nasrin says that two things surprised her about America were the kind people, and that, “if someone tries, they can achieve anything because the opportunity will be given to them here.”

She would like to become a writer and continue her education in the field of cinema (directing) and work in big film production companies. She knows that she has many abilities and can use opportunities well.

March 13 | 3 p.m.

Zoom

The Work of Love. Milli Gandini from the Wages for Housework to the Italian Socialist Party

by Jacopo Galimberti from the Universita luav di Venezia

March 27 | 3 p.m.

Liberal Arts 332 or Zoom

Making Native Kin: Latter-day Saints and the Politics of Assimilation in the Aftermath of Colonization

by Amanda Hendrix-Komoto from the University of Montana

Dr Anderson conducting ISU choir

ISU Professors Help City Council

When three new members joined Pocatello’s City Council mid-term recently, Mayor Brian Blad saw an opportunity to improve communication, and he turned to Idaho State University’s Department of Communication, Media, and Persuasion for help. 

Photo: Gribas and DiSanza on the Pocatello campus with a city flag

Performance of Marisol Fall 2022

The Idaho State University Department of Theatre received a special honor by being invited to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Conference (KCACTF) on February 20th for their 2022 Fall production of Marisol.

Photo: ASISU Senators Maclane Westbrook and Natalie Mortenson

Voting for your ISU college ambassador is coming soon, but what does this mean? What do ambassadors do, and why should you vote?

Get an idea of what types of projects your ambassadors can do by reading this Q&A with two of ISU’s ambassadors: Maclane Westbrook and Natalie Mortenson, Ambassadors for the College of Arts and Letters. They explain what ASISU is and some of the projects they have been working on. Maclane is a junior majoring in Communication, Media, and Persuasion with an emphasis in Multiplatform Journalism. Natalie is a junior majoring in Political Science. 

Q: What does it mean to be an ISU Senator?

A: Maclane: The idea behind senators is to represent the college and students. We are on the lookout for what is important to people in the college and we advocate for those things. What an ASISU senator can do is help groups and organizations on campus be more involved and show off their skills and abilities.

Q: What sort of projects have you been working on lately?

A: Natalie: Marching Band goes to every single event, no questions asked, but they don’t get much funding. We wanted to help send them to the Big Sky Conference. Band director, Dr. Tom Kloss, normally pulls any resources he has in order to send the band to the conference. This year, with the help of ASISU they will be sending a 30 person pep band. The pep band makes a big difference to the athletes.

Maclane: It’s always fun for people in the marching band to take a trip and go to an event like this. It helps the basketball team and shows our athletes they have support there. It helps ISU in general, showing not only is our basketball team competing, but we have our marching band there representing ISU and playing our fight song.

Natalie: The International Affairs Council is underfunded. They do absolutely amazing work. They’re bringing in ambassadors and high profile people within their fields. It’s one of our biggest draws to ISU and I’m working with them to try to get them money to help in whatever way they deem necessary.  

Maclane: We've spoken with the Dean of the college, Kandi Turley-Ames, about supporting the debate team, as well as ways more students can get involved on campus including a staff appreciation day. We came up with ideas and how we might be able to help. 

Q: Tell me about reinstating the King Spud.

A: Maclane: The King Spud trophy was passed between ISU and University of Idaho in the 60s and 70s for basketball. One school would win it for the year. There were mixed reactions to the trophy. It’s got a very unique look. People certainly talked about it. Around 1979 it went missing. It hadn’t been seen for many years. I saw an article in the Idaho State Journal. I thought it was really interesting. A lot of people, fans, were captivated by the idea of this giant, smiling, potato trophy. I thought it could be brought back. U of I had worked with one of their professors who made a model and scanned it for 3D printing. We contacted their student government and they were on board with the idea. So we commissioned funds to go to a 3D replica of the trophy. That happened in November and it’s been printed.

I think U of I and ISU are unique because they represent different parts of the state. It’s an interesting part of the rivalry. Whoever wins gets to declare themselves the “True Idaho School” and represent the area they’re from. It’s more of a building rivalry, a friendly rivalry.

Q: What do you like about being part of ASISU?

A: Natalie: I like the interactions we have. You get to interact with people you wouldn’t normally work with. Also we get to work on really cool projects, important projects that I don’t think you’d have the ability to do outside of ASISU.

Maclane: You get to meet a lot of people on campus, and get to advocate for students and the ISU community as a whole. If you have something you really care about, if there’s something bugging you as a student (like you wish this thing was different), becoming a senator can help you have the ability to change that and help others. 

Q: How can students get involved with ASISU?

A: Natalie: Students who want to be a senator or be on the executive ticket can go to the ASISU website and print out the election packet then fill it out.

Maclane: We’re hoping to get more interaction with elections this year. We’re increasing awareness of people running and voting. I’d love to see people challenge me and a lot more people get involved in student government. A lot of students don't know what ASISU is, so giving them that knowledge and how to get involved, and how to make it work for them is important. 

Voting for ambassadors will occur March 13 at 8 a.m. to March 17 at 5 p.m. To vote for your college representative please visit isu.edu/bengalweb on voting week. Voters can view the Candidate Voter’s Guide at www.isu.edu/elections/voters-guide-to-candidates/.